TMI Blog1986 (8) TMI 457X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 2 read with Section 149 I.P.C. For the conviction under Section 396 I.P.C. all the accused except accused 13 to 15 were sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 500. For the convictions under Sections 147, 148 and 201 read with Section 149 I.P.C. no separate sentences were awarded. The 19 accused preferred three appeals viz. Criminal Appeal Nos. 896, 892 and 893 of 1975 against their convictions and sentences and the Sessions Judge made a reference under Section 366 I.P.C. for confirmation of the death sentence awarded to Accused 1, 2 and 16. The High Court allowed all the appeals and dismissed the reference and set aside the convictions and sentences and set the Accused at liberty. Against the common judgment of the High Court, the State has preferred these appeals. 3. All the accused persons except Accused 12, 13 and 14 trace their ancestry to a common ancestor by name Jamuna Ram. Accused 13 is the daughter-in-law of Accused 15 and Accused 14 is the wife of Accused 6. Accused 12 is the maternal uncle of Accused 18. Of the two deceased, Kesho Bai was the daughter of the common ancestor Jamuna Ram and the other deceased Shital Das was her husband. 4. Notwithstanding the relationship be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e hut and shortly thereafter there were two gun shots. Some of the accused viz. Accused 5, 6, 8, 9, 16 to 18 dragged Shital Das to a nearby field and attacked him with lathis and kirpans. Accused 1, 2, 4, 11 and 19 brought the dead body of Kesho Bai from Karma Ram's hut. The dead bodies of Shital Das and Kesho Bai were wrapped up and tied to lathis and carried towards the River Koshi. Accused 12 and one Phul Chand (who is not an accused) followed the dead bodies with axes in their hands. Accused 5 and 6 removed the blood-stained earth and put it in a jhola. 7. The entire occurrence was witnessed by P.Ws. 1 and 6 (sons of the deceased). The other son P.W. 7 who was standing outside saw the accused going towards the hut in a body with weapons in their hands. Within a few minutes he heard the noise of gun shots. Apprehending danger to the members of his family he ran to Bazpur Police Station about 8 miles away to inform P.W. 11, Head Constable about the activities of the accused. P.W. 11 would not take notice of P.W. 7 and chased him away. Thereupon P.W. 7 went to the shop of one Daya Nand and got a report Ex. Ka-7 written by Prem Chand, son of Daya Nand and took the report to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Ws. 1, 6 and 7 and relevant portions of the evidence of the other witnesses and also the contents of Ex. Ka-1 and Ka-7 contended that the evidence on record fully established the guilt of the accused and as such the High Court was wholly unjustified in acquitting the accused. In reply, Mr. P.P. Juneja, learned Counsel for the respondents argued that the High Court had reappraised the evidence, as it is entitled to do, and had found the prosecution evidence to suffer from infirmities and had therefore rightly set aside the convictions and hence the judgment should receive acceptance at our hands. 14. On a careful consideration of the evidence on record and the arguments of the learned Counsel for the appellant and the respondents, we find the High Court has not only failed to view the evidence in its proper perspective but has also set unrealistic standards to evaluate the testimony. And this unsustainable approach has vitiated the reasoning and the conclusion of the learned Judges. It is not disputed that Shital Dass and Kesho Bai had been brutally done to death on October 26, 1973 by the use of fire-arms and other weapons. Not satisfied with killing the victims, the assailants ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tervention of the police authorities. P.W. 11 had unfortunately exhibited indifference and had chased him away. Even then P.W. 6 had got a report Ex. Ka-7 written by one Daya Nand and presented it at the police station at 4.00 P.M. P.W. 11 did not take the report seriously and hence he merely made an entry in the General Diary and sent two or three constables to the village to make their presence felt there. P.W. 7 has clearly mentioned the names of 15 accused persons and has failed to mention only the names of Accused 12 to 15. Since P.W. 7 was outside the hut and since he had run to the police station as soon as he heard the noise of gun shots, it would not have been possible for him to make a detailed report with full and minute particulars. The fact, however, remains that even at 4.00 P.M. a report had been given about 15 accused persons going in a body and armed with weapons to the hut of Shital Das and about gun shots being fired. The High Court, instead of noticing the prompt manner in which Ex. K-7 had been given, has instead rejected it because its contents did not fully accord with the evidence of P.Ws, 1 and 6 regarding the sequence ' of events. What is of significan ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 4.00 P.M. itself and an entry had been made in the General Diary, there is no scope for surmising that there should have been confabulation on the night of 26.10.1973 and only in the morning Ex. Ka-1 should have been given and subsequently the date would have been corrected to 26th October. 20. We find there was no warrant at all for the High Court to reverse the judgment of the Sessions Court, which is analytical and well- reasoned. The reasoning of the High Court is manifestly unreasonable and unsustainable and hence the appeal has to be allowed. 21. Notwithstanding this conclusion we are of opinion that the case of Accused 12 to 15 stands on a different footing from that of the other accused because their names do not find a place in the earliest record Ex. Ka-7. The eye witnesses have not also attributed any overt acts to any one of these accused. The Sessions Judge has overlooked these features while awarding convictions to these 4 accused along with the 15 others The taking out from the river of portions of legs of Shital Das and the broken bangles of Kesho Bai by Accused 12 cannot make him one of attackers of the deceased when there is no reference to him in Ex.-Ka-7 a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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