JUDGMENT :

RATNAKER BHENGRA, J.

1. Heard Mr. Gopal K. Sinha, the learned counsel appears for the appellants in these cases and Mr. Prabhu Dayal Agrawal in Cr. Appeal (SJ) No. 546 of 2010 and Mrs. Vandana Bharti in Cr. Appeal (SJ) No. 522 of 2010 and Cr. Appeal (SJ) No. 547 of 2010, the learned APPs, for the State of Jharkhand.

2. These criminal appeals are preferred against the judgment of conviction dated 11th June 2010 and the order of sentence dated 19th June 2010, passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, FTC-I, Garhwa in S.T. Case No. 392 of 1996, whereby and whereunder, the appellants were convicted under Section 395 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo RI for five years and any period already undergone by the appellants was ordered to be set off.

3. The prosecution case was initiated on the basis of the fardbeyan dated 16.05.1994 of the informant PW-3 Rameshwar Shukla of village Kharaundha, P.S. Manjhiaon, recorded by A.S.I. Baliram Singh at Kandi O.P. on 16.05.1994 at 09:00 a.m. The informant had stated in the fardbeyan that in the night of 15.05.1994, he along with his brothers Shambhu Nath Shukla (PW-6), Tarkeshwar Nath, Bhola Nath (PW-11) and children wer