BHUSHAN MANJHI Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal, at the behest of the sole appellant is directed against the judgment and order dated 16 -2 -1990 in S.T. No. 196 of 1985, which was tried analogous with S.T. No. 206 of 1986, passed by Sri D.N. Chakraverty, the then Additional Sessions Judge, Ist Court, Jamshedpur, whereby and whereunder the appellant has been convicted under Sections 302 read with 149 of the Indian Penal Code and has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life.

(2.) BRIEFLY stated, the prosecution case, as made out in the fardbeyan (Exhibit 3), is as under: On 21 -8 -1983, around 6.00 p.m., Binder Paswan (the deceased) Forest Guard, Nutandih Sub -beat Office, was returning in the company of Sailendra Kumar Singh (PW -2), another forest guard in Nutandih, Sub -beat Office, after doing marketing, from the village HAT. When on the way they reached in the middle of Nutandih forest, they saw the appellant, co -accused Naren Laguri and ten other named accused, variously armed with lathi and tangi in the Jungle. At their sight, Binder Paswan, the deceased, uttered that only yesterday, i.e., on Saturday, he had snatched the Tangi from them and today they have come with axes to fell tress, and hearing this, Naren Laguri (the co -accused) abused the deceased and exhorted his companions to kill him. Saying so, Naren Laguri caught the deceased by his hair and started to assault him. At the time of assault, Naren Laguri was saying that the deceased had struck a danda blow to him and had snatched the axe, and that he would kill him, whereupon all the accused -persons surrounded the deceased and forcibly took him towards the dense forest. Sailendra Kumar Singh (PW -2) attempted to rescue the deceased, but the accused -persons chased to assault him. Thereafter, Sailendra Kumar Singh fled for life and reached Nutandih Sub -beat Office and narrated about the occurrence to Bengali Singh, The Beat Officer, and the forest -guards, present there. During the night, a search for kidnapped forest -guard (Binder Paswan) was made by them, but in vain. The next day, around 11.00 a.m., Sailendra Kumar Singh (PW -2) visited the office of Sri V.N. Mishra, Range Officer (the informant) at Mango and informed him about the incident. Thereafter, the informant sent a written -report to Patamda Police Station for information and he deputed staff to search for Binder Paswan, the forest -guard. In the morning, on 23 -8 -1983 the dead body of Binder Paswan with cut wounds by sharp weapon was spotted in Poonsa forest, whereupon Bengali Singh (PW -3), the forester, went to the informant and conveyed this fact to him in the early morning. The fardbeyan of the informant was recorded by the Police Officer at Mango Range Officer on 23 -3 -1983 at 7.30 p.m. On the basis of the fardbeyan (Exhibit 3), the present case came to be instituted, a formal First Information Report (Exhibit 4) was drawn up. The Police Officer commended investigation and held inquest over the dead body of Binder Paswan on 23 -8 -1983 between 12.30 to 1.00 p.m. He seized blood -stained clothes, blood -stained hair from near the dead body and other places in the Nutandih Protected Forest, a tangi with blood stains from the house of Naren Laguri, the co -accused on 23 -8 -1983, sent the dead body for post -mortem examination and on completion of investigation, charge -sheet was laid in Court against the accused -persons.

(3.) IN support of its case, the prosecution has examined ten witnesses, Out of them, PW -8 (Vijoy Shankar Prasad), who has proved the postmortem examination report (Exhibit 2), PW -9 (Shambhu Nath Roy), who has proved the fardbeyan (Exhibit 3) and the formal First Information Report (Exhibit 4) and PW -10 (Shyamal Sarkar), who has proved the inquest -report (Exhibit 5) and the seizure lists in the pen of K.N. Trivedi, the then Officer -in -charge, Patamda Police Station, since retired, are the formal witnesses.