IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CRIMINAL APPEAL (SJ) No.532 of 2003 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-71 Year-1993 Thana- MAGADH MEDICAL COLLEGE District- Gaya ======================================================

1. Awadh Singh Son of Sri Satrughn Singh Resident of Village - Chaparadah, P.S. - Magadh Medical, District - Gaya

2. Birju Singh Son of Sri Satrughn Singh Resident of Village - Chaparadah, P.S. - Magadh Medical, District - Gaya ... ... Appellants Versus The State of Bihar ... ... Respondents ======================================================

Appearance :

For the Appellant : Mr. Abhishek Kumar, Amicus Curiae For the State : Mr. A.M.P. Mehta, APP For the Informant : Mr. Rashid Izhar, Advocate ======================================================

CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SANDEEP KUMAR C.A.V. JUDGMENT Date : 27-02-2026 The present appeal is filed under section 374(2)

read with section 389(1) of the Code of Criminal procedure, 1973 (herein after “Cr.P.C.”) challenging the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 22.11.2003 passed by the learned 7^th Additional Session Judge, Gaya, in connection with Sessions Trial No.75 of 1999, whereby the appellants Awadh Singh and Naro Singh @ Narendra Singh (since deceased) have been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years for the offence under section 324 of the Indian Penal Code (for short “I.P.C.”) and the appellant- Awadh Singh has been further sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years for the offence under section 27 of the Arms Act. Both the sentences, imposed upon aforesaid appellants were directed to run concurrently. Whereas, appellant- Birju Singh has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years for the offence under section 325 of the I.P.C. No separate sentence has been imposed upon the convicted-appellants under section

149 of the I.P.C.

2. During the pendency of this appeal, the original appellant no.2 namely, Naro Singh @ Narendra Singh had died and vide order dated 29.08.2024, the appeal stood abated as against him and therefore, now, this appeal is restricted only with respect to appellants herein.

3. The prosecution case is that the informant namely, Ramdeo Yadav, made a statement before the Officer-in- Charge of Magadh Medical Police Station stating therein that on 08.11.1993 at about 12.00 noon while the informant was cultivating a piece of land with a tractor along with his sons, the appellants along with three to four unknown persons came there, armed with different weapons like Garasa and Bhala and surrounded the informant and asked him not to cultivate the said land otherwise he would be killed by them. Thereafter, the accused persons stopped the tractor and the appellant - Awadh Singh, fired upon the informant but he managed to escape the shot and took shelter behind the tractor. Thereafter, the appellant - Birju Singh dragged the informant in open area and assaulted him with lathi and the appellant -Naro Singh (since deceased) assaulted the informant with Garasa. In the said assault, the informant sustained cut injury on his left palm and fracture in his left hand and some minor injuries on the rest of his body. It is also alleged that when the informant fell on the ground, the accused persons also assaulted the sons of the informant, however, upon hearing the hulla, the local persons came there. It is further alleged that the occurrence was seen by one Laknan Yadav, Jatan Yadav and other local people and the cause of occurrence is that in the previous year the Court had appointed the informant as Receiver of the land in question and in pursuance thereof, the informant used to cultivate the said land. It is next alleged that the accused persons used to threaten the informant for not cultivating the land in question.

4. On the basis of the statement of the informant, the F.I.R being Magadh Medical P.S. Case No.71 of 1993 dated 08.11.1993 was registered for the offence under sections 147, 148,