mWvm m mm (Wu) awmm ' WW %€1W %&T‘mm mmm HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILA$PUR HON’BLE SHRI D I ENDRA MISHRA HON BLE SHRI DILI RAOSAHEB DESHMUKH JJ. a f Appenants Accused [in iail) 3 Coram: 26 years, Occupation Majduri, Rio Bha puri, Distt. Bastar (C.G.) Bhaj n Ram, S/o Dashgu Ram, aged abo 3:5‘years, Occupation -— Majduri, Villa e — Amrigarapara, Nandpura, P.S. hanpuri, Distt. Bastar (C.G.) Respondent -- a Prosecution GNT (Delivered 26.02.2009) ORA Present: Ku Minu Banerjee counsel forthe appeilants. Shn Praveen Das Deputy Government Advocate for the State. J o The following oral judgm \ Dhirendra Mishra, J.‘ of the Court was delivered by ,, .r . u t . . ,V ,a»ugzwavwnwn:w e This Criminal Appeal uF‘d r Section 374 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure is directed ag inst the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 14‘“ Jan ry, 2004 passed in Sessions Trial Noi 428 of r2003 whereby the i med Sessions Judge, Bastar has ,s s _ convicted the appellants under Se ion 302 read with Section 34 of the l.P.C. for causing homicidal d ath: ‘of deceased Bhanmati and sentenced them with life imprisonm nt.’ "c‘t‘ 2. Case of the prosecution as Levealed from the First information Report Ex.P.‘l.<is that the deceased Bhanmati was the owner of the land admeasuring 2.70 acres situated at village Nandpura, which she had entrusted her land to the appel ants for cultivation on annual lease as she was residing at Jagdalpur. 5 — 6 days before on Friday she returned to her village Nandpura and refunded Rs.1400/- to the appellant Baidu Ram and took )ack the said land for her own cultivation. Enraged by her act, the appellant Baidu Ram picked up quarrel on Monday and threat ed the deceased of the dire consequences Subsequently o Tuesday also, the appellants quarrelled with the deceased. A ay before the lodging of the First Information Report at about 7.00 p. r, the appellants came there and \ i maxim i ammm a r wm‘ 206 m‘m (mm %;a?‘faum Wt staned quarremng Mth the deceasfu Gora Ram tried to restrairi them the deceased on her neck, as a rlsult she fell on the graund. Aiter from quarrelling‘ AppeHant Baidu am was holding axe. He assaulted assaulting he fled from there. Al't at time Bhajan Ram was exhortlng Baidu Ram to kill the deceased. My? i 3. Gora ham P,W.1 lodged First Information Report Ex P.1 on the next day i.e. 0h 30.07.2003 at 8.0 and performingnnquest over the d ad. body vide Ex.P.7, dead body i was sent for autopsy to Commun i A.M. Alter registering the offence Health Center, Bhanpuri, Distt. Bastar where Dr. K.S.Paikra perfo the post-mortem and submitted his report vide Ex.P.21. On mem randum Ex.P.10 of the appellant ‘ Baidu Ram. weapon of offence axe as seized. from him vide seizure memo Ex.P.11. The. seized ax. was sent for examination to Dr. K.S.Paikra who submitted his re ort vide Ex.P.23 and opined that incised injury over person of the d ceased could be caused by the above axe. The articles seized d ring investigation Le. plain soil, bloodstained soil, bloodstained axe and bloodstained blouse of the deceased were sent for chemical xamination to Forensic Science N Laboratory. Raipur vide Ex P16. \ w w... 0 r d m :....mf2.69 7 m Mm (W) WWW ' ' —q~ mm*mm wmqwm 4‘ After compléiing inve3tigation, charge sheet was med in the Court of Judicial Magistrate Firt Class, Jagdalpur who in turn i committed the case to the Court o Sessions Judge for trial. Learned Sessions Judge framed charge uh er Section 302 read with Section 34 of the l.P.C. against the appellants ho abjured their guilt. i a f 5. In order to establish char es, the prosecution examined 8 witnesses. Thereafter, statemen of accused was recorded under Section 313 of‘the Cr.P.C. The a pellants denied the circumstances i appearing against them in the prosecution \case and pleaded ' innocence and false implication due o animosity. 6. The trial Court after hearin the counsel for the respective parties, convicted and sentenced th appellants as mentioned above. 7. Learned counsel for the app llant submitted that the conviction of the appellants is based on the e idence of complainant Gora Ram Baghel P.W.1 and eye-witness Me ars‘P.W.2. The complainant has made significant improvement in his statement before the Court as he has stated that while the appellant idu Ram assaulted the deceased with an axe, appellant Bhajan Ram ad caught. hold of her, though in the First , information V Report, . the ¥ ab ,, ve , fact , has not u been mentioned; s, ' \ 7”, W n '\ Wm W 20$” ’ mm (We) WWW mmWaW wm ugjg #sifiwm : The prosecution witness Mehtt r has also made the above 5 improvement in his evidence before the Court. She further contended that the incident occurred due to ’udden provocation on the spur of movement as the deceased took'b ck the land, which she had given : fortcultivation to the appellants. Th y had already sown paddy, crop in 1 the said field- The appellant Baidu am gave only a single blow on the 1 netik of the deceased which was no sufhclent to cause her death in the 1 ordinary course of nature, and erefore, the appellants had no intention to cause her death nor th y had knowledge that the assault shall result in her death. The otten e does not travel beyondSection 304 Part4 or Part-H. 8. On the other hand, learned clcunsei for the State has supported the impugned judgment.- 9. We have heard learned coursel for the parties and perused the record of the tn‘al Court as also the impugned iudgment. The R conviction of the appellants is bas on the evidence of Gora Ram Baghel P.W.1 and eye witness Meht N 10. Homicidal death of the dec tased Bhanmati is not in dispute. 4‘ Even otherwise fromthe evidence of Gora Ram Baghei P.W.1 and \\i ar P.W.2. ' ‘e- r msamwwmu W‘W; W W3? mm W200” ’ ' m>m (W) Wmm 4 ’6“ Ii W.mhma‘iiétrgm éaaifdwm Mehttar P.W.2 who have seen the ppellant Baidu Ram assautting the deceased with an axe over her nec , as a result, she fell on the ground and fulther considering the evidenc of Dr. K.S.Paikra Plw46, who has conducted post-mortem and found n incised injury of size‘l 34" x 1 ‘2" (enfd proved his report Ex‘P.21 and has opined that cause of death is 1 shock due tQinjury over her neck nd homicidal in nature, the fact of ’ homicidal death of Bhanmati is esta lished. $ 11. Complainant Gora Ram Ba hel, who is eye witness of the, incident, has categorically stated ackground in which the dispute i arose between the deceased and t e appellants. He has also stated that on the date of incident, the pellant Baidu Ram with an axe, accompanied by appellant Bhaja Ram, came to the deceased Bhanmati and picked up a quarrel a d assaulted her with axe over her neck. Prior to the date of incide t also, the appellant Baidu Ram threatened that the deceased shal be facing consequences for her acts, and therefore, in our consider Opinion that the argument df the learned counsel for the appellantst the incident occurred as a result of sudden and grave provocation c not be accepted. The version of Gora Ram Baghel is corroborated in material particulars from the evidence of Mehttar P.W,2. Theref re, in our considered opinion, the *1 ’ ” Iii . war-4 maritweyw‘wt trial ourt has rigliily held the app "ant Baidu Ram to tie responsible .for causing death of Bhanmati by a ault over her neck with axe‘ 12. However, we iind force 3n th argument of the teamed counsel or the applants tht the prosec ion witnesses Gora Ram Baghel ' «end Mehtar ave made material improvement in their deposition befor the‘ Court that while app llant Baidu Ram assaulted the aceased over he neck by axe, the ppellant Bhajan Ram caught hold of her. he ave fact is missing fro the First Information Report and th case diary statement of Ex.D.1 o P.W.2 Mehttar. 13c ln th result, the appeal pref rred by Bhajan Ram is allowed. His conviction and sentence under S ction 302 read with Section 34 of the l.P.C. is setside nd he is acqu ted of all charges, He is on bail. is il onds are scharged. The peal of the appellant Baidu Ram is liale for dismissal and the same is ismissed accordingly. Sd/- DmRENDRA MIsHRA V Judge - l E. l Dilip Raosaheb Sdl- DeShmlfraar' kh " ’ '\ Judge l , kw — ~ «w.asmy C f el a 1 t h e d r T bo e e 'a a H ba b di b