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TMI Blog2008 (3) TMI 782X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... idents of a village commonly known as K.O. Mallavaram. The deceased, his two sons PWs 1 and 2 and PWs 5 to 7 were accused in Sessions Case No. 193 of 1998. A dispute between the two groups over some land came upto this Court. There were political differences also. Accused No. 1 allegedly supported Accused No. 3 in the Gram Panchayat elections wherein the deceased lost. Another incident took place in relation thereto. A case was filed against the deceased and others. It ended in acquittal. There was an incident of fire in the village. Some of the accused persons allegedly collected a huge amount promising the victims that they would construct houses for those whose houses stood gutted therein but the said promises were not kept. 3. PWs 1 and 2 as also the deceased and several other family members went at Tuni to attend the court in which the case against the deceased and others was pending. Accused persons were also present in the court. The distance between Tuni and the village is said to be about 20 kms. Whereas others returned, the deceased and his son PW-1 stayed back. They came to the bus complex of Tuni at about 9.30 p.m. on 23.06.1998. They boarded the bus for going ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e been received by the investigating officer having not been produced, the First Information Report was held to be hit by Section 162 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Code). It was furthermore opined that as the lights of bus were switched off, it was not possible for the prosecution witnesses and in particular PWs 5 to 7 to identify all the accused. It was also opined that the weapons which were purported to have been recovered at the instance of the accused being M.O. Nos. 1 to 7 being not uniform in size and shape, their recovery at the instance of the accused could not be relied upon. Details of the said weapons having not been furnished by the said eye-witnesses, an adverse inference in that behalf was also raised. So far as the deposition of PW-1 who was an injured witness is concerned, the learned Sessions Judge disbelieved him inter alia holding: ...The accused all or any one of them were not seen just prior to the time of occurrence anywhere in Tuni Town or in the Bus stand till they were alleged to have been seen in the bus.... 6. On the aforementioned findings, a judgment of acquittal was recorded. The State preferred an appeal there against which has bee ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd the accused were sitting behind the deceased and PW-1. (vi) Testimony of PW-3, who for reasons best known to him, having resiled from his earlier statement, could not have been preferred to that of PWs 5 to 7 as the evidence of all the three prosecution witnesses are consistent. 9. Certain basic facts are not denied or disputed. The deceased died in the bus at about 10.30 p.m. on 23.06.1998 while traveling to his village home from Tuni. PW-1 also sustained injuries in the said incident. Immediately after the incident, hearing cries from passengers, the driver of the bus stopped the bus. Not only the accused persons fled away, all others also did including PWs 3 and 4. They came back after a short while hearing the cries of PW-1. They acceded to his request to take the bus to his house. From the records, it appears that the distance between the place where the accident took place and the village in question was not much. In any event, the destination of the bus was the said village and they were bound to take the bus thereat. PW-1 informed about the incident to PW-2, another son of the deceased. 10. The dead body of the deceased was brought down from the bus and taken ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s found to be truthful, only because names of some accused persons have been mentioned, against whom the prosecution was not able to establish its case, the entire prosecution case would not be thrown away only on the basis thereof. If furthermore the purported entry in the general diary, which had not been produced, is not treated to be a First Information Report, only because some enquiries have been made, the same by itself would not vitiate the entire trial. Enquiries are required to be made for several reasons; one of them is to ascertain the truth or otherwise of the incident and the second to apprehend the accused persons. Arrest of accused persons, as expeditiously as possible, leads to a better investigation. Accused No. 1 was a Sarpanch of the village. Accused No. 2 is a Fair Price Shop dealer. Accused No. 3 was also admittedly a well-known person. It is also not denied and disputed that other accused were also related to him. In view of the fact that such an incident had taken place, indisputably it would immediately be known to the villagers. Those who hold some respectable position in the village and particularly those who are concerned with the administration of Pa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... recorded by PW-17 P. Ramchandra Rao. Accused Nos. 19 and 22 surrendered before PW-18 S. Surya Rao on 21.07.1998 and Accused Nos. 13 and 17 surrendered before him at 10 a.m. on 6.08.1998. 18. The Mediator's report, inquest report and the observation report all are dated 24.06.1998. The submission that the investigating officer recorded the statements of the witnesses are not borne out from the records except from an endorsement made in the sheet meant for noting the details of the fare received by the conductor which is to the following effect: To The D.M. Sir, 07.30 KM Service, the bus started at 21.45 hours from Tuni and it reached Repaka center, some passengers poked among themselves in the bus. In that anxiety, the remaining passengers requested us to stop the bus, got down and ran away. We were also got down from the bus with fear. After some time when we have seen in the bus two passengers received serious injuries with knives. One of them requested us to take them to their house for first aid. We have informed the Depot Manager (DM) and he brought one bus to the village. C1, DSP came and recorded the statements. In the afternoon at 15.00 we have rea ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 2, 3, 5 and 9 are caused by a sharp object and the injuries 1,6,7,10 and 11 are caused by blunt object about 4 to 8 hours prior to the examination. In cross-examination, according to her, she was informed about the nature of weapons causing injuries to PW-1. 25. The injuries on the person of PW-1 might have been found to be simple. But, he with the dead body of his father came to the house. The mental condition of PWs 1 and 2 can be well imagined. When the Depot Manager and the Deputy Superintendent of Police arrived in a bus at about 1 a.m., as noticed hereinbefore, they must have made preliminary inquiries. They were taken by another bus which was driven by PW-12 Bafti. He was also a witness to the spot inspection. 26. Village Administrative Officer of K.O. Mallavaram was a witness to the inquest as also the recovery. Recovery of a large number of weapons as also blood stained clothes is also not in dispute. PW-14 D. Phani Babu is the Village Administrative Officer of Nandivompu Village. He is a witness to the arrest of some of the accused. 27. The learned Sessions Judge, as noticed hereinbefore, relied upon the evidence of PW-3 (wrongly stated as PW-4) to discredit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... learned Sessions Judge. Reporting of the matter to the Village Administrative Officer, in our opinion, was not of much significance. The Village Administrative Officer has been examined in this case. No suggestion was put to him that he was not aware of the incident. Even otherwise he was involved in the investigation from 6 O'Clock in the morning. Even in the inquest report, the commission of the offence was attributed to the accused, to which he was a signatory. 29. PW-2 in his evidence categorically stated that PWs 6 and 7 came to his house at about 11 O'Clock in the night and informed him about the incident and some time thereafter the dead body of the deceased as also PW- 1 arrived in the bus in question. He not only found the dead body of his father, but also found PW-1 lying in the bus in between two rows of seats with bleeding injuries. An attempt was made to take him to the hospital. He was placed in a tractor. However, the driver was not available. In the meanwhile only, the driver and the conductor of the bus informed him that another bus would be coming from Tuni Depot. PW-1 was taken to the hospital only in the said bus leaving the dead body in the house ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ows of seats. He was dragged like his father. 33. We may, however, notice that in his statement before PW-10 Dr. K. Indira Surya Kumari has stated that he had been assaulted with stick and other sharp cutting weapons. Even if this part of the evidence is ignored, still then there are enough explanations available on record to suggest as to how lacerated wound could have been caused to him. 34. The learned Sessions Judge opined that the bus might not have been stopped near the place of occurrence. Why, how and where an offence is committed cannot be a subject matter of guess. The fact that the accused persons had a motive also stands unrebutted. It is not the case of the accused that the matter relating to the Sessions Case in which the deceased and other relatives were facing trial was not fixed in the court of Tuni on that day. The date admittedly was fixed for commitment of the trial to a Court of Sessions. For one reason or the other it was adjourned. If taking advantage of the said situation as also in view of the fact that they were travelling in the same bus and the bus was passing through a lonely place, Accused No. 1 gave exhortation to kill the deceased resulting in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... at as the deceased and the accused persons were sitting just behind the seat of the conductor where a light was on, it was possible for the prosecution witnesses to identify the accused persons committing the offence. 36. Non-production of the general diary by itself cannot be a ground for disbelieving the entire prosecution case particularly when apart from a solitary statement made by PW-3 in his note, no other evidence has been brought on records to show that statement of any witness had been recorded under Section 161 of the Code. It will bear repetition to state that apart from recording the statements by the investigating officers, viz., PWs 16, 17 and 18 who had no role to play in the matter of lodging the First Information Report. Some statements were recorded by the Deputy Superintendent of Police. 37. In Dharmendrasinh Alias Mansing Ratansinh (supra), this Court opined that when the evidence of a witness is found to be natural, the same should be believed. 38. In the aforementioned situation, the High Court, in our view, rightly recorded: 35. When attack is made by several persons simultaneously, it is impossible for any person to say the particulars regardin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... not wholeheartedly come forward to give the complete version. They might have been desisted from giving the particulars by expecting that there may be a trouble to them if the names of the accused are given. They did not mention any special reason as to how A-1 to A-3 were only remembered and other accused could not be remembered when they were regularly going to the village and taking passengers from the village. therefore, the trial Court accepting the evidence of PWs 3 and 4 and rejecting the evidence of PWs 1, 5, 6 and 7 is not appreciable and it is only to acquit the accused. 39. We do not see any reason to take any exception to the said findings of the High Court. 40. Although not argued but we may also take note of the fact that according to PW-1, he was assaulted and dragged by Accused Nos. 11 to 24. They have been acquitted. That may lead us to the conclusion that one part of the story implicating the appellants herein in the matter of assault to him is not exceptionable but then the accused formed a common intention/ common object at the spot. Such a large number of injuries both on the deceased as also PW-1 were not possible to be caused only by a handful of perso ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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