IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH AT JABALPUR BEFORE HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE VIVEK KUMAR SINGH &

HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE AJAY KUMAR NIRANKARI ON THE 20th OF AUGUST, 2026 CRIMINAL APPEAL No. 1556 of 2010 DHANESH GUJRATI Versus THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH Appearance:

Shri Khalid Noor Fakhruddin - Advocate appearing as Amicus Curiae on behalf of the behalf.

Shri Shri Yash Soni - Government Advocate for respondent/State Heard on –20/08/2025 Pronounced on –21/01/2026 JUDGMENT Per: Justice Ajay Kumar Nirankari The present appeal has been filed by the appellant before this Court under section 374 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code, against the judgment dated 26.07.2010 passed by learned Special Judge (Atrocities), District Rewa(MP) in Special Case No.38/2009, whereby, the appellant has been convicted under Section 302 of IPC and sentenced to undergo RI for life imprisonment and fine of Rs.1,000/- with default stipulation.

2. Brief facts necessary for adjudication of the present case are that on 11.06.2009 at about 6:30 PM upon receiving telephonic information from an unknown person regarding a beating incident at Kabadi Mohalla, Inspector U.C. Tiwari reached the spot and found an unidentified male lying injured in front of a liquor shop. He immediately shifted the injured to S.G.M. Hospital, Rewa for medical treatment, where, upon examination the doctor declared him dead. The said information was recorded in the Rojnamcha. On the same day at about 8:30 PM, Vrindawan, uncle of the deceased Bhagwandas, lodged Marg Intimation No. 52/09 alleging that the deceased was his nephew who used to reside with his son Santosh, his parents having expired and his wife having deserted him. It is further alleged that at about 7:00 PM he received information regarding the death of the deceased at Kabadi Mohalla. On reaching there, he came to know that the deceased had been assaulted by Dhanesh Gujrati, Raj Bahadur Loniya and Lalli Loniya, as a result of which he succumbed to the injuries. Consequently, FIR bearing Crime No. 364/2009 was registered under Sections 302 and 34 of IPC against the present appellant and the co-accused namely Raj Bahadur Loniya and Lalli Loniya, and the investigation commenced. During the course of investigation, the police prepared the spot map, conducted Lash Panchnama, recorded statements of witnesses, seized the clothes of the deceased and other articles, arrested the accused persons and got the post-mortem examination conducted. As per the post-mortem report, the cause of death was due to ante-mortem injuries to the liver and spleen. Upon completion of investigation, the police filed a charge-sheet against all the accused persons under Sections 302 and 34 of IPC and Section 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act before the JMFC, District Rewa (M.P.), alleging that the accused persons, with the knowledge that the deceased belonged to the SC/ST community, assaulted him with common intention to cause his death.

3. Learned JMFC District Rewa (MP) after committal forwarded the matter to the learned Special Judge (Atrocities) District Rewa (MP) for commencement of trial, because trial has to be concluded by the learned Special Judge Atrocities which was registered as Special Session Trial No.39/2009 (State of M.P. Vs. Dhanesh Gujrati & Ors).

4. The learned Special Judge, District Rewa (MP) has framed the charge of Section 302/34 IPC and Section 3 (2) (5) of prevention of Atrocities Act on the accused persons. The accused persons refuse to accept the charges and wished to face the Trial.

5. In order to substantiate its case, the prosecution examined twelve witnesses (PW-1 to PW-12) and exhibited nineteen documents (Ex. P-1 to Ex. P-19). In rebuttal, the accused persons did not examine any defence witness. However, during the cross-examination of PW-9, they exhibited documents Ex. D-1 and Ex. D-2 in support of their defence. In their statements recorded under Section 313 of Cr.P.C., the accuse