Case Facts:
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Criminal Appeal (DB) No.390 of 1990 =========================================================== Munna Singh, son of Paddum Narain Sharma, resident of Village Niberiya, P.S. Nawadah, Dist. Nawadah. .... .... Appellant Versus The State of Bihar .... .... Respondent With Criminal Appeal (DB) No. 381 of 1990 =========================================================== Upendra Singh, son of Sri Bindeshwari Singh, resident of Village Baleya, P.S. Akbarpur, Dist. Nawadah. .... .... Appellant Versus The State of Bihar .... .... Respondent with Criminal Appeal (DB) No. 401 of 1990 =========================================================== Ramashray Singh, son of Sri Kamleshwar Singh, resident of Village Bhadaus, P.S. Sheikhpura, Dist. Munger. .... .... Appellant Versus The State of Bihar .... .... Respondent with Criminal Appeal (DB) No. 419 of 1990 =========================================================== Lalo Singh, son of Sheonandan Singh, resident of Village Pacharha, P.S. Hassua in the district of Nawadah. .... .... Appellant Versus The State of Bihar .... .... Respondent =========================================================== Appearance :- For the Appellants :- Mr. Rana Pratap Singh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Uday Shankar Sharan Singh, Adv. Mr. Aaruni Singh, Adv. Mr. Sumant Singh, Adv. For the State :- Miss Shashi Bala Verma, APP =========================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MIHIR KUMAR JHA and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ADITYA KUMAR TRIVEDI ORAL JUDGMENT (Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MIHIR KUMAR JHA) Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.390 of 1990 dt.16-10-2012 2 Date: 16-10-2012 All these four appeals arise out of the common judgment dated 6.9.1990 passed by the First additional Sessions Judge, Nawadah in Sessions Trial No. 600 of 1988/9 of 1988, whereby and whereunder, all the four appellants, namely, Lalo Singh, Munna Singh, Ramashray Singh and Upendra Singh have been convicted for offence under [STATUTE] and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life. 2. The prosecution case arising out of Nawadah P.S. Case No. 106 of 1982 is based on the Fardbeyan of Ashok Kumar (P.W.7) who at 10.30 AM on 24.4.1982 had stated before the police officer that on 23.4.1982 at about 1 PM in the afternoon, he along with his servants Mewa Lal, Rajendra Prasad and Ravindra Prasad were sitting in his shop of tea and refreshment and seen appellant Lalo Singh, Munna Singh and Gurujee @ Ramashray Singh along with four others to have come to his shop. It is the case of the informant that appellant Lalo Singh after his arrival had given an order to his servant Mewa Lal to bring seven cups of tea for them on which his servant Mewa Lal had replied that since there was no milk in the shop, tea could not be provided to them. It is alleged by the informant that on refusal by his servant to serve tea, all the seven persons including appellant Lalo Singh had started assaulting him (Mewa Lal) Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.390 of 1990 dt.16-10-2012 3 by fist and slaps leading to some commotion on which his elder brother Ram Nandan Prasad had come down from his house and had questioned the appellants and others the reason as with regard to assaulting his servant. It is said that the appellant Lalo Singh on this query alone made, by Ram Nandan Prasad, had exhorted to kill and, thereafter, the appellant Munna Singh, Gurujee @ Ramashraya Singh and others had caught hold of his brother Ram Nandan Prasad, whereafter, the appellant Lalo Singh from the rear had hit on the head of his brother with a wooden plank resulting into open injury on the head of his brother and his becoming unconscious and falling down on the ground outside his shop. 3. The informant has also stated that after seeing his brother becoming unconscious, appellant Lalo Singh had said that he had died and had accordingly escaped from the place. According to the informant, many persons thereafter had arrived at the place of occurrence who could also narrate the entire occurrence. The informant had further claimed that he along with others had carried his injured brother to Nawadah hospital but the doctors at Nawadah in the next morning i.e. in the morning of 24.4.1982, had advised him to take him to Patna as his condition had deteriorated. The Informant has stated that thereafter his brother was taken away by Durga Prasad, Kedar Prasad along with others to Patna. The informant has also Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.390 of 1990 dt.16-10-2012 4 explained that since his brother was unconscious, he could not give his own statement, leaving him (informant) to give it to the police. 4. On the basis of the aforesaid Fardbeyan, the police had instituted the aforementioned Nawadah P.S. Case No. 106 of 1982 on 24.4.1982, whereafter, in course of investigation, it had found materials against the appellant Lalo Singh, Munna Singh, Ramashray Singh and Upendra Singh as also one Shrawan Kumar and after the charge-sheet was submitted against them all the accused persons were put on trial leading to the impugned judgment of conviction and sentence and resulting into these four appeals. It has to be noted that another co-accused Shrawan Kumar, who was also put on trial along with four appellants, was however acquitted by the trial court itself. 5. Mr. Rana Pratap Singh, learned senior counsel for Lalo Singh, Ramashray Singh and Upendra Singh and Mr. Uday Shankar Sharan Singh appearing for the appellant Munna Singh, had assailed the impugned judgment on several grounds but, their main attack has been that when the prosecution case itself was delayed by almost 24 hours and the injury alleged in the First Information Report also did not tally with the one found by the doctor holding postmortem, the benefit thereof had to be given to the accused appellants but, the trial court has entered into the realm of surmises and conjectures in recording their conviction. In this re

Applicable IPC Section: 302

Statute Text:
Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. Murder. Whoever commits murder shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.