IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH AT JABALPUR BEFORE HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE RAJENDRA KUMAR VANI

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ON THE 14 OF JANUARY, 2026 CRIMINAL APPEAL No. 592 of 2012 HITENDRA @ MUNNA AND OTHERS Versus THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH Appearance:

Shri Sanjay Kumar Kushwaha - Advocate for appellants.

Smt. Vineeta Sharma - Public Prosecutor for respondent/State.

ORDER With the consent of learned counsel for the parties, the matter is finally heard.

2. This appeal has been filed by the appellant under Section 374 (2) of Cr.P.C. being aggrieved by the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 18.02.2012 passed by the Special Judge (Atrocities) Seoni, District Seoni (M.P.) in Special Criminal Case No.30/2010 whereby the present appellants namely, Hitendra @ Munna, Kamal, Sitaram and Paikaram have been convicted under Section 448/34 of IPC each and sentenced to undergo three months RI each and fine of Rs.500/- each with default stipulations.

3. The prosecution story stated in brief is that on 01.03.2010 at about 3 p.m., when the informant PW-1 Smt. Kantabai along with PW-3 Alok and PW-6 were celebrating Holi festival, at that time, present appellants along with other co-accused persons came over there and abused them and stated that "Maro Mehro Ko, Salo Ne Vote Nahi Diye Hai". It is further alleged by the prosecution that accused/appellants entered into the house of complainant and assaulted the complainant party. On the basis of aforesaid information, offences punishable under Sections 147, 294, 323/149, 325/149, 427, 452, 506 of I.P.C. and Sec.3(1)(x) of Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 have been registered against present appellants vide Crime No.53/2010 with P.S.Barghat, District Seoni (M.P.)

along with other co-accused persons.

4. After the completion of the investigation, the charge sheet has been filed before Judicial Magistrate First Class, District Seoni (M.P.) who committed the matter to the court of learned Special Judge (Atrocities), District Seoni (M.P.) for trial.

5. The learned trial Judge on going through the evidence available in the chargesheet framed charges against the present appellants under Sections 147, 294, 323/149, 325/149, 427, 452, 506 Part-II of I.P.C. and Section 3(1) (x) of Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The appellants abjured their guilt and pleaded to be tried and further stated that they are innocent and have been falsely implicated.

6. In order to bring home the charges, the prosecution examined as many as 12 witnesses, which are Smt. Kanta Bai (PW-1), Swati Gadhpal (PW-2), Alok (PW-3), Dr. N.K. Gajbhiye (PW-4), Smt. Anita Gautam (PW-5), Aditya Dongre (PW-6), Jayaswal (PW-7), Shivnath (PW-8), Jaylal (PW-9), Head Constable Ramkumar (PW-10), Rakesh Chourasiya (PW-11) and Dr. K.C. Meshram (PW-12) and placed Ex.P/1 to P/20 the documents whereas in defence, the accused persons have examined Premsingh Kumre (DW-1) as defence witness and exhibited Ex.D/1 to D/3 the documents on record.

7. The learned trial Judge after appreciating and marshalling the evidence vide impugned judgment has convicted the appellants/accused for commission of offence under Sections 448 r/w 34 of IPC and sentenced them as mentioned in paragraph-1 of the this judgment. In this manner, the present appeal has been filed by the appellants.

8. At the outset, learned counsel for the appellant/accused submitted that he does not wish to challenge the conviction of the appellants for the aforesaid offences. The incident in question is of the year 2010. The dispute arose suddenly when in the village both the parties were present on spot for celebrating Holi festival and against both the parties, FIR has been lodged. At the time of incident, the appellants namely, Hitendra @ Munna, Kamal, Sitaram and Paikaram were aged about 41 years, 30 years, 56 years and 40 years respectively, and they are facing the ordeal of trial for a long period. As per the certificate issued under Se