JUDGMENT

Gangeshwar Prasad, J. - The nine appellants in this appeal were tried and convicted by the Additional Sessions Judge, Moradabad for murder, rioting and causing hurt. Each of them was awarded a sentence of life imprisonment under Section 3021149, I. P. C. and sentences of various terms of imprisonment under other appropriate sections of the I. P. C. with the 'direction that all the sentences would run concurrently.

2. The incident which led to the prosecution of the appellants was a fight between two parties. It occurred at noon on the 5th of May, 1965 in village Gulampur, Police Station Hasanpur, district Moradabad, and resulted in the death of two persons and injuries to three others of one party and the death of one person and injuries to six others of the other party. The case of the prosecution is as follows. Village Gulampur has only one well and all the residents of the village have to rely on it for water. At the time of the occurrence the water in the well was only knee deep. While one Haria Khagi was drawing water from the well his bucket fell down into it. He called Harnam for taking out his bucket. Harnam descended into the well and Haria stood on the platform of the well holding the rope. Just then Shibbi, who had his cattle shed near the well, happened to reach there for drawing water, He asked Haria why the latter was making the water of the well muddy. This led to an altercation in the course of which Haria and Shibbi grappled with each other and Haria threw Shibbi down on the ground. Shibbi thereupon raised an alarm in response to which Chiddan, Shiv Sahai, Reti, Buddhan, Tejram, Gullan, Chuttan and Doongar appellants along with Chiranji deceased reached there. Among them Doongar appellant was armed with boon (a sharp pointed weapon) and the rest with lathis. They caught hold of Haria and started pushing him down into the well. Haria cried out for help whereupon Ganga Sahai, Ram Charan, Nathan, Manori, Khacheru and some other persons of the village arrived there. The appellants, including Shibbi who brought out a lathi from his cattle-shed; and Chiranji then launched an attack on the persons who had come to the rescue of Haria, as a result of which Khacheru, Gur Sahai, Ram Charan, Nathan and Manori were injured. Out of them Khacheru died immediately and Gur Sahai succumbed to his injuries s&me time later. The rescuers of Haria also used lathis in defence and caused in-juries to Chiranji and Tej Ram out of whom Chiranji died on account of his in-juries after sometime. Soon after the occurrence Ganga Sahai went to Hasanpur and after getting a report scribed there by one Baldeo, a petition writer in the Tahsil, lodged it at Police Station Hasanpur, five and a half miles away from the scene of occurrence, at 1.20 p.m. A case on the basis of the report was registered and investigation was taken up.

3. The Station Officer, Mahendra Saxena, reached the scene at about 3 p.m. and there he found that besides Khacheru, Whose death had been reported by Ganga Sahai in the first information report, Gur Sahai and Chiranji had also died in consequence of the injuries sustained by them. Tejpal appellant, who was also injured in the incident, handed over to the Station Officer a report containing a different version of the occurrence and on the basis of that report another case was also registered at the Police Station. After holding inquest on the dead bodies of Khacheru, Gur Sahai and Chiranji the Station Officer des-patched them for postmortem examination. He also got Ram Charan, Nathan, Manori and Tej Ram medically examined. The postmortem report showed: the dead body of Khacheru had a lacerated wound on the top of the head and an abrasion on the back of right fore-arm; the dead body of Gur Sahai had one lacerated wound on the right side of head, one contusion on the chest, one abrasion infront of left leg, two abrasions on upper part of left shoulder blade and one abrasion on the lower part of right buttock; and the