JUDGMENT

1. The two applicants, Madho and Ramanand, have been convicted u/s 332 of the Indian Penal Code, for having caused simple hurt to a constable named Ram Partit and each of them has been sentenced to nine months' rigorous imprisonment. They have also been bound" down to keep the peace for one year u/s 1C6 of the Code of Criminal Procedure The facts as found are these. The two men with a third man named Mataphal Were returning from the Cantonment Magis. trate's Court and when they were nearing the pontoon bridge the constable Ram Partit, who was on duty, found that they were all armed with what the Magistrate calls formidable lathis. The constable enquired who they were and on being told that they were servants of a pragwal, he asked them to give up their lathis if they were not prepared to go to the thana. The men refused to surrender their lathis. The constable then told them that he would not allow them to proceed. Thereupon Madho attacked, him with a lathi and struck him several times. Ram Partit rushed at Madho and seized him by the waist and the two grappled with each other. Ramanand then struck Ram Partit with his fists until another constable appeared on the scene. For