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SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
P.N. BHAGWATI AND S. MURTAZA FAZL ALI, JJ
Lakshmi Singh and others etc., Appellants
Versus
State of Bihar, Respondent.
Criminal Appeals Nos. 284 and 285 of 1971.
Decided on 10-9-1976.
Advocates appeared
Mr. B. P. Singh and Mr. A. K. Srivastava Advocates, for Appellants; Mr. U. P. Singh, and Mr. S. N. Jha, Advocates, for Respondent.
Indian Penal Code,1860 - Sections 302/149, 325, 148 and 147 – Offence of murder – Appeal against convicted - Sort of partition between the two cousins - Appellant Ramsagar Singh and his brother Dasrath Singhwere full brothers being sons - They were resident of village Alipur Hatha, police station Mohnar - Deceased Chulhai and one Ramasray were the first cousins of these two persons and the deceased Brahmdeo was a nephew - It appears from the prosecution case two families were living together in same house in different portions having a common courtyard - There was some sort of partition between the two cousins and their children in which portions of the house were allotted to eachbranch. Jaiwanti daughter of Ramdayal Singh one of the sons Chulhai Singh was married 1968 and Dasain Singh and others had fixed a Marwa in their common court-yard - Marriage passed off peacefully and appellants never objected either to marriage being held in the court-yard orto construction – Held, Court has hardly made any real attempt to analyse or discuss the evidence and has merely affirmed the finding of Sessions Judge by narrating the evidence relied upon by it – Court have already pointed out on one of most important points arising in a criminal trail, namely, the non-explanation of the injuries on person of the accused by the prosecution, the High Court has not only committed an error of fact but an error of law by showing a lack of proper appreciation of theprinciples decided by Court - For these reasons – Court think there arespecial circumstances in present case which have compelled us to interfere in this appeal by special leave - Appeals allowed
JUDGMENT
FAZL ALI, J:— In these criminal appeals Nos.284 and 285 of 1971 by special leave, seven persons, namely, Lakshmi Singh. Jagdhari Singh, Jagdish Singh, Chhathu Singh, Dasrath Singh, Ramprasad Singh alias Ramprasad Sah and Ramsagar Singh had been put on trial for the murder of two persons, namely, Chulhai and Brahmdeo and were tried by the Sessions Judge, Muzaffarpur, who by his order dated November 30, 1968 convicted the appellant Lakshmi Singh under Section 302, I.P.C. to imprisonment for life. All the other accused were convicted under Section 302/149, I.P.C. and sentenced to imprisonment for life. Accused Jagdhari Singh was convicted under Section 325, I.P.C. and sentences to six months regroups imprisonment, while the accused Ramsagar Singh, Lakshmi Singh and Dasrath Singh were convicted under Section 148 I.P.C. and sentenced to one years rigorous imprisonment. Ramprasad Sah, Jagdhari Singh, Jagdish Singh and Chhathu Singh were further convicted under Section 147, I.P.C. and sentenced to six months rigorous imprisonment, The learned Sessions Judge ordered all the sentences to run concurrently. The appellants filed two separate appeals before the High Court of Patna which dismissed the appeals and affirmed the convictions as also the sentences passed against the appellants. Appellants Lakshmi Singh, Jagdhari Singh, Jagdish Singh, Ramsagar Singh and Dasrath Singh have filed Criminal Appeal No.284 while Chhathu Singh and Ramprasad Singh alias Ramprasad Sah have filed Appeal No.285. As however both the appeals arise out of the same judgement, we propose to decide these appeals by one judgement.
2. This is an unfortunate case in which two persons appear to have lost their lives over a very petty and trivial dispute. On a perusal of the evidence and the circumstances of the case, we feel that the prosecution has not come out with the true version and the result is that the murder of the two persons has to go unpunished, and this is yet another misfortune of the case, but if the prosecution dose not choose to put forward the true version it is to be itself squarely blamed for the failure of the case.
3. Briefly put, the facts may be summarised as follows :
Appellant Ramsagar Singh and his brother Dasrath Singhwere full brothers being sons of Maharaj Singh. They were resident of village Alipur Hatha, police station Mohnar. The deceased Chulhai and one Ramasray were the first cousins of these two persons and the deceased Brahmdeo was a nephew of Chulhai. It appears from the prosecution case that the two families were living together in the same house in different portions having a common courtyard. There was some sort of partition between the two cousins and their children in which portions of the house were allotted to eachbranch. Jaiwanti daughter of Ramdayal Singh one of the sons Chulhai Singh was married on April 18, 1968 and Dasain Singh and others had fixed a Marwa (marriage platform) in their common court-yard. The marriage passed off peacefully and the appellants Ramsagar Singh and Dasrath Singh never objected either to the marriage being held in the court-yard orto the construction of the Marwa. Three days later i.e. on April 21, 1966, which according to the prosecution happened to be the day when the Chuthari ceremony had been performed at about 4 P.M. when Dasain Singh his father Chulhai Singh and others were sitting in the house the appellants Ramsagar Singh and Dasrath Singh armed with Bhala and Bana respectively appeared on the scene and asked Chauhai Singh and Dasain Singh to demolish the Marwa. Chulhai Singh, however, protested and refused to demolish the Marwa because it was customaryin the family not to demolish the Marwa until 1 1/2 months from the date of the marriage has elapsed. This led to an exchange of hot words and an altercation in the course of which other five appellants namely, Lakshami Singh, Ramprasad Singh. Jagdhari Singh, Jagdish Singh and Chhathu Singh joined the two appellants Ramsagar Singh
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