IRSHADULLAH KHAN Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Irshad Ullah Khan, Mohammad Rashid Ullah Khan, Tufail Ahmad Khan, Nisar Khan, Fida and Kaley were tried in the Court below under Secs.302, 148 read with Section 149 and Section 307, Indian Penal Code. Fida and Kaley have been acquitted. The charge of rioting under Section 148, Indian Penal Code, failed. Irshad Ullah Khan has been found guilty under Section 302, Indian Penal Code, and has been sentenced to death. Rashid Ullah Khan, Tufail Ahmad and Nisar Khan have been held guilty under Section 302, read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and have been sentenced to transportation for life. All these four accused have also been convicted under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code, and have been sentenced to 7 years rigorous imprisonment. They have all preferred appeals against their convictions, and the record of the case has been sent up by the learned Sessions Judge for confirmation of the death sentence passed against Irshad Ullah Khan.

(2.) Irshad Ullah Khan and Rashid Ullah Khan are brothers. A cousin of theirs is married to Tufail Ahmad Khan. Nisar Khan is said to be a grand-nephew of Tufail Ahmad Khan accused . Ahmad Ullah Khan was the father of Irshad Ullah Khan and Rashid Ullah Khan. He is dead. Mt. Nazir Begam is the step-mother. About 10 bighas of land in village Bagrasi is held by Mt. Nazir Begum, as mortgagee in possession since 1915. This land was in cultivatory possession of Ram Sarup and his brother Heta as occupancy tenants. It is said that the land remained parti for about 2 years. Mt. Nazir Begum leased it to Abdul Majid Khan and his nephew Asad Ullah Khan under a lease executed on 10 May 1932. On the same day Heta and Ram Sarup relinquished this land in the presence of a Kanungo. The evidence produced in the case ishows that Irshad Ullah Khan, accused, obtained an exparte decree in respect of this land against his stepmother. On the date on which the Jease was executed in favour of Abdul Majid Khan and Asad Ullah Khan, an application was made to the Court of the Munsif for setting aside the above mentioned ex parte decree. It appears from the evidence on the record and from the statement of Mt. Nazir Begum that her relations with Irshad Ullah Khan and his brother Rashid Ullah Khan had been very strained. After the death of her husband these two step-sons used to look after this leased land, but Mt. Nazir Begum did not get any profits and so she leased the land to Abdul Majid Khan and Asad Ullah Khan for a number of years.

(3.) The prosecution story is that Abdul Majid Khan had made arrangements to have one of the leased plots irrigated on the 1 June 1932. This plot is at a distance of only 80 or 90 yards from his residential house. Some labourers had assembled at the well near the field and irrigation work had started on the morning of 1 June 1932. The evidence is that Abdul Majid Khan, Muhammad Said Khan, P.W. 2, and Said Khan were sitting on a chabutra in front of the house of Abdul Majid Khan. They saw all the accused proceeding in the direction of the field which was being irrigated. Irshad Ullah Khan carried a double barrel breach loading shot gun and Rashid Ullah Khan had a spear, while the remaining accused were armed with lathis. A servant of Abdul Majid Khan told him that the party of the accused was going towards the well.