JITENDRA SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal at the behest of the sole appellant Jitendra Singh is directed against the judgment and order dated 4-9-1989 in S.T. No. 118/126 of 1981-89 passed by Shri Syed Md. Mahfooz Alam, the then 2nd Additional Sessions Judge, Jamshedpur, wherebyand whereupon he has been convicted under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code on the charge of committing the murder of Hare Ram Dixit alias Bhagat and sentenced to life imprisonment thereunder.

(2.) Briefly, stated, the prosecution case, as made out in the fardbeyan (Exhibit 3/1), is as under :On 30-3-1979 at about 7.30 p.m. Arun Prasad Dubey (PW 5), the informant, was returning home after collecting the price of coal from the hotel of Chito and on the way he saw his maternal uncle Hare Ram Dixit alias Bhagat, the deceased, coming on a bicycle from the direction of Kumhar Pada, while he spotted at that moment 6-7 persons variously armed coming from the market side. Among them, he identified the appellant Jitendra Singh, who was armed with a sword and co-accused Dinesh Pandey (who had a Bhujali), Raj Kishore Choudhary (who wielded a knife), Narayan Chatisgaria (who wielded a Gupti) and one of the unknown miscreants having hockey stick. All the miscreants ran towards the deceased and appellant Jitendra Singh gave a Lalkara that the deceased should not escape alive and simultaneously attacked him with sword and the other culprits surrounded, him. The deceased got down from the bicycle and ran for few steps, whereupon the co-accused Dinesh Pandey, Narayan Chatisgaria and Raj Kishore Choudhary armed with Bhujali, Gupti and knife respectively and one of the miscreants holding hockey stick attacked him. The deceased with severe wounds fell by the side of the road in a pool of blood. The informant out of fear did not intervene and escaped raising alarm. The culprits fled away through a nearby Gali .At the time of the incident there was power failure and the informant witnessed the occurrence in the light of petromax burning in the nearby betel shop of Mahavir. The informant rushed home and narrated the incident to his father and brother and disclosed the names of the culprits to them and he returned with them to the scene of occurrence, where the police officers were present and he gave his fardbeyan (Exhibit 3/1) before the S.I. (J.P. Narayan), then officer in charge, Sonari Police Station, on the same night at about 8.15 p.m. The motive alleged thereunder for the murder is the long standing enmity between the deceased and the accused persons.

(3.) On the basis of the fardbeyan, the present case was instituted, a formal first information report (Exhibit 4) was drawn up and after investigation charge sheet was laid against the accused persons. At the juncture, it may be stated that co-accused Dinesh Pandey, Narayan Chatisgaria, Panna Lal, Ajeet Singh and Raj Kishore Choudhary were acquitted by the trial Court of the charge under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. Out of them, co-accused Dinesh Pandey, Narayan Lodhi alias Narayan Chatisgaria and Raj Kishore Choudhary were acquitted on giving benefit of doubt.