BHAGWAN DAS & ORS. Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two jail appeals No. 355 of 1975 and 697 of 1976 arise out of the same judgment of the learned Sessions Judge, Bharatpur dated April 28, 1975 and as such they are being disposed of by a common judgment.

(2.) On the intervening night of 23rd and 24th July, 1974 five accused persons including the four appellants committed a dacoity. It is alleged that one of them Laxman went inside the house of Ram Kishan and four of them stood on the Pator. Accused-appellant Laxman went into the room where Mst. Kaushalya P. W. 7 was sleeping with her son P. W. 2 Tularam, a boy of 12 years of age. He asked Mst. Kaushalya to show the where about of the valuables. Tularam and Mst. Kaushalya caught hold of the accused Laxman and raised a cry. Tularam went outside the room to inform his father and accused Laxman and while dragging Kaushalya reached upto the gate of the nohra. Ram Kishan also went inside the Nohra and caught hold of accused Laxman. Laxman asked his companions to fire. While the firing was going on the villagers gathered with lathis and other weapons. The villagers were flashing the torch lights towards the accused and it is alleged that the villagers could identify the accused on the spot. However, the four accused could make good their escape and Laxman remained on the spot. On interrogation Laxman gave the names of the four accused persons. A report of the incident was lodged by Ram Kishan at police outpost, Uchchain from where it was forwarded to the Police Station, Bayana. A case under Sec. 395 and 397 I.P.C. was registered against the accused persons. The investigating officer reached the spot, prepared a site plan and seized empty cartridges and some clothes from the spot. After the arrest of the accused-appellants test identification parades were held on July 31, 1974. In the test identification parades held under the supervision of PW 10 Ramesh Chandra Sharma, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Rayana, accused Bhagwandas was identified by five witnesses, accused Mool Chand was identified by seven witnesses and accused Ramdas was identified by seven witnesses. The identification memos are Ex. P 3, Ex. P 4 and Ex. P 5 respectively. The police after usual investigation submitted a challan against the four accused-appellants in the Court of Munsif Magistrate, Bayana and the fifth accused Har Govind was shown as absconding. The learned Magistrate committed the appellants to the Court of Sessions for trial.

(3.) The accused-appellants pleaded not guilty to the charge and the prosecution examined 11 witnesses, out of whom PW 1 Ram Kishan, PW 2 Tularam, PW 3 Prabhati, PW 4 Sitaram and PW 7 Mst. Kaushalya have been examined as eye witnesses of the occurrence. PW 10 Ramesh Chandra Sharma was examined to prove the test identification parade and memos.