JAGDISH AND ORS. Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants, Jagdish, Durjan, Mahendra, Basanta, Umrao, Bhim, Deepa, Moti, Gurdial, and Niranjan along with 12 other accused, were tried jointly by the Additional Sessions Judge, Bharatpur, on charges of rioting armed with deadly weapons, voluntarily causing hurt, and grievous hurt to four persons, murder of one Lal Singh and criminal trespass, punishable under section 147, 148, 323, 149, 324, 149, 325, and 447 of the Indian Penal Code. By his judgment, dated, Oct. 28, 1976, the learned judge came to the conclusion that none of the charges was proved against the twelve co-accused who were consequently acquitted by him. Out of the ten appellants before us, he convicted and sentenced Jagdish and Durjan, inter alia for the murder of Lal Singh, awarding to them, the lesser penalty of imprisonment for life. These two and the other eight appellants were also separately convicted and sentenced under section 147,323, 323-149, 324, 324-149, 325 and 325-149 of the Indian Penal Code. All the sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

(2.) The case of the prosecution which resulted in the conviction and sentence of the ten appellants as aforementioned may be shortly stated here. On Feb. 17,1974, at about noon time, PWs. Babu Singh, Dewan Singh and Badan Singh sons of Ghisi Singh were busy harvesting their mustard crop from two different fields situate in close proximity with each other with just a road dividing them. They had engaged 25 or 30 labourers to help them in the harvesting operations. A tractor trolly was kept ready in the fields to remove the harvested crop from there. The version as given in the F.I.R., lodged at the instance of PW Hukam Singh at 3.05 P.M. later that day, is that 24 persons, including the 10 appellants, 12 co-accused who have been acquitted and Salig Ram (who had since died) and one Kaptan who is said to be absconding, armed with lathis, pharsas and ballams arrived there in the fields shouting threats to kill Babu Singh and others. They surrounded Babu Singh, Badan Singh, Padam Singh and Lal Singh and belaboured them, with their respective weapons. Lal Singh who was one of the persons working as a labourer in the fields of the complainant party was killed on the spot. The other four, namely, Babu Singh, Badan Singh, Dewan Singh, and Padam Singh sustained injuries in the course of the transaction. The F.I.R. also mentions that Ratna, Charna, Randhir, Nawab and Padam II who were present there in the fields of the complainant party interceded and saved the aforementioned persons from further injuries. The F.I.R. also contains the accusation that the culprits robbeed the members of the complainant party of their watches and gold chains.

(3.) During the trial, the prosecution examined among others, Hukam Singh, Babu Singh, Dewan Singh, Padam Singh, Badan Singh, Charna, Randhir, Nawab and Ratna as witnesses in support of its case. Ratna did not support the prosecution story with the result that he was declared hostile at the instance of the prosecution, As for the other witnesses, the trial court felt that they had falsely roped in Dhundar, Nathu, Jomdar, Ganpat, Gopal, Kalyan, Hetram, Daulat, Sardar, Girraj, Gulab and Sampat who were therefore acquitted of all the charges framed against them. It further held that the motive of the crime appeared to be old enmity resulting in previous litigation, both civil and criminal between the parties. It was not inclined to accept the theory that the accused came there to kill Lal Singh to take revenge for the alleged elopement of accused Dhundars daughter-in-law with Lal Singh's son. The trial court agreed that the F.I.R. is a document suffering from some infirmities but the infirmities, in its opinion, are not of such a nature as to render the evidence produced untrustworthy. It further held that none of the accused carried any fire arm and that the evidence produced in that behalf is not reliable.