SIRAM MAHTO Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners have been convicted under Secs.147 and 379, Indian Penal Code, and sentenced under the latter section to a fine of Rs. 25 each and, in default of payment of fine, rigorous imprisonment for ten days. No separate sentence has been imposed under Section 147.

(2.) The prosecution case, which has been accepted by the Courts below, is that on 13-9-1945 at village Bhagwatpur in the jurisdiction, of police station Samastipur the petitioners accompanied by ten or fifteen other persons cut and dishonestly removed from plot No. 3685 makai crop grown on behalf of Makardhwaj Narain Singh and his cosharers, and that on protest by the complainant (P.W. 1), the petitioners threat, ened to beat p.w. 1 and ran to do so. The defence, was a denial of the occurrence and an assertion that the land in question is in the cultivating possession of petitioners Siram Mahto and Keshwar Mahto.

(3.) Plot No. 8685 was formerly included in Tauzi No. 3871 and in the khatian (Ex. 1) prepared in the year 1898 it is recorded as the bakaaht land of one Thuksharan Lal with a note that it is in the possession of Shyam Bihari Lall as a usufructuary mortgagee Following this entry, there was a Collectorate partition of the estate, and in the partition proceedings plot No. 3885 was allotted to one of the new tauzis formed in the partition and numbered Tauzi No. 1448. This tauzi fell in the share of one Parmanand Lall, whose successors-in-intereat are Ramnarain (D. W. 1) to the extent of 8 annas and his cousin Chariter to the extent of the remaining 8 annas Thuksaran Lall aforesaid got a separate patti. In the barwarda (Ex. E) prepared in the partition proceedings, Plot No. 8685 is recorded as bakashl; without any note of the possession of the mortgagee The complainant's masters, Makardhwaj and his cosharers, claim possession of Plot No. 3885 as successors-in- interest of the Original mortgagee Shyam Behari Lall, their case being that the mortgage is still unredeemed. Siram Mahto and Keshwar Mahto claim possession of the land under an oral thika from Bam Harain (D. W. 1) of Ram Narain's 8 annas share, and a kebala (Ex. D) and a bharna deed (Ex. c) both executed in November 1948 by Awadeah, suceea sof-in-interest of Charitar, and covering the 8 annas sliare of Chariter. The Courts below found possession in favour of the prosecution relying on the khatian of 1898 and the oral evidence of possession adduced by the prosecution.