RAM NARAIN Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) APPELLANTS Ram Narain, Bhadar Ram, Sheopat Ram and Hukma Ram have been convicted and sentenced by learned Addl. Sessions Judge, Raisinghnagar, as noted below vide his judgment dated 6 -4 -83.

(2.) BRIEFLY stated, the prosecution case is that PW 1 Darshan Singh and his brother Acchar Singh (deceased) were brothers and had a field bearing Square No. 10 on the outskirts of village 24 N.P. Adjoining this field on the North was a footway and further north lay the field of accused appellant Ram Narain. Six month's prior to the occurrence a verbal quarrel took place between Acchar Singh and Ram Narain at Mandi Raisinghnagar. Because of this, Ram Narain entertained a grous against Acchar Singh. On 8 -4 -82 Acchar Singh and PW 1 Darshan Singh went to their aforesaid field to cut their gram crop. After cutting the crop. Acchar Singh was sitting in killa No. 10 of the field, while PW 1 Darshan Singh was making heaps of crop. At that time i e about 7 p.m. PW 2 Kehar Singh and his father Bachan Singh PW 3 were cutting the crop of 'Taramira' in the field of Ram Narain All of a sudden appellant Ram Narain accompanied with appellant Hukma Ram came from towards village Jhandi, to which these parsons belonged. Ram Narain was carrying a rifle and Hukma Ram was carrying a lathi. Both of them came near Kehar Singh and Bachan Singh and Ram Narain paid the letter Rs. 50/ - as wages. Thereafter, both these appellants went to the field of Acchar Singh and Darshan Singh At the same time, appellants Sheopat and Bhadar came to the field of Achar Singh and Darshan Singh from towards a bridge to the north All the four simultaneously surrounded Acchar Singh and started belabouring him. At this Darshan Singh proceeded in the direction of his brother Acchar Singh upon which Ram Narain totted the gun towards him and threatened to shoot him Thus daterred, Darshan Singh stopped. Kehar Singh and Bachan Singh also came near Acchar Singh and begged the appellants not to beat Acchar Singh, But the appellants did not pay any heed to them The appellants then caught hold of Acchar Singh, Hukma Ram held him by his hair and Bhadar and Sheopat held him by his hands and they took him to some distance. At that time. Sheopat exhorted Ram Narain to shoot Acchar Singh, upon which Ram Narain fired his rifle at Acchar Singh, hitting him in the abdomen. Seeing this, Darshan Singh ran away towards his village 22 N P. Bachan Singh and Kehar Singh also ran away after him. Darshan Singh on reaching the village narrated the story to PW4Jagtar Singh, PW 6 Harnam Singh and PW 7 Bhagat Singh. All these three witnesses accompanied with Darshan Singh, Bachan Singh Kehar Singh and some other villagers went to the scence of occurrence but they did not find Acchar Singh or the appellants there Instead, they found some marks of dragging which also disappeared after some distance. Hence all of them went to the house of Ram Narain. The found Ram Narain and some other persons present there. On being questioned, first of all Ram Narain claimed ignorance but later on admitted that he and his companions had taken revenge and had left Acchar Singh in 'Kanak' field Upon this, all these witnesses went in search of Acchar Singh, whom they found crying with agony in a 'Kanak' field. On being questioned by these witnesses, he stated that he had been shot at by Ram Narain and had been beaten by other appellants with lathis. The witnesses, then carried Acchai Singh to the village where he succumbed to his injuries and breathed his last. After this, PW 1 Darshan Singh accompanied with Jagtar Singh and Bachan Singh went to police station Raisinghnagar at a distance of eight miles and lodged a verbal report with SHO, Swaroop Singh at about 5.30 a.m. on 9 -4 -1982 Swaroop Singh got this report recorded (Ex. P 1).

(3.) THE autopsy was conducted by Dr. Surendra Mohan Sharma, who found the following injuries on the person of the deceased: