The court reiterated the discretionary power under Section 311 CrPC to recall witnesses for justice, emphasizing that electronic evidence requires certification under Section 65-B of the Evidence Act for admissibility.

JUDGMENT :

CHANDRA SHEKHAR JHA, J.

1. The present application has been filed by the petitioners for quashing of the order dated 26.07.2024 passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge-III, Madhubani in connection with Benipatti P.S. Case No.67 of 2021 dated 29.03.2021 corresponding to ST No.211 of 2021 registered for the offences punishable under Sections 147 , 148, 149, 341, 323, 324, 325, 326, 307, 302, 120-B of the INDIAN PENAL CODE (for short ‘I.P.C.’) and Section 27 of the ARMS ACT , whereby the learned trial court has rejected the petition for recall of the prosecution witnesses for their cross-examination.

2. The brief case of prosecution, as per version of the informant, namely, Ramnarayan Singh, that on 29.03.2021 at about 1:00 PM at the distance of about 100- 150 meters towards northern direction from his house, he heard sound of gun-shots and noise of the people and when he ran towards that direction, near the house of one Rudra Narayan Das, he saw Musafir Singh (petitioner no.1), Bhav Narayan Jha and Ghanshyam Jha giving orders to the accused persons, upon which, Praveen Jha and Naveen Jha shot at his nephew of the deceased, namely, Rana Pratap Singh, who fell down and, thereafter, one Shiveshwar Bharti alias Ful Babu tore his stomach through ‘Bhujali’. It is further alleged that Chandan Jha, Kaushik Singh (petitioner no.2), Baban Singh, Munna Singh and Jhuna Singh fired indiscriminately with their pistols at his another nephew, namely, Birendra Singh @ Biru Singh, who was badly injured. It is further alleged that Bhola Singh, Kamlesh Singh (petitioner no.2), Manoj Jha, Sujeet Singh and Vimlesh Singh fired individually upon his nephew, namely, Ranvijay Singh and also assaulted him with iron pipe due to which, he sustained injuries and thereafter, he died on the spot. It is further alleged that Amarjeet Jha, Ashok Singh, Manoj Singh, Umesh Singh and Mukesh Safi fired individually with their pistols at his nephew, namely, Amrendra Singh and also assaulted him with iron pipe as a result of which, he also sustained injuries. It is further alleged that Sujay Safi, Prashant Jha, Vishwajeet Kumar, Anant Choudhary and Ankit Jha assaulted his son, namely, Manoj Singh with pistol, iron rod and iron pipe due to which, he also received injuries. The injured were brought to Benipatti hospital and all were referred to the hospitals, where during course of treatment, Biru Singh died and two persons had already died on the spot. The informant further stated that he has came to know that other co-accused persons, namely, Rajesh Kumar Jha, Shobha Kant Mehta, Rishikesh Jha @ Raja, Abhishek Kumar, Devendra Nath Thakur and Sunaina Devi were assembled at the house of his co-villager, namely, Ashok Singh and planned a conspiracy and managed the arms and thereafter, committed the crime.

3. On the basis of the aforesaid written statement of the informant, Benipatti P.S. Case No.67 of 2021 dated 29.03.2021 was registered for the offences punishable under Sections 147 , 148, 149, 341, 323, 324, 325, 326, 307, 302, 120-B of the INDIAN PENAL CODE (for short ‘I.P.C.’) and Section 27 of the ARMS ACT and thereafter , the police started investigation of this case.

4. During the trial, three prosecution witnesses were examined. On 22.04.2024, examination-in-chief of witness, namely, Vivek Kumar Singh was concluded, on 31.05.2024, examination-in-chief of witness, Khusboo Kumari was concluded and finally on 09.07.2024, examination-in-chief of witness, Surya Narayan Singh was completed and the