The main legal point established in the judgment is the importance of considering inconsistencies between oral and medical evidence in evaluating the veracity of the prosecution's case.

DHARNIDHAR JHA, J.

The present Cr. Appeal arises out of judgment of conviction dated Ist February, 1991 passed by the learned 4th Additional Sessions Judge, East Champaran, Motihari in Sessions Trial No.56 of 1984/207 of 1987 by which the solitary appellant Hari Rai was held guilty of committing offence under Section 302 IPC while the other two accused, namely, Rameshwar Rai and Suren Rai were acquitted of the charges framed against them. The appellant was heard under Section 235 Cr.P.C on the 2nd day of February, 1991 and was directed to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life on account of having been convicted under Section 302 IPC. The appellant have come up before this Court in appeal to challenge the correctness of the findings and appropriateness of the order of sentence passed by the learned trial Judge.

2. The prosecution case in brief is that on 16.10.1983 at about 7.30 A.M. accused Rameshwar Rai was putting dung at the Darwaja of the deceased who was sitting there. The deceased protested which ensued into some exchange of hot words. Accused Rameshwar Rai called his sons Hari Rai and Suren Rai who came there with lathi and no sooner had they arrived, it was said, appellant Hari Rai dealt a lathi blow to the head of the deceased causing him to fall on the ground. It is stated that accused Rameshwar Rai snatched a wrist watch from the deceased while the accused persons were leaving the scene of occurrence.

3. As appears from the evidence, the deceased was rushed to Kesariya hospital where he was treated by P.W.10 Dr. Ramdayal Singh who found the following injuries on the injured Suraj Rai:-

(i) One swelling 6”x4” on right side of chest in mid axillary line.

(ii) One swelling 5”x3” on the right side of scalp.

(iii) One lacerated wound 1”x 1/4"x1/2” on the right side of scalp and in the middle of the injury no.2.

In the opinion of P.W.10 injury no.1 was simple as could be injuries no.2 and 3, but those injuries were opined to be dangerous to life. However, the injuries in the opinion of P.W.10 could have been caused by blows given by lathi. It appears that the statement of the deceased Suraj Rai was recorded by the Officer-in-Charge of Kesariya police station, i.e., P.W.9 Ram Janam Thakur and on that basis the FIR of the case (Ext-4) was drawn up. The fardbeyan of the deceased Sujraj Rai was marked Ext-3/1 on behalf of the prosecution. It further appears that P.W.9 S.I. Thakur Ramjanam came to the place of occurrence and found that some dung had been placed at the cattle shed of the deceased which was situated side by side that of the accused persons. He further found that the dung had been removed from the dump for being placed in front of the cattle shed of the deceased. P.W.9 recorded the statements of witnesses and after obtaining the injury certificates and the postmortem report and finding that the case required to be put into trial, sent up the three accused for their trial.

4. The defence of the accused persons is that they were innocent and had falsely been implicated in this case. During the course of trial, eleven witnesses were examined by the prosecution. P.W.1 Reshma Devi, P.W.2 Rampati Devi, the two daughters of the deceased supported the prosecution case as an eye witnesses. P.W.6 Jagarnath Rai happens to be the son of the deceased and he also supported the prosecution story as an injured witness on account of having been assaulted by the accused persons. P.W.3 Phul Mohammad Mian whose house was situated just by the side of the place of occurrence and who appears having seen the occurrence as per the evidence of P.Ws.1 and 2 were tendered for cross-examination whereas P.W.4 Bahadur Rai was declared hostile. P.W.5 Baiju Lal Rai was a witness of formal character. He was an Assistant Sub Inspector of Police who had recorded the fardbeyan of Baiju Lal Rai who had accompanied the deceased up to S.K.M.C.H., Muzaffarpur. P.W.8 Anil Kumar Jha was yet another police officer who had taken charge of inve