judgment

S.B. Sinha, J. —

1.Appellants herein are residents of village Salampur, Police Station Kuraoli, district Mainpuri in the State of Uttar Pradesh. They were accused of charges under Section 364 of the Indian Penal Code for commission of the offence of kidnapping and murder of one Suraj Pal Singh on 23.5.1980 at about 10.00 pm. They are resident of a village called Kherioa. The majority of the population of the said village either belongs to Yadav caste, to which the accused persons belong to, or Kumhar caste, to which the prosecution party belongs to. Two criminal cases were instituted against the prosecution witnesses by the accused. They were, however, acquitted. Suraj Pal Singh son of Jagal Lal, admittedly, was looking after the said cases.

2.A First Information Report was lodged by Pahalvan Singh, PW-1, brother of Suraj Pal Singh at about 5.15 pm on 23.5.1980 alleging that when the said Suraj Pal Singh along with PW-3, Ram Pal, Summer Singh, Khetal Singh and Puttu Lal were sleeping in their field where crops had been harvested and ready for thrashing, the appellants herein as also Buddhi (since acquitted) reached there armed with guns and caught hold of Suraj Pal Singh and