Judgment

S. RATNAVELPANDIAN, J.:- It is a very tragic and pathetic case: tragic in the sense that 13 persons have been massacred in a gruesome and horrendous manner and pathetic in the sense that the culprits burnt the victims of this barbaric act by covering with sugar-cane leaves and sprinkling with diesel oil. At the same time, we are deeply distressed and pained to note that three of the accused persons i.e. A-1, A-2 and A-27, who were in prison on the date of occurrence are falsely implicated as having taken part in the occurrence and the main witness, Nitya Nand (PW-1) has made a deliberate and suborn perjury by naming these three accused persons even in the earliest complaint (Ex. Ka-1) with an oblique motive of obtaining conviction of these accused also.

2. Even at the threshold, we would like to point out that as the appellant has not furnished the correct list of the array of the accused with reference to each of the four sessions trials in a chronological manner, we with great difficulty have culled out the names of the accused persons and the sessions trial case numbers from the body of the judgment of the Trial Court and appended a list of the names of the accused as Annexure A to this judgment so that we may not experience any difficulty in understanding and appreciating the prosecution case.

3. There were 41 accused in total who took their trial in sessions trial cases Nos. A-119, A-160, A-265/74 and A-27/75 as indicated by us to the foot-note to Annexure A. The Trial Court convicted 16 accused under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act and acquitted the remaining 25 accused. In this judgment, we are referring to the accused persons in the order, as arrayed in Annexure A.

4. Indisputably, 13 persons ranging between 22-55 years of age were done away with in the occurrence. Two other persons, namely, Jama (PW-3) and Balai (PW-24) escaped with injuries. Of the deceased persons, one by name Kedar belonged to a village called Baluahi, whereas the rest of the deceased persons belonged to a village called Deotaha, to which village the injured persons belong. The deceased persons are either the members of the family or associates of the complainant, Nitya Nand (PW-1) whose father was one among the 13 deceased persons. Of the accused, some are interrelated and the rest are associates.

5. The scene of occurrence lies within the limits of Nebua Naurangia Police Station in the District of Deoria in the state of U. P. At a distance of 10 miles to the west of this police station, there is a village known as Bali. A few furlongs to south of Bali, the village Deotaha is situated. The agricultural area of the village Bali extends up to some distance to the west of village Deotaha. About six furlongs to the west of village Deotaha, there are two contiguous plots bearing Nos. 736 and 737 without any dividing line. The occurrence in question took place in the very same plots.

6. There were two rival factions in the village Deotaha in that the deceased persons, their relations and associates formed one faction and the accused formed the rival faction. There was deep rooted enmity and simmering feelings between the two groups due to the following incidents.

1. In a keenly contested Pradhanship election of the village Deotaha, the first accused became successful.

2. One of the deceased Prabhu Nath filed a suit as against A-27 (Jangi) for recovery of a sum of Rs. 20,000/- and the suit was decreed on A-27s admission. At the time of the occurrence, the execution proceeding in pursuance of the decree was pending. In that suit, Kedar one of the deceased was a witness supporting the cause of Prabhu Nath.

3. On 1575-1973, the first accused and some others attacked one Rajeshwar Tiwari during the course of which one Saheb belonging to. the accused party was murdered. The members of both the groups were arrested and sent to jail in connection with that occurrence.

4. After their release in the above case, they started damaging e