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TMI Blog1975 (12) TMI 188X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ew that the prosecution had not come with clean hands and there were indications of graduals improvements in the prosecution case. On appeal preferred by the State of Bihar, the Patna High Court by its order dated February 2, 1971 affirmed the order of the Additional Sessions Judge as regards nine of the accused but set aside the acquittal in the case of these seven appellants. Each of the seven appellants was convicted under Sections 302/149 of the Indian Penal Code and was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life. All of them were further convicted under Section 148 of the Indian Penal Code but no separate sentence was passed under that section. Appellant Rameshwar Singh was further convicted under Section 326 of the Indian P ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... g under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal procedure over the possession of plot 283 but ultimately the respective possessions of the parties as before was upheld. In this tense atmosphere of rivalry, the occurrence out of which the appeal arises took place. 3. The prosecution version of the incidence is like this. On November 24, 1965 in the morning Baldeo Singh along with his son Hirdaya Singh, brother Brahma Singh and Brahma's son Bhagwat Singh went to harvest the paddy standing on plot 283. They started the harvesting when all of a sudden the sixteen accused persons variously armed appeared and began assaulting the prosecution party. Baldeo, Brahma, Hirdaya and Bhagwat fled towards the east but were overtaken when they reached t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... spital who performed the postmortem examination, found 11 marks of external injury on the body of Baldeo of which 3 were incised wounds and the rest caused by some hard and blunt substance like lathi. Brahma Singh had 12 injuries on his body of which 8 were either incised or punctured wounds and the remaining 4 were caused by some hard and blunt substance like lathi. 5. The prosecution examined 19 witnesses to prove its case out of whom 8 were supposed to be eye witnesses of the occurrence. According to the Additional Sessions Judge the evidence raised doubts about the genesis of the occurrence. He held that exhibits 10 and 10/1 which he described as the sheet anchor of the prosecution case were suspicious and unreliable documents. He ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n a part of the land. Further, there were no blood or marks of trampling on the plot as one would have expected if the occurrence really started on this land Another circumstance which heightened the doubt was the presence of blood and marks of trampling on the land belonging to the accused Dharamdeo Singh which was to the east of plot 283. P.W. 19 also found cut paddy scattered over the land belonging to Dharamdeo. The admitted fact that two of the accused, Dharamdeo Singh and Rajinder Singh, had also sustained injuries was another circumstance which weighed with the Additional Sessions Judge. Dharamdeo had a grievous injury on his right hand described by the doctor as an incised wound on the back of the right wrist joint 4 x 11/2 x 2 : ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion were inimically disposed towards accused, the Additional Sessions Judge did not find it possible to accept the version of the incident as narrated in court by the witnesses for the prosecution and gave the benefit of doubt to all the 16 accused. The Additional Sessions Judge considered the evidence against each accused separately before coming to the conclusion that the charges against them had not been proved beyond doubt. 6. The High Court on a reappraisal of the evidence held that there was sufficient and cogent material to prove the charges leveled against the 7 appellants before us. It does not appear from the judgment of the High Court that it relied on any piece of evidence which the Additional Sessions Judge had overlooked to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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