The credibility and timing of the First Information Report in a criminal case can significantly influence the court's decision.

( 1 ) THIS Government Appeal has been filed by the State against the accquittal of respondents Tribhawan and others under section 396, I. P. C. in Sessions Trial No. 178 of 1978 passed by the First Additional Sessions Judge, Ghazipur, on 10/4/1979.

( 2 ) A dacoity is said to have been committed in the house of Marihar Singh in village Banwar, P. S. Shadiabad, District Ghazipur on 13/3/1977 at 7 p. m. in which Kapildeo Singh and Subedar Singh had died.

( 3 ) IT is said that Harihar Singh son of Ram Lagan Singh had enmity with Tribhawan Singh and, therefore, he master-minded the assault along with the rest of the respondents who belonged to his party and committed the said offence along with five or six unknown miscreants. It is said that respondent Tribhawan and Ram Krit of the Kunwan village itself, Vishwanath, Bhagwan Singh and Vijai Singh of different districts committed this crime.

( 4 ) THE F. I. R. of this case was said to have been lodged by Harihar Singh who had got it written through one Ram Chander Pandey on 13/2/1977 at 8-35 p. m. at Police Station Shadiabad which lies at a distance of only about four miles from the village of occurrence.

( 5 ) IN the incident all the five respondents have been named in the First Information Report. All the respondents attributed their false implication due to enmity had denied their participation. They have filed several documents in support of their allegations to project the longstanding enmity but have not examined any witness in defence.

( 6 ) THESE are only two eye-witnesses of the incident in this case. The first one Harihar Singh (P. W. 1) and second one is Jag Narain Pathak (P. W. 2) who is a child witness. Apart from these witnesses four other witnesses have been examined which include the doctor and the Investigating Officer who registered the case.

( 7 ) THE trial Judge has records the acquittal primarily on the ground that it is impossible to believe that the F. I. R. was lodged at the time and place of occurrence as alleged. He has held that the F. I. R. cannot be said to have been lodged in that manner because. (1) The accused Tribhawan, and Ram Krit are the witnesses in the panchayatnama which was performed in the hospital where they were taken. If they were the accused having already been named in that F. I. R. , it was impossible to accept that they will be witnesses in the Panchayatnama. (2) The copy of the First Information Report had reached the police office on 17/8/1977. There is neither any explanation nor any evidence was led to cover up the said delay whereas in the normal course, had the F. I. R. been lodged as alleged, its copy (chik report) would have been bearing the seal of the police office of the same day or, at the most, that of the next day. (3) A copy of the First Information Report was not sent along with other papers which were forwarded to the doctor for conducting the post mortem examination. If the F. I. R. had already been lodged, there could have possibly been no reason why its copy would not have been sent to the doctor when normally in such cases copy of F. I. R. is always sent. (4) The defence of the two respondents Tribhawan and Ram Krit appear to be much more probable, for they had accompanied P. W. Harihar Singh upto the Police Station Ghazipur and till that moment they had absolutely no expectation that the tables will be turned as against them.

( 8 ) SRI Jagdish Tewari and Sri Shivaji Misra, learned A. G. A. have taken us through the evidence and from the perusal of the entire record it appears that the reasons given by the learned trial Judge in doubting the lodging of the First Information Report are accurate and based upon correct interpretation of the evidence produced by the prosecution.

( 9 ) ONCE it is held that in a dacoity case where the accused are named in the First Information Report as being the real miscreants and that the F. I. R. has been anti-timed, the F. I. R. itself becomes doubtful. There is no nee