IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CRIMINAL APPEAL (SJ) No.227 of 2014 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-27 Year-1996 Thana- SULTANGANJ District- Bhagalpur ======================================================

1. Bipin Yadav Son of Shiv Shahi Yadav

2. Shiv Shahi Yadav Son of Late Mohan Yadav

3. Umesh Yadav Son of Shiv Shahi Yadav All resident of Village Mirhatti, P.S. Sultanganj, District Bhagalpur ... ... Appellant/s Versus The State Of Bihar ... ... Respondent/s ======================================================

Appearance :

For the Appellant/s : Ms.Pravina Kumari, Advocate For the Respondent/s : Mr. Abhay Kumar, APP ======================================================

CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PURNENDU SINGH

ORAL JUDGMENT

Date : 10-03-2026 Heard Ms. Pravina Kumari, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner and Mr. Abhay Kumar, learned APP for the State.

2. The present appeal has been filed under Section

374 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure challenging the judgment of conviction dated 11.03.2014 and order of sentence dated 14.03.2014 passed by the Adhoc Additional District and Sessions Judge, Bhagalpur in S.T. No.1403/04, arising out of Sultanganj P.S. Case No. 27/1996, whereby and whereunder the appellants have been convicted for the offence punishable under Section 307 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code and have been sentenced to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for three years along with a fine of Rs.2,000/- each and in default of payment of fine to further undergo simple Imprisonment for six months. Further appellant no.3 has been convicted for the offence punishable under Section 27 of the Arms Act and has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and a fine of Rs.1,000/- and in default of payment of fine to further undergo imprisonment for three months.

3. During the pendency of this appeal, the appellant no.2 namely, Shiv Shahi Yadav had died and as such the present appeal stood abated as against him and therefore, now, this appeal is restricted only with respect to appellants no.1 and 3.

4. Being aggrieved by and dissatisfied with the aforesaid judgment of conviction and order of sentence, the appellants have preferred the present appeal before this Court. The appellants have assailed the impugned judgment primarily on the ground that the learned trial court failed to appreciate the evidence available on record in its proper perspective and has wrongly recorded the conviction of the appellants despite the existence of serious contradictions and deficiencies in the prosecution case.

5. Prosecution case in brief is that on 31.1.1996, at about 5:30 a.m., while the informant after tying his cattle to the manger and was sitting near the bonfire, the accused persons, namely, Umesh Yadav (appellant no.3), Bipin Yadav (appellant no.1), and Shivshahi Yadav (deceased appellant no.2) came and complained that your elder brother/Surendra Yadav has uprooted their crops and thereafter the accused persons started abusing the informant and his own brother Sundar Yadav. When the informant stopped them to to abuse, then Shivshahi Yadav gave order for assaulting him, upon which Umesh Yadav (appellant no.3) fired upon the informant. The bullet hit the right paw of the informant. On hearing the noise, Naresh Kumar Yadav, Adhori Yadav, Tuntun Yadav and other people from the vicinity came and saw the incident. Seeing the people, the accused run away from the place of occurrence. Regarding the above incident, the fardebyan of the informant was recorded on

31.01.1996 at 07:00 a.m. at Referral Hospital, Sultanganj.

6. On the basis of the statement of the informant, the F.I.R being Sultanganj P.S. Case No. 27/1996 was registered for the offences under sections 324, 307, 504/34 of the I.P.C and under section 27 of the Arms Act. After institution of the FIR, the police proceeded with the investigation and after completion of investigation, charge-sheet was submitted. Thereafter, the trial court took cognizance again