Point of Law : Sometimes witnesses do exaggerate but the evidence of such witnesses need not be discarded on account of embellishments if it is corroborated on material aspect by other evidence on record.

JUDGMENT :

SUMAN SHYAM, J.

1. Heard Mr. A.M. Bora, learned Sr. counsel assisted by Mr. D.P. Bora, learned counsel for the appellants in Crl. Appeal No. 200/2017, Mr. K. Goswami, learned Sr. counsel appearing as amicus curiae in Crl. A. (J) No. 49/2017 and Dr. B. Ahmed, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants in Crl. Appeal No. 174/2017. Ms. S. Jahan, learned Addl. P.P. Assam has appeared on behalf of the State in all the aforesaid appeals.

2. The Crl. Appeal No. 174/2017 has been preferred by the accused/appellants, viz. (i) Md. Safique Uddin @ Safiqur Rahman, (ii) Nijam Uddin, (iii) Md. Noor Uddin, (iv) Jamir Uddin and (v) Md. Azizur Rahman. Crl. Appeal No. 200/2017 has been preferred by the accused/appellants, viz. (i) Md. Abdul Matlib, (ii) Jain Uddin and (iii) Safique Uddin and Crl. Appeal (J) No. 4/2017 has been preferred by the accused/appellants, viz. (i) Anowar Ali and (ii) Abdul Salam.

3. The prosecution case, in brief, is that on 23-04-2011, at about 10:40 p.m. the accused persons, in a body, armed with lethal weapons such as spears, gun etc. attacked the deceased with sharp weapons and also fired gunshot resulting into grievous injury on the body of the deceased Mahibur Rahman leading to his death. The accused persons had also assaulted the wife of the deceased and his 03 years old son causing injuries to them. On 24-04-2011 the brother of the deceased viz. Md. Habibur Rahman had lodged an ejahar before the Officer-in-Charge (O/C) of Hojai Police Station informing about the incident. In the FIR, names of as many as 08 accused persons have been mentioned which are as follows:

(1) Abdul Matlib

(2) Safiqur Rahman

(3) Abdul Salam

(4) Nijam Uddin

(5) Nur Uddin

(6) Jain Uddin

(7) Jamir Uddin

(8) Ajijur Rahman

4. On the basis of the ejahar dated 23-04-2011, Hojai P.S. Case No. 100/2011 was registered under Sections 147/148/149/358/326/302 of IPC read with Sections 25 (IB)/27 of the Arms Act and the matter was taken up for investigation. On completion of the investigation the Investigating Officer (I/O) had submitted charge-sheet against as many as 09 accused persons including the 08 FIR named accused. Based on the chargesheet submitted by the I/O, the learned trial court had framed charge against all the accused persons under Sections 147/148/149/458/323/302 of the IPC. The contents of the charge so framed by the trial court was read over and explained to the accused persons, to which they had pleaded not guilty. As such, the matter went up for trial.

5. In order to bring home the charge, the prosecution side had examined 10 witnesses including the Medical Officers who had conducted postmortem examination on the dead body of the victim Mahibur Rahman and had also treated his injured wife Hafsa Begum and her minor son. The two I/Os, who had carried out investigation in connection with this case and submitted charge-sheet, were also examined as witnesses. After recording the evidence of the prosecution witnesses the accused persons were examined and their statements were recorded under Section 313 Cr.P.C. The case of the accused persons was one of total denial. However, the defense side did not adduce any evidence.

6. On conclusion of trial and upon analysis of the evidence available on record, the learned trial court had convicted all the accused persons for committing offences punishable under Sections 147/148/149/458/323/302 IPC and sentenced each of them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 01 year and to pay fine of Rs. 5,000/- each, in default, to undergo rigorous imprisonment to another 02 months for the offence committed under Section 147 IPC; rigorous imprisonment for 02 years and to pay fine of Rs. 5,000/- each, in default, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for another 02 months for committing the offence punishable under Section 148 IPC; rigorous imprisonment for 03 years and to pay fine of Rs. 5,000/- each, in default, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for another 03 months for committing the offence under Section 4