JUDGMENT

1. In this case Dulli Kurmi was tried upon a number of charges, one of which was a charge of robbery, incorrectly framed u/s 397 of the Indian Penal Code, which section, as this Court has repeatedly remarked, does not in itself constitute any offence but merely conveys a direction to the Court in the matter of sentence in respect of certain aggravated forms of robbery or dacoity, while there was also a charge of murder u/s 302 of the Indian Penal Code. The facts deposed to by the prosecution witnesses are as follows: The complainant Sehdul was sleeping in his field to watch over the crop which was ripe or ripening. Shortly before dawn, three men entered the field and proceeded to plunder it of its crop. Sehdul came upon them after they had out a certain amount of the crop and had made it into bundles for convenience of removal. The thieves set upon him and he shouted for help. He himself received severe injuries from the lathis of the thieves and his neighbour Charittar, who pluckily came to his rescue, was felled to the ground and received such injuries that be died on the spot. The medical evidence shows that Charittar's head had been terribly shattered by a number of blo