Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

2008 Supreme(SC) 1431

2008(7) Supreme 68
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
R.V. Raveendran and Lokeshwar Singh Panta, JJ.
Manoj & Anr. — Appellants
versus
State of Madhya Pradesh — Respondent
Criminal Appeal No. 1530 of 2008
[Arising out of S.L.P. (Crl.) No. 1681 of 2008]
Decided on : 25-09-08

Advocates appeared:
For the Appellant :Jai Prakash Pandey and F.I. Choudhury, Advocates.
For the Respondent:R.P. Gupta, Sr. Adv., C.D. Singh, Sunny chowdhary, Vairagya Vardhan Dubey, Aditya Singh, Pramod kumar Yadav, Viresh Kumar Yadav and Goodwill Indeevar, Advocates.

IMPORTANT POINT
Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means by accused constitutes an offence under Section 324 IPC which can be compounded by person to whom hurt is caused with the permission of the Court in terms of sub-Section (2) of Section 320 Cr.P.C.

Headnote:Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – Section 320 – Indian Penal Code, 1860 – Section 307 read with Section 34 – Prosecution of accused persons three in number for coming on the the bank of river Devipura near village Duhia Chak armed with 12 bore gun, katta and pharsa where complainant along with P.W. 2 and P.W. 9 was excavating sand and for assaulting complainant by pharsa blows and firing gun shots- Conviction by Trial Court – Appeal – Conviction of appellant 1 and appellant2 under Section 307 read with Section 34 of ‘IPC’ altered to Section 324 IPC read with Section 34 IPC by High Court in appeal-Appeal- Statement of Counsel for complainant that complainant had compromised the case with the appellants and in that view of the matter their appeal may be accepted – Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means by accused constitutes an offence under Section 324 IPC which can be compounded by person to whom hurt is caused with the permission of the Court in terms of sub-Section (2) of Section 320 Cr.P.C. – Cr.P.C. (Amendment) Act, 2005 amended Section 320 of the Code and in the Table under sub-Section (2) (a) the words “voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means” in column 1 and the entries relating thereto in columns 2 and 3 has been omitted- But the said amendment by Act No. 25 of 2005 has not yet been brought into force – Therefore, the offence under 324 is still compoundable with the permission of the Court – The appellants and the complainant were residents of same village and with intervention of village panchayat complainant had compounded the offence with the appellants and now he had no grievance against them – Categorical statements of appellants and complainant in their affidavits that after incident they had developed family relations and they wished to reside peacefully in village in future without any kind of disruption in their future lives – Since complainant had voluntarily desired to compound offence with appellants for sufficient and genuine reasons stated in their respective affidavits and such compounding was legal and valid – Hence parties allowed to compound offence under Section 324 IPC – In view of compounding, conviction and sentence set aside – Appeal disposed of. (Paras 11 to 15)
       Facts of the Case :
        1. Accused persons three in number were convicted herein in the instant case for coming on the the bank of river Devipura near village Duhia Chak armed with 12 bore gun, katta and pharsa where complainant along with P.W. 2and P.W. 9 was excavating sand and for assaulting complainant by pharsa blows and firing gun shots. Trial Court convicted accused appellants for said offence. Conviction of appellant 1 and appellant2 under Section 307 read with Section 34 of ‘IPC’ was altered to Section 324 IPC read with Section 34 IPC by High Court in appeal.
        2. Present appeal has been filed against said order of High Court.
       Findings of the Court :
        Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means by accused constitutes an offence under Section 324 IPC which can be compounded by person to whom hurt is caused with the permission of the Court in terms of sub-Section (2) of Section 320 Cr.P.C. Cr.P.C. (Amendment) Act,2005 amended Section 320 of the Code and in the Table under sub-Section (2) (a) the words “voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means” in column 1 and the entries relating thereto in columns 2 and 3 has been omitted. But the said amendment by Act No. 25 of 2005 has not yet been brought into force. Therefore, the offence under 324 is still compoundable with the permission of the Court. The appellants and the complainant were residents of same village and with intervention of village panchayat complainant had compounded the offence with the appellants and now he had no grievance against them.Categorical statements of appellants and complainant in their affidavits that after incident they had developed family relations and they wished to reside peacefully in village in future without any kind of disruption in their future lives. Since complainant had voluntarily desired to compound offence with appellants for sufficient and genuine reasons stated in their respective affidavits and such compounding was legal and valid. Hence parties were allowed to compound offence under Section 324 IPC. In view of compounding, conviction and sentence was set aside.
       Result : Appeal disposed of.

Judgment

Lokeshwar Singh Panta, J. —

1. Leave granted.

2. Manoj and Bijendra Singh - two brothers have filed this appeal against the Judgment and Order dated 11.12.2007 passed in Criminal Appeal No. 631/2000 by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh Bench at Gwalior whereby and whereunder the conviction of Manoj-appellant No. 1 herein recorded by Special Judge (NDPS) and Additional Sessions Judge, Gwalior in Sessions Trial No. 161/99 under Section 307 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code [for short ‘IPC’] has been altered to Section 324 IPC and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 3 years, whereas conviction of Bijendra Singh-appellant No. 2 herein (as also accused No.2-Ram Avtar) from Section 307 read with Section 34 IPC has been converted to Section 324 read with Section 34 IPC. Appellant No. 2 is sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 3 years, whereas Ram Avatar has been Ordered to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year. The conviction of appellant No. 1 under Section 25 (1B) (a) read with Section 3 of the Arms Act has been set aside.

3. Briefly stated, the facts of the prosecution case are that on 23.01.1999 at about 10:00 a.m. complainant Bahadur Singh (P.W. 4) along with Rakesh (P.W. 2) and Ram Varan Singh (P.W. 9) (both hostile witnesses) was excavating sand on the bank of river Devipura near village Duhia Chak. Appellant No. 2 armed with 12 bore gun, his brother Appellant No. 1 armed with katta (country made fire-arm) and Ram Avatar-accused holding pharsa in his hand came to the spot and started abusing the complainant (P.W. 4). P.W. 4 told them that he was extracting sand from government land. It was alleged that Ram Avatar-accused gave pharsa blow which caused injury to the calf-ankle of complainant’s left leg, back and knee. Appellant No. 2 fired gun shot which hit on the wrist of right hand of the complainant whereas Appellant No. 1 fired pellets from katta which hit the head and forehead of Bahadur Singh, who as a result of receiving the injuries fell on the ground. All the three accused persons thereafter ran away from the scene of occurrence.

4. Injured Bahadur Singh lodged First Information Report (Exhibit - P5) on the same day at Police Station, Bijoli. He was sent to the hospital for medical examination. Investigation of the case was conducted by Assistant Sub-Inspector Babu Ram Sharma (P.W. 10) on the spot. During investigation, he seized one brass cartridge and recorded the statements of the witnesses. Sub-Inspector Ashok Tiwari (P.W. 14) arrested Appellant No. 1 on 08.02.1999 and recorded his disclosure statement (Exhibit - P11). Pursuant thereto, ‘Katta’ which was being used by him at the time of occurrence of the offence, was produced from a hidden place at the back of ‘kothi’ constructed in the field of Majboot Singh Jaat. Ram Avatar was arrested on 08.02.1999 and on his statement; pharsa was recovered from the field of Majboot Singh Jaat. Pistol allegedly used by Appellant No. 2 was examined by Santosh Singh (P.W. 11) in D.R.P. Line, Gwalior, who certified that the said pistol was in running condition as per his Report (Exhibit- P18). Brij Mohan Sharma, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (P.W. 12) produced on record permission (Exhibit -P19) to prosecute the accused under the Arms Act. On receipt of Injury Report and X-Ray Report prepared by Dr. Purshottam Jaju (P.W. 5) and Dr. Avinash Naidu (P.W. 6) and completion of the investigation, charge sheet was filed against the above said three accused in the Court of First Class Magistrate. The Magistrate committed the trial of the case to the learned Sessions Judge. The learned Sessions Judge assigned the trial of the case to the Special Judge (NDPS) -cum- Additional Sessions Judge, Gwalior. The accused persons were charge sheeted under Section 307 read with Section 34 IPC, Section 25(1B) (a) and Section 3 of the Arms Act. The accused denied charges and claim to be tried.

5. During the trial, prosecution examined as many as 14 witnesses. The trial

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2008 Supreme(SC) 1431

2008(7) Supreme 68SUPREME COURT OF INDIAR.V. Raveendran and Lokeshwar Singh Panta, JJ.Manoj & Anr. — AppellantsversusState of Madhya Pradesh — RespondentCriminal Appeal No. 1530 of 2008[Arising out of S.L.P. (Crl.) No. 1681 of 2008]Decided on : 25-09-08

IMPORTANT POINT Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means by accused constitutes an offence under Section 324 IPC which can be compounded by person to whom hurt is caused with the permission of the Court in terms of sub-Section (2) of Section 320 Cr.P.C.

2008(7) Supreme 68
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
R.V. Raveendran and Lokeshwar Singh Panta, JJ.
Manoj & Anr. — Appellants
versus
State of Madhya Pradesh — Respondent
Criminal Appeal No. 1530 of 2008
[Arising out of S.L.P. (Crl.) No. 1681 of 2008]
Decided on : 25-09-08

IMPORTANT POINT
Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means by accused constitutes an offence under Section 324 IPC which can be compounded by person to whom hurt is caused with the permission of the Court in terms of sub-Section (2) of Section 320 Cr.P.C.