JUDGMENT

Dalveer Bhandari, J. —

1. This appeal is directed against the judgment of the Gauhati High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 248 of 1998 dated 22nd June, 2001.

2. Abdul Mannan, Abdul Salam and Abdul Subhan have preferred an appeal against the impugned judgment. The appeal of Abdul Salam and Abdul Subhan was dismissed by this Court vide order dated 13th September, 2002, as they did not surrender. The present surviving appeal is only on behalf of the accused appellant - Abdul Mannan.

3. The brief facts, which are necessary to dispose of the appeal are recapitulated as under:

On 17th February, 1994, one Abdul Kuddus Khan lodged a written First Information Report [for short, ‘F.I.R.’] before the Chaudhury Bazar Police Out Post stating inter alia that on that date at about 2.00 p.m. while his elder brother Abdul Hakim was returning home from Masjid, six accused persons named in the F.I.R., namely, Subhan, Abdul Mannan, Abdul Hanan, Abdul Sukur, Abdul Kurdish and Abdul Salam attacked and assaulted him. On hearing the screams and loud cries for the help of Abdul Hakim, another elder brother, the informant, namely, Abdul Karim and one of his neighbours, Abdul Kalam, rushed to the spot