Delay in lodging the FIR does not necessarily defeat the prosecution case. Every criminal case should be decided on its own merit. The court should consider a counter case arising from the same incident and may try both cases simultaneously. The court may consider the application of Section 360 of Cr.P.C. and the Probation of Offenders Act in sentencing the accused.

JUDGMENT

This criminal revision is directed against Judgment & Order of conviction and sentence dated 12.02.2009 passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge, Belonia, South Tripura in Criminal Appeal No. 04 of 2009 whereby the learned Additional Sessions Judge upheld the Judgment & Order of conviction and sentence dated 27.12.2008 passed by learned SDJM, Belonia in Case No. G.R. 116 of 2001 with some modification of sentence.

2. The convict Dulal Dey along with four other accused persons were charged together for commission of offence punishable under Section 148/325/323 read with Section 149 of IPC in connection with Case No. G.R. 116 of 2001 in the Court of learned SDJM, Belonia and learned SDJM found accused Dulal Dey, Amrita Majumder, Anadi Basak and Anil Majumder guilty of committing offence punishable under Section 323 of IPC and sentenced all of them to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- each in default of payment to suffer S.I. for three months. Learned SDJM also found accused Dulal Dey guilty of committing offence punishable under Section325 of IPC and sentenced him to suffer R.I. for one year and to pay a fine of Rs. 3,000/- in default of payment to suffer S.I. for three months.

Aggrieved, the convict Dulal Dey preferred Criminal Appeal No. 04 of 2009 in the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge, Belonia and learned Additional Sessions Judge set aside the conviction of accused under Section 323 of IPC, but upheld the conviction and sentence under Section 325 of IPC and accordingly, dismissed the appeal.

3. Hence, the present revisional application is filed by the petitioner on behalf of the accused-convict, Dulal Dey challenging the judgment passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Belonia.

4. Briefly stated the fact of the case, necessary for disposal of the revisional application is that on 07.06.2001 at about 10/11 p.m., P.W. 7 Babul Majumder had been in the house of the informant Putul Rani Majumder (P.W. 1) at village Baraiya under P.S. P.R. Bari to take dinner on an invitation of Putul Rani. At that time, the accused Dulal Dey along with six other FIR named accused persons trespassed in the house of Putul Rani armed with iron rod, dao, lathi etc. forcefully broken open the door of the hut and beaten up Dulal Dey and Putul Rani inflicting severe injuries. The villagers rushed to the house of Putul Rani hearing alarm and thereafter, the accused persons left the place. The victim Putul Rani and Babul Majumder both suffered severe injuries and they were taken to Nihar Nagar Primary Health Center for treatment. Injuries suffered by Babul since was serious he was referred to Belonia hospital and he was under treatment at Belonia hospital as an indoor patient.

5. On the basis of an FIR lodged by Putul Rani Majumder on 20.06.2001, O.C., P.R. Bari P.S. registered P.R. Bari P.S. Case No. 22 of 2001 under Sections 148/149/457/395/326/354 read with Section 34 of IPC and an investigation was taken up. After completion of investigation, charge sheet was submitted against the accused persons under Section 148/149/323 and 325 of IPC.

Cognizance was taken by learned SDJM on the basis of police report and in due course, after compliance of formalities, charges were framed against the accused persons for the offence alleged to which, they pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.

To prove the charges, prosecution examined 10 witnesses. After closure of the prosecution evidence, the accused Dulal Dey and other accused persons were examined under Section 313 Cr.P.C. and in their turn, they adduced no defence evidence.

6. Defence case so far suggested in the cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses is that of denial of the prosecution case and further stated that accused Dulal Dey and accused Amrita Majumder were beaten up by the victim Putul Rani Majumder and Babul Majumder and as a result, both Dulal and Amrita sustained injuries and were treated in the hospital. They also instituted a case against Putul Rani Maju