EMPEROR Vs. GURLINGAPPA SHIDRAMAPPA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant in this case has been convicted by the Sessions Judge of Bijapur of the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304, Indian Penal Code, and sentenced to two years rigorous imprisonment.

(2.) The facts of the case are not disputed. There were two factions in the village of Shidnath: on the one hand the faction of Ganigers and on the other the faction of Gowdas. About the time of this offence incidents occurred which exacerbated the ill-feeling between the two factions. On the 19 October there was a dispute about a field which Jummangowda had bought and he was obstructed by the opposite faction from ploughing it and on the 21st October 1919 there was a dispute about a right of way in which Jummangauda was assaulted by the members of the opposite faction including the two accused.

(3.) Jummangauda, in order to take revenge, got together an armed gang which went about the village looking for the accused shouting din, din and announcing their intention to kill them. In the course of their search they looted the houses of several Ganigers and burnt the contents. The accused took refuge in the house of one Shamnaji Marwadi and hid themselves in a dark kitchen at the back of the house. The mob broke into that house. Two of the rioters, Ganya Lamani and Shankarappa, made their way with torches to the kitchen and attacked the accused. Ganya hit accused No. 1 with an axe and wounded him on the back and accused Nos. 1 and 2 engaged Ganya and Shankarappa and after a fight in pitch darkness Shankarappa escaped outside. After Shankarappa escaped accused Nos. 1 and 2 hacked Ganya to death.