[2025:RJ-JD:52782]

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT

JODHPUR

S.B. Criminal Appeal No. 413/1996 1. Kan Singh s/o Shri Kishore Singh 2. Nahar Singh s/o Shri Jagat Singh

3. Madhu Singh s/o Kan Singh

4. Roop Singh s/o Hamer Singh

5. Laxman Singh s/o Heer Singh 6. Nirbhay Singh s/o Roop Singh

All residents of Gudel, Tehsil Salumbar, District Udaipur.

----Appellants

Versus

State of Rajasthan

----Respondent

For Appellant(s) : Mr. Chakrawarti Singh Rathore

For Respondent(s) : Mr. Rajesh Bhati, AGA

Mr. Ravindra Singh, AGA

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE FARJAND ALI

Order

Judgment reserved on : 04/12/2025

Judgment pronounced on : 16/12/2025

1. The instant appeal under Section 374 (2) of the CrPC has been preferred assailing the judmgnet dated 05.08.1996 passed by the learned Special Judge, SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act Cases, Udaipur in Special Sessions Cae No.49/1993, whereby the

appellants have been convicted and sentenced as under :-

Offence Sentence Fine Sentence for for of imposed default in which convicted imprisonment payment of

awarded fine

Section 147 IPC 6 months’ SI - - Section 447 IPC 1 month’s SI - -

Section 427/1496 months’ SI Rs.500/- 2 months’ S.I.

IPC

Section 3(1)(5) of6 months’ SI Rs.500/- 2 months’ S.I.

the SC/ST Act

2. The prosecution case is that the complainant, Shankar Salvi, a resident of village Gudel, was allotted a residential plot measuring 25 feet × 25 feet by the Gram Panchayat under a welfare scheme and was in possession thereof. It was alleged that when the complainant commenced construction of a residential house over the said plot, the accused persons, who were residents of the same village, objected to such construction. It was further alleged that on 27.08.1993 at about 8:00 p.m., the accused persons, forming an unlawful assembly, trespassed upon the complainant’s plot and demolished the construction raised thereon, causing loss estimated at about ₹15,000/-. On the basis of a complaint submitted by the complainant, the matter was referred for investigation under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C., whereafter a charge-sheet was filed against the accused persons for offences under Sections 147, 447, 427 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code and under the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The case being triable by the Special Court, it was committed accordingly. During trial, the prosecution examined the complainant, his family members, neighbouring witnesses, the then Sarpanch and the Investigating Officer. The defence also led evidence and disputed the prosecution version, including the complainant’s possession over the disputed land. Upon appreciation of the evidence on record, the learned Special Judge acquitted the accused of the charge relating to caste-based intentional insult but convicted them for the offences under Sections 147, 447, 427 read with Section 149 IPC and under the relevant provision of the SC/ST Act, and sentenced them as above. Aggrieved thereby, the accused have preferred the present appeal.

3. Learned counsel for the appellants submits that the appellants do not assail the conviction recorded by the learned trial court and confine their submissions only to the question of sentence.

4. On the point of sentence, it is submitted that the present case relates to an incident of the year 1993, and for more than three decades the appellants have undergone the ordeal of criminal proceedings. The prolonged pendency of the matter has itself operated as a substantial punishment and deterrent. The dispute had its genesis in a civil litigation relating to land, which was pending between the parties, both of whom belong to the same village, and the incident arose out of a localised property dispute rather than any hardened criminal intent. Learned counsel submits that the age of the appellants at the time of the incident, coupled with their present advanced age, is a significant mitigating circumstance. Some of the appellants were of immature age at the relevant time