DASARATHI MAHAPATRA Vs. RAGHU SAHU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a Rule to show cause why the conviction of, and sentences passed on, the accused should not be set aside. The accused have been convicted under Section 147 of the Indian Indian Penal Code of rioting, and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a month and to pay a fine of Rs. 20. They have been found to have attacked the complainant and others, while cutting their paddy. The accused party were about 30 in number. This complainant was beaten and wounded and taken to the thana in a dhuli.

(2.) The main question debated in the lower Courts was as to the possession of the land. Both the Courts below found that the complainant had been in possession of the land since 1905. His predecessor-in-interest, that is, his father-in-law,. had obtained a decree in the Civil Court and had been put in possession of the land by the Civil Court, and an under-raiyat, named Shibo Jana, who had been in actual possession till then, had gone out and the complainant's father-in-law and the complainant had been ever since in direct possession and cultivation. The accused, had, therefore, no possible right to interfere with the complainant when cutting the paddy. They have been rightly convicted of an offence under Section 147 of the Indian Indian Penal Code.

(3.) The learned Counsel for the petitioner impugns the conviction on technical grounds, the principal of which is that there is no finding in the judgments of the lower Courts as to the common object of the unlawful assembly. He relies on the rulings in the cases of Sabir v. Queen-Empress (1) and Poresh Nath Sircar V/s. Emperor (2) as authorities for holding that this is essential. The charge in this case was, however, properly drawn. The common object was therein stated to be to enforce a right or supposed right. Now there was no contest in either of the lower Courts as to the common object. Nobody ever contended that the common object of the assembly, if any, was not to enforce a right or supposed right. The lower Courts have, therefore, not discussed this question, and have come to no express finding, couched in so many words, on this point, but it is clear that they both impliedly have found that the common object of the unlawful assembly was as stated in the charge.