JAIN LAL ALIAS JAINATH Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The 13 appellants have been convicted under Section 899, Indian Penal Code, and each sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment. The charge was to the effect that on or about 20 March 1941, they made preparations in Jogia Tilha, Satdiha and other, places for committing dacoities. Jogia Tilha and Satdiha are adjacent villages within the jurisdiction of polico station Jainagar, District Hazaribagh. The appellants are residents of Akbarpur, Pachrukhi, Bhatbigha and Bhaiji Balia. Pachrukhi and Akbarpur are two villages which may be said to constitute one town, only one road forms the boundary between the two. Bhatbigha is a tola of Akbarpur, and Bhaiji Balia is adjacent to Pachrukhi.

(2.) In March 1941, there appears to have been something like an epidemic of dacoities which caused the local people to organize defence groups; chaukidars had also been warned to look out for movements of suspicious characters.

(3.) The case for the prosecution is that the accused persons with others are members of a gang which has been suspected of a good many of such crimes. On 16 March there was a gathering of men in Bhaiji Balia. The witness Bajo Eaut, who deposes to having seen this gathering, says that the persons gathered together threatened to kill him if he reported the fact of the meeting to anyone. The witness is a servant of the Mahanth of Rajauli. In spite of the threat he told a fellow servant, Somar Kandu (P.W. 39). The witness mentions among the appellants, Bauna alias Ramkishun Teli, Bishun Lal, Barho Kahar, Jain Lal and Saheb Singh. Two other witnesses speak of a similar suspicious gathering at Pachrukhi on or about 16 March, they are Gobardhan Lal (P.W. 36) and Jago Lal (P.W. 37). Gobardhan Lal mentions among the appellants, Ramdhani Kahar, Bishun Lal, Jain Lal, Saheb Singh, Chhotan Mushar and Nunu Mushar as present at this meeting. He says the party moved off towards the south. The other witness Jago Lal (P.W. 37) says that he saw a party similar to that described by the previous witness going southwards in the direction of Bhaiji Balia and that he recognized among them the following of the appellants: Bauna alias Kishun Teli, Ramdhani Kahar, Barho Kahar, Bishun Lal, Chhotan Mushar, Jain Lal, Saheb Singh and Nunu Mushar. The statements of these two witnesses were not taken by the police till sometime later, and, in argument, it has been suggested that their story as to seeing such a gathering should not be credited. Be that as it may, some information reached the Sub-Inspector of Nawada at about 8 P.M. on 20 March 1941, as to absence from their homes of suspicious characters of villages Akbarpur and Pachrukhi. The Sub-Inspector went to Akbarpur and Pachrukhi and found the persons, whose names had been reported to him to be absent from their houses. He posted pickets at their houses, and a further step which he took in consequence of the information received was to proceed to Rajauli because his information led him to believe that it was in that direction that the suspicious characters had gone for the purpose of committing crime. He arranged with the Sub-Inspector of Rajauli to check all the lorries coming from the Kodarma side that is further south. These steps led to the arrest of certain of the accused persons in the course of the next day.