JUDGMENT

M.K. Mukherjee, J.-This appeal under Section 379 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is directed against the judgment and order dated September 12, 1985 of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 1217 of 1982 whereby it set aside the acquittal of the five appellants of the offences under Sections 147, 302/149 and 307/149 of the Indian Penal Code recorded in their favour by the Additional Sessions Judge, Narsinghpur and convicted them thereunder.

2. The appellants Sunil Kumar and his father Hargovind are residents of village Chichli within the Police Station of Gotetoriya in the District of Narsinghpur where they own a rolling mill and the other three appellants are their casual employees. The deceased Dayashankar and his brother Ramesh Chandra (P.W. 1) also hailed from the same village and they earned their living from cultivation.

3. According to the prosecution case the appellant Hargovind was trying to forcibly take over the land of the deceased and P.W. 1 and threatening them that he would cut their hands and legs. Sometime before the incident with which we are concerned in this appeal the cattle of Sunil Kumar and Hargovind had damaged the standing crops of the deceased and P.W.1. When P.W. 1 protested a quarrel ensued in course of which he was beaten up with shoes by Hargovind and appellant Rafu @ Rafiq. On January 15, 1981 Hargovind and Rafu made an attempt to kill the deceased and P.W. 1 but failed. Over that incident P.W. 1 lodged a complaint with the police station. Again on May 30, 1981 P.W. 1 found that Hargovind had brought the other three appellants, who were all residents of Uttar Pradesh, to their village and apprehending that Hargovind might get them killed, the two brothers lodged a written report before the Superintendent of Police, Narsinghpur on June 13, 1981 (Ext. P.1) seeking protection of their lives and properties. The police however turned a deaf ear to their complaints.

The further prosecution case is that on July 30, 1981 at or about 9 A.M. the deceased and P.W. 1 went to their field for measuring the work done by their labourers as that was the day for payment to them. After the measurements, at or about 10.30 A.M. When they were returning home to fetch money for payment to those labourers and on the way had reached the lane in between the fields of Chhotelal Sahu and Dalchand the five appellants came from behind. Of them, Sunil Kumar and Suresh were carrying lathis, Hargovind a hockey stick and Nazim and Rafiq axes. Hargovind first gave a lathi blow on the head of P.W. 1 and he fell down. Thereafter Rafu and Nazim hacked him with their axes severing his left arm and left foot. All of them then attacked the deceased with their respective weapons in a similar fashion severing his right hand and right foot. Then they fled away.

4. On hearing the cries of the victims, the labourers, who were working in the field of P.W. 1 came to the spot and seeing their condition rushed to their house to inform Imratibai (P.W. 2), mother of P.W. 1 and the deceased. On getting the information P.W. 2 hurried to the spot and heard about the incident from P.W. 1. Dayashankar had, in the meantime, succumbed to his injuries. Yogendra Kumar (P.W. 3), a nephew of the deceased and P.W. 1, and some others of the village also reached there and to them also P.W. 1 narrated the incident. P.W. 3 then rushed for medical help but the doctors expressed their unwillingness to attend to the victims on the plea that as it was a medico legal case they could not do so without requisition from the police. P.W. 3 then went to the village Post Office and reported the incident to the police over telephone.

5. On getting the information inspector V.K. Saxena (P.W. 6) came to the site of the incident accompanied by Sub Inspector Mithilesh Tiwari (PW 8) and other police personnel. Reaching there he recorded the complaint of P.W. 1 (Ext. P.2) and after forwarding it to the police station for registering a case thereupon sent P.W. 1