Judgment

BY THE COURT: (Per Hon’ble Mr. Justice Vinit Kumar Mathur)

1. The instant D.B. Criminal Appeal has been preferred by the accused-appellants under Section 374 of the Code of Criminal Procedure assailing the validity of the judgment dated 04.12.2002 passed by learned Additional District and Sessions Judge (Fast Track), Anoopgarh, District Sri Ganganagar (hereinafter referred to as “the learned trial court”) in Sessions Case No. 98/2001, whereby the accused-appellants were convicted and sentenced in the following manner:-

All the sentences were ordered to run concurrently

2. As per the prosecution case, a written report was submitted by the complainant, Rajaram @ Rajjiram, son of Manfoolram, resident of village Dhandhra, alleging therein that on 02.10.1999 at about 6:00 P.M., his real brother, Mukhram, had gone to a mechanic shop (Mistri) situated within the jurisdiction of Police Station Ramsinghpur for getting his bullock-cart repaired. It was further alleged that the complainant and his brother had an existing dispute with Govind Ram and Roopa Ram Jakhar regarding a passage through their agricultural land. It was further alleged that while the complainant was sitting at the house of Maluram situated near the mechanic shop (Mistri), he heard hue and cry emanating from the said place. Upon rushing towards the mechanic shop (Mistri), he allegedly saw accused persons, namely, Laxman Ram, Krishna Ram, Hanuman, Prabhu Ram, Lekh Ram, sons of Govind Ram, and Raja Ram and Devi Lal, sons of Rupa Ram, surrounding and assaulting his brother Mukhram. It was alleged that accused-appellant Rajaram was armed with a sharp-edged weapon (Gandasi), accused-appellants Laxman Ram and Devi Lal were armed with a sickle (kasiya), whereas the remaining accused persons were armed with axe (Gandasi) and lathi. According to the complainant, when he and other family members attempted to intervene and rescue Mukhram, accused-appellant Raja Ram allegedly inflicted a blow on the head of Mukhram with a sharp-edged weapon (Gandasi) with the intention to cause his death, while accused-appellant Laxman Ram caused injuries on his leg with a sickle (kasiya), as a result whereof, Mukhram fell on the ground. Thereafter, all the accused persons allegedly assaulted Mukhram with their respective weapons, namely axes (Gandasi), sickles (kasiya) and Lathis. It was further alleged that when the complainant tried to save his brother, accused-appellant Raja Ram inflicted a blow on his head and the remaining accused persons caused injuries on his calves and right shoulder. Even after Mukhram had fallen on the ground, the accused persons allegedly continued inflicting injuries upon him. On hearing the commotion, Krishna, Netram son of Poosaram, Asaram son of Kushlaram, along with other villagers, reached the spot, whereupon the accused persons fled from the place of occurrence. Thereafter, the complainant and the injured Mukhram were taken through jeep to the Government Hospital at Sri Vijayanagar for treatment. However, Mukhram succumbed to the injuries sustained by him. Upon receiving information regarding the incident, the police reached at the Governm