STATE Vs. SADHU SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ALL the above six appeals are directed against the judgment of the Sessions Judge, Jhunjhunu, dated 24th March, 1969 whereby he convicted Sadhu Singh under sec. 397 IPC and sentenced him to seven years' rigorous imprisonment. The other three accused Nathusingh, Amarsingh and Rampalsingh were convicted under sec. 394 IPC and sentenced to five years' rigorous imprisonment. Aggrieved by their conviction and sentence, the accused have filed appeals Nos. 227 of 1969, 328 of 1970, 329 of 1970, 330 of 1970 and 331 of 1970. It may be noted that Criminal Appeal No. 227 of 1969 has been filed jointly by Amarsingh and Nathusingh through their counsel. However, both these accused have also filed separate appeals through jail which are Nos. 328 and 331 of 1970. Rampalsingh and Sadhusingh have also filed appeals through jail and their appeals are registered as Nos. 329 and 330 of 1970 respectively. The State, however, felt that the acquittal of all the accused under sec. 396 IPC and also of Sadhusingh under sec. 302 IPC was improper and therefore it has also filed an appeal against all the accused and that has been registered as Criminal Appeal No. 694 of 1969.

(2.) BRIEFLY, stated the prosecution case is that on 14-12-67 the four accused as well as one Kurdasingh, five in all, armed with deadly weapons such as a rifle and a pistol committed a dacoity at the house of Gharsiram PW16 in the course of which they caused injuries to Gharsiram, Jugalkishore, Basantilal and Santlal They also relieved Santlal PW 1 s/o Gharsiram of a wrist watch and a shawl which he was carrying on his person, but since there was a hue and cry which had attracted the attention of the villagers who collected at the spot, the dacoit were not able to take away any booty with them. However, when the dacoits were retreating, they were given a hot chase by the villagers and in order to have a safe retreat, one of the dacoits is alleged to have fired a shot as a result of which Dharma died. But the brave villagers also succeeded in capturing one of the decoits, namely, Sadhu Singh whom they confined in a room in the house of Gharsiram in village Kulot Khurd. A FIR of the occurrence was lodged the same night at about 12. 10 a. m. at the Police Station, Surajagarh, which is situated at a distance of about 14 miles from the place of occurrence. The report was signed by Hiraram Panch, Harphoolsingh, Ramswaroop and Nanakram of the Gram Panchayat, Mahpalbas and was sent through one Phoolsingh. The SHO PW 17 Shri Parbhatiram reached the scene of the occurrence the same night at 1. 30 a. m. He sent all the four injured persons namely, Gharsiram, Santlal, Basantilal and Jugalkishore to the hospital at Chirawa in a jeep and arrested Sadhusingh who had already been confined by the villagers in the house of Gharsiram (vide recovery memo Ex. P. 15 ). Thereafter he informed the Superintendent of Police, Jhunjhunu and the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Jhunjhunu-Khetri, who also joined the investigation in the course of which Gharsi Ram presented two empty cartridges which were recovered by the police (vide recovery memo Ex. P. 21 ). It may be stated here that the villagers had succeeded in not only capturing the Sadhusingh but had also brought two camels of the dacoits which were produced before the police and their seizure memos are one Ex. P. 23 and Ex. P. 24. These camels however died at the Police Station later on. PW 5 Amar Singh also presented a country made pistol which the pursuit party had seized from the dacoits. The seizure memo of the pistel is Ex. P. 25. Some cartridges and a few other articles taken possession of by the villagers from the dacoits were also produced by the villagers before the S. H. O. Shri Parbhatiram, but it is not necessary to take any detailed reference to them as admittedly the dacoits were not successful in taking away any plunder with them. Accused Rampalsingh was arrested on 20 12-67 at village Nagli, District Alwar (vide recovery memo Ex. P. 35), Accused Amarsingh was arrested on 16-1-68 in the precincts of village Talwara (Haryana ). His arrest memo is Ex, P. 32, and accused Nathusingh was arrested on 23-12-67 at Surajgarh (vide arrest memo Ex. P. 30 ). In the course of investigation, witnesses were called upon to identify the accused at an identification parade held by PW 9 Shri Panna Lal. On 8-1-68 Nathusingh and Rampalsingh were put up for identification at the sub jail at Jhunjhunu and P. W. 16 Gharsiram, P. W. 5 Amarsingh, P. W. 2 Jugal Kishore and P. W. 12 Hanuman correctly identified both these accused persons. PW 1 Santlal and Mst. Sharbati PW 4 were, however, called upon to identify these accused on another occasion, that is, on 10 1-68. Santlal was able to identify both the accused correctly while Mst Sharbati failed to identify them. On 20-1-68 identification parade was held for identifying Amar Singh and the witnesses Gharsiram, Santlal, Amarsingh, Jugalkishore and Hanuman correctly identified him. The identification memo with respect to identification held on 5-1-68, 10-1-68 and 21-1-68 are Exs. P. 2, P. 5 and P. 3 respectively. It may be noticed that the police Was not successful in arresting the fifth dacoit, namely, Kurda Singh and consequently, the four accused were prosecuted in the court of Munsiff-Magistrate, Chirawa who committed them for trial to the court of Sessions Judge, Jhunjhunu.

(3.) IN the result, all the appeals stand dismissed. .