Judgment

VENKATARAMIAH, J.:- It was about 5.30 P.M. on October 15, 1971. Bankey Lal son of Jang Bahadur Singh and his wife Chandra Kali were returning home from their Khalihan (threshing floor) which was situated towards the north of their village Kishunpur Chiral. As they came near the village they were met by Pussu alias Ram Kishore and his brother-in-law Sheo Rakhan. Pussu was armed with a licensed gun of his father Jia Lal and Sheo Rakhan with a country made pistol. They both fired at Bankey Lal causing him injuries, Chhatrapal and Gaya Prasad who were going that very way towards the village saw the occurrence and asked Pussu and Sheo Rakhan to desist from firing and also tried to stop them from continuing to fire. Pussu fired with the gun towards Chhatrapal who in spite of being fired at tried along with some others who were there to catch hold of Pussu and to snatch the gun from his hands. As Pussu could not reload the gun he assaulted those who tried to catch him with the butt of the gun. Gaya Prasad was, however, able to snatch the gun from the hands of Pussu after delivering few blows with his lathi on the head of Pussu. Pussu suddenly managed to escape from the hold of witnesses and ran towards Sheo Rakhan who was standing near a mango tree with his country made pistol which he was not in a position to open and reload in spite of his attempts. In the meantime the witnesses were carrying the injured Bankey Lal towards the village and when they came near a pipal tree, Pussu ran towards them with the country made pistol which he had reloaded by then and fired again at Bankey Lal and killed him instantaneously. This in brief is the prosecution case.

2. The defence version appears to be that on the date and at the time of the occurrence Pussu and Sheo Rakhan were going towards the Bhagawat Talab near their village and on the way they came across Bankey Lal, his servant Nanhoon and Chhatrapal. These three persons surrounded both Pussu and Sheo Rakhan and began to assault them. On hearing their cries Jialal, the father of Pussu ran towards them with his licensed gun and fired in self defence at Chhatrapal and at Bankey Lal catring injuries to Chhatrapal and killing Bankey Lal.

3. On the basis of the allegations of the prosecution, Pussu was charged for an offence punishable under Section 302 I.P.C. for having committed the murder of Bankey Lal and for an offence punishable under Section 307 I. P. C. for having attempted to commit the murder of Chhatrapal. He was also charged under Section 323 for having caused hurt to Gaya Prasad and under Secs. 25 and 27 of the Arms Act for having been found in illegal possession of and for having used a licensed gun for unlawful purposes. He was also charged separately under Sections 302/34 I. P. C. for having committed murder of Bankey Lal in furtherance of the common intention of himself and of Sheo Rakhan. Sheo Rakhan was charged under Section 304/34/(302/34?) I. P. C. for the murder of Bankey Lal in furtherance of the common intention of himself and of Pussu. Jia Lal, father of Pussu, was charged under Section 30 of the Arms Act for contravening the conditions of the licence issued in respect of his gun by allowing Pussu to take and use it as stated above.

4. The learned Sessions Judge at Fatehpur in Sessions Trial No. 128/72 found Pussu guilty of the offence punishable under Section 302 I. P. C. for having committed the murder of Bankey Lal and imposed the sentence of death on him subject to confirmation by the High Court. Pussu was also found guilty of offences punishable under Sections 307 I. P. C., 323 I. P. C. and under Section 27 of the Arms Act for which he was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years, for one year and for one year respectively which were to run concurrently. Sheo Rakhan was found guilty of an offence punishable under Section 302/34 I. P. C. and was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. Jia Lal, father of Pussu, was however acquitted of the