MODSINGH Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal by Mod Singh against his conviction under sec. 304 I. P. C. by Sessions Judge of Bhilwara.

(2.) THE case relates to an incident which took place on the 1st of October 1947, on the border of village Jeewakhera and village Chandgarh. THE prosecution story is that there is some pasture land (Beer) on this border. THE accused is the jagirdar of village Chandgarh, while one Meghsingh of Balias is the jagirdar of Jeewakhera. Some dispute is said to have been going on between these two jagirdars about this pasture land. THE jagirdar of Jeewakhera claims the land to be his. Consequently on the 1st Oct. , 1947, 40 or 50 persons of Jeewakhera, who are apparently tenants of the jagirdar of that village went with their cattle which numbered some hundreds, to this pasture land in the morning at about 19 A. M. Information of this raid on the pasture land reached the accused. He is said to have come to the spot accompanied by 30 or 40 men of Chandgarh. It may be mentioned the villagers of Jeewakhera who had invaded this pasture land with their numerous cattle, were armed with lathis. THE accused arrived on the scene accompanied by his villagers numbering 20 or 40. Some of his villagers were also armed with lathis, and the accused himself is said to have been armed with a gun. He asked the villagers of Jeewakhera to desist from doing mischief to the pasture land (Beer) as he claimed that it was his. Jeewakhera people did not listen to him, and he, thereupon, ordered his followers to round up the cattle and drive them to Chandgarh, presumably intending to take them to the cattle pound in due course. On this Jeewakhera people started resisting the rounding up of the cattle. THEre is some difference in the story given by Dhanna P. W. I. in the Sessions Court in this connection, and the story which was given by him on an earlier occasion. In the Sessions Court, this time, he said that most of the villagers of Jeewakhera had gone away, (though he could not explain why it was so) and that only 5 or 7 persons had remained and persisted in stopping the rounding up of the cattle. One of these persons was Deva, and he told the accused that the cattle were in their own land, meaning thereby the land of the jagirdar of Jeewakhera, and that the accused had no business to take them away. It is said that on this the accused fired at Deva who fell down seriously injured. THEreafter the accused went away with the cattle, while Jeewakhera people took away Deva to their village and reported the matter to Meghsingh jagirdar. Meghsingh then had a report written out, which was sent to the Thana Bigorh, which is at a distance of about 11 miles from where the incident took place.