R.N.Sahay, J.

1. Village Dubha is situated at a distance of 10 kms. west to Adapur Police Station in the district of East Champaran. On 18-10-74, this village witnessed a gory crime in which Hariharnath Singh and America Rai Singh were shot dead by armed miscreants of the same village. The incident happened near the house of the deceased. The F.I.R., was lodged by Bhagnarayan Roy, the own brother of the deceased on next day at 4 a.m. when police arrived on rumour of the incident.

2. According to the version in the fardbeyan informant Bhagnarain Singh was on village road in front of his house along with his brother Hariharnath Singh (deceased). They were feeding their cattle in their Gowas which is adjacent south of the Baithka of Inder Rai and adjacent . east of the village road. The persons named in the fardbeyan came from east near of the Baithka of Daroga Rai on the village road. Out of twenty-one named accused in the fardbeyan Lallan Singh, Ram Ekbal Singh, Sri Narain Singh and Sharda Bhagat and Raghunath Bhagat were armed with guns and the remaining persons were armed with lathis. Accused Babunand Rai abuse Hariharnath Singh on which Hariharnath Singh protested. Accused Babunand Singh ordered to kill him. Lallan Singh fired gun-shot which hit the head of Hariharnath Singh, Sri Narain Singh also fired gun-shot which hit the chest of Hariharnath Singh. Hariharnath Singh fell down and died on the spot. Ram Ekbal Singh fired gun-shot which hit the forehead of America Ral. Sri Narain Singh and Lallan Singh also fired gun shots which hit America Singh. Accused-persons fired some more gun shots causing injuries to Udit Singh and Bikrama Singh. America Singh fell down at south-east corner of the house of Collector Rai and died. The accused-persons dragged the dead body of America Singh to the darwaja of Babunand Rai. The informant took the dead body of his brother Hariharnath Singh inside dumuhan of house with the help of co-villagers. The informant went to the Gowas of the informant and set fire in it. The informant did not go to the police station in the night.

3. From the version of the informant, it is evident that it was all a one sided affair. The accused-persons have came out with a convincing case that no occurrence had taken place, as alleged by the informant.

4. According to the defence a mob of 150-200 variously armed attacked the house of Ram Ekbal Rai and in self-defence the accused party had to resort to firing resulting in unfortunate death of two persons. Some of the members of the accused party were injured at the hands of the prosecution party. It cannot be disputed that Hariharnath Singh and America Singh died of gun-shot injuries. Medical opinion is very clear on this point. It is not necessary to discuss the medical evidence in detail but significance of the medical evidence will be considered at the appropriate stage.

5. The only question for consideration is that the prosecution has given true version of the occurrence or the genesis of the episode was otherwise.

6. Seventeen persons were placed for trial before 1st Addl. Sessions Judge, East Champaran. Accused Babunand Rai and Ram Ekbal Rai are full brothers. Lallan Rai and Jainarain Rai are sons of Babunand Rai. Baidehi Singh and Kabilash Singh are Sipahi of Babunand Rai. Awadh Singh is the brother of Babunand Rai by village relationship. Srinarain Rai and Awadhesh Rai are the sons of Lakshmi Rai. Anirudh Rai is the nephew of Lakshmi Rai. Madan Singh is the brother of Butan Singh. Accused Nawal Singh and Bhushan Singh are brothers of Butan Singh by Pattidari relationship. Babunand Rai, Ram Ekbal and Lakshmi were aged persons at the time of trial.

7. The learned Addl. Sessions Judge after a protracted trial found all the accused-persons guilty except one under Sec. 3C2, read with Sec. 149, I.P.O. Lallan Rai, Srinarain Rai and Ram Ekbal Rai were found guilty for the murder of America Singh. All the appellants have been sentenced to imprisonment for