Judgment

RANGANATH MISRA, J. :- The appeal is under Article 134(a) with leave from the Calcutta High Court and is directed against the judgment of a Division Bench of that Court dated September 27, 1983. The Special Leave Petition is under Article 136 of the Constitution and is also directed against the same decision. Both these matters are thus connected and arise out of the incident relating to the death of two young boys of Barrackpore area near Calcutta. This Judgment of ours will dispose of both the matters.

2. Two letters, one by one Sampat Lal, respondent 1 in the criminal appeal and another by respondents 1(a) to 1(n), both dated June 1, 1983, were received by the learned Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court. The letter sent by Sampat Lal alleged that two young boys by names Tirthankar Das Sharma and Sanjib Chatterjee, living in Barrackpore area, were missing since the afternoon of March 2, 1983. Information was given at the local police station late at night on the same day and wide publicity was given over the television and the radio of the fact that the two boys were missing but no information about their whereabouts was received till April 5, 1983. On that day