IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Cr.Misc. No.29332 of 2008 Hargovind Singh, son of Late Bhagwat Dayal Singh, resident of village- Manjhiawan, P.S. Navinagar, District- Aurangabad …………. ……… Petitioner Versus The State of Bihar …………. ……….Opp.Party --------- 2. 29/09/2008 Heard learned senior counsel for the petitioner and learned counsel for the State. Present case has been instituted on the basis of a complaint filed by one Budhmani Devi wife of Satya Deo Chaudhary on 4th July, 2005, in which it was alleged that the brother of the complainant, namely, Raj Kumar Chauhan, was called by one accused Vinod Chauhan in the village on the pretext that this petitioner and others were calling him. When by midnight he did not return, this complainant went to the village and saw that Raj kumar Chauhan was being assaulted by petitioner and others by brick-bats and stones. Seeing the complainant and others, they were also threatened by the accused persons. Due to assault by the accused persons, said Raj Kumar Chauhan became seriously injured and by morning he died. He was taken to the police station and his dead body was handed over to the complainant and - 2 - after completing Shradh ceremony, this complaint was filed. Learned senior counsel for the petitioner has drawn the attention of this Court to Annexure-2, the statement of one Md.Kamal Akhtar, S.H.O. of Navinagar Police Station. From this statement, it appears that in the night of 28.6.2005 while the police party was on patrolling, they heard the sound of firing coming from village Shiv Sagar. They proceeded towards the village along with patrolling party of C.R.P.F. In the village, they saw a mob of 400-500 villagers, who had surrounded two injured culprits. They were informed that a gang of dacoits had assembled near the village for the purpose of committing dacoity in the village. After coming to know of the same, the villagers assembled and they retaliated. Firing followed and the villagers resorted to brick-bat, as a result of which two dacoits were injured and rest of them fled away. One injured was unconscious and the other injured disclosed his name as Ram Narayan Chauhan. He also disclosed the name of his accomplice, who was unconscious, as Raj Kumar - 3 - Chauhan. The police party took the two injured in custody and took them to hospital for their treatment. This statement of the S.H.O. was recorded on 28.6.2005 at 3.30 in the dead of night itself. From the statement of the S.H.O. it appears that the said Raj Kumar Chauhan, who subsequently died, was, in fact, one of the members of the gang, who had come to commit dacoity in the village, and on retaliation by the villagers, he along with another culprit was injured and both of them were taken into custody by the police. Thus, it appears that the present complaint filed by the complainant, which was registered as F.I.R. on the orders of the court, was in retaliation to the incident. By conjoint reading of the F.I.R. of this case as well as Annexure-2, it appears that in fact Raj Kumar Chauhan and other culprit sustained injuries at the hands of the villagers in self- defence and in retaliation to attempt of dacoity. Petitioner is one of the villagers, who are said to have retaliated to the attempt of dacoity by the mob and is in custody since 5.1.2008. - 4 - In the circumstances, this application is allowed. Let petitioner Hargovind Singh be enlarged on bail on furnishing bail bond of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees ten thousand) with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Aurangabad in Navinagar P.S.Case No.61 of 2005. Pradeep/ (J. N. Singh,J.)