Sharma, J.-The appellant, Rati Ram, has been convicted by the learned Sessions Judge, Alwar, under sec. 304, part one, of the Indian Penal Code, and sentenced to 7 years rigorous imprisonment. The prosecution story is as follows: —

2. On the 7th of May, 1952, at about 5 in the evening, a bullock belonging to Khubi Jat of village Jadka, Police Station Kishangarh, Alwar District, got into the guara of Ram Sahai Jat of the same village. Rati Ram gave a lathi to the bullock, and drove it away. Khubi brought the bullock to his guara.. and tied it there. Soon after, Rati Ram, Ram Sahai, Chaju and Sunder Lal were approached by Khubi, who protested why his bullock was struck. This gave rise to an exchange of hot words between the parties, and Ram Sahais party assaulted Khubi with lathis. Khubi raised an alarm, which brought Patram to the spot. Patram received some lathi blows at the hands of Ram Sahais party. During the progress of the fight, Bobar deceased, a brother of Khubi, also came to the spot, and tried to stop the fight by entreating with folded hands. Unaffected by Bobars entreaties, Rati Ram picked up a pharsi from a poli nearby, and inflicted belows on Bobar. Chaju and Sunder also dealt lathi blows on him. Bobar fell down unconscious, and shortly after he died.

3. A report was lodged at the Police Station Kishangarh at about 4 A.M. on the 8th of May, 1952, and the deceased Bobar was also taken there in a bullock cart, and produced before the police. The Sub-Inspector Sher Singh, who was in charge of the Police Station, immediately proceeded to the spot, and prepared a site plan. He also sent the dead body of Bobar for post mortem examination. A pharsi was also taken possession of during investigation on the 10th of May, 1952, and is alleged to have been produced by Rati Ram. Rati Ram was arrested on the 10th of May, 1952, and the case was challaned under sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code in the court of Extra Magistrate, Tijara, who committed him to the Court of Session at Alwar to take his trial under sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

4. The accused denied the charge. In the court of the committing Magistrate his plea was that Patrams bullock had strayed into his guara, but was driven away by his bullock. On this Khubi protested to Ram Sahai, which led Ram Sahai and Khubi to grapple with each other. Patram also came to the spot, and dealt a lathi blow to Ram Sahai, who fell down. The appellant himself, therefore, ran to the spot with a lathi and found Khubi, Patram and Bobar deceased on the scene of occurrence. There was a \laihi fight between the party of Khubi, Patram and Bobar on the one side and that of the appellant on the other, during which Khubi dealt a lathi blow to the head of the appellant, who fell down. Another lathi from Patram struck Bobar, who also fell down. Thus the case for the defence in the committing Magistrates Court was that it was on account of a lathi blow from Patram that Bobar died. In the Court of Session, however, the appellant stated that he found his father Ram Sahai being beaten by Bobar, Khubi and Patram. The appellant asked them not to do so, whereupon Bobar hit him with a lathi on his head. Then he hit Bobar with a lathi in his self-defence, when the latter was going to give another lathi blow to the appellant. He said that he had made a false statement in Tijara court to the effect that it was Khubi who hit the appellant with a lathi.

5. The learned Sessions Judge, after considering the evidence on the record, came to the conclusion that the appellant had given pharsi blow to Bobar who was unarmed, and caused a fatal injury to him. He disbelieved the defence of the appellant that he dealt a lathi blow to Bobar in his self-defence. He has come to the conclusion that it was not a case of murder but of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Consequently, he has convicted the appellant under the first part of sec. 304 of the Indian Penal Code, and sentenced him to seven years rigorous impr

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