HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH AT SHIMLA Cr.A. No.: 151 of 2002 Decided on: 12.12.2008. State of Himachal Pradesh ………Appellant. Versus Kishan Lal and others. ………Respondents. Coram: The Hon’ble Mr.Justice V.K. Ahuja, Judge. Whether approved for reporting? No. For the appellant: Ms.Shubh Mahajan, Deputy Advocate General. For respondents No.1 to 6 & 8 to 12: Ms.Aruna Sharma, Advocate. For respondent No.7: Mr.V.D. Khidta, Advocate. V.K. Ahuja, J (Oral): This is an appeal filed by the State of H.P. against the judgment of the court of learned Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Paonta Sahib, District Sirmaur, dated 5.9.2001, vide which the respondents were acquitted of the charge framed against them under Sections 147, 323, 504, 506 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code. The prosecution story in brief is that on 12.1.1998, when an information was received that a quarrel has taken place in the premises of the steel factory, the police went to the spot and recorded the statement of Ved Parkash Joshi under Section 154 of the Cr.P.C. He alleged therein that he was working in the _______ 1.Whether reporters of Local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? Yes. - 2 - factory and observed that one Roop Singh was entering the factory gate and was coming towards his office room and he enquired from him as to why he had come there and which duty he was performing. On this, Roop Singh asked from the complainant as to how the lay of salary was prepared and he asked the complainant to call the Chief General Manager. The complainant sent his Personal Manager to call the Chief General Manager on telephone. In the meanwhile, 5-6 other union workers came on the office gate of the complainant and started giving abuses. Thereafter Roop Singh asked to call Aggarwal and dragged the complainant upto the factory gate. Thereafter, his personal officer R.K. Sharma also reached there when Roop Singh and his other accomplices Kamal Kumar, Ram Pal, Ali Hassan and Yusuf gave beatings to him as well as to R.K. Sharma with hands and fists. Ashwani Rana, who was standing there, was also given beatings and abuses. In the meantime, the other union workers namely Sher Singh, Mohinder Lal, K.P. Srivastva, Kishan Lal, Mohan Singh, Som Dutt and Ram Parkash also came there and started giving beatings and abuses to the complainant and others. On this statement, a case was registered and after investigation, the challan was filed before the learned trial Court, who tried the respondents leading to their acquittal. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the record of the case. On appraisal of the record of the case, it is clear that the prosecution had examined 7 witnesses in all to substantiate their case. Out of these 7 witnesses, the statements of 4 witnesses can be said to be material, who were the eye witnesses to the occurrence. However, on appraisal of these statements, it is clear that neither there has been proper identification of the accused persons/respondents, who were allegedly involved in giving beatings to - 3 - the complainant and others nor the part played by them has been clearly stated by the witnesses, who have not corroborated the statements of one another. I will refer to the testimony of these witnesses in brief. PW-1 Ved Parkash Joshi, complainant, has stated about the fact that Roop Singh came there and talked to him. He further stated that 2-3 boys also came there and started giving beatings. He also stated that he was dragged to the office gate and he was accompanied by other persons, namely, R.K. Sharma, Ashwani Rana and Girish Joshi. He further stated that the accused persons gave beatings to R.K. Sharma, Ashwani Rana and Girish Joshi and also gave threat to take their life. A perusal of the statement of this witness shows that out of 12 respondents, who were allegedly involved in this occurrence, this witness had alleged that Roop Singh, Ram Pal, Ali Hassan and Ram Parkash were present, but had stated that Ali Hassan, Ram Pal etc. were present there and remaining respondents have not been named by him in this statement. Thus, in his statement, this witness has mentioned the names of four respondents only. He further stated that he was given beatings with hands, fists and legs by the respondents but he has not named anyone and until and unless the persons are named and properly identified, they cannot be held guilty. PW-2 Ashwani Kumar Rana, who was also present there at the time of occurrence, has only stated that the accused persons were quarrelling with Joshi and when he alongwith Girish and R.K. Sharma tried to rescue B.P. Sharma from the clutches of the respondents, they were also given beatings. He also suffered minor injuries. He also stated that B.P. Joshi also suffered injuries, but he has not named any of the 12 respondents who were allegedly involved in this occurrence. - 4 - PW-4 Girish Joshi, who was also present there, has also stated that apart from Roop Singh other accused persons were present there who started grappling with the complainant. He also stated that R.K. Sharma and Ashwani Kumar Rana came to the spot and they grappled with them. However, no beatings took place. He neither named any accused persons nor stated about the part played or stated about the injuries suffered by any of the injured persons and by whom these injuries were caused. In cross examination, he is specific that these injuries were suffered only by B.P. Joshi and he has ruled out that other persons also suffered injuries at that time. He further stated that he cannot say over which part of his body B.P. Joshi suffered injuries. He has further stated that he cannot say how many persons gave beatings to B.P. Joshi. PW-6 Rajinder Kumar Sethi, the other eye witness, has stated that a quarrel was taking place at the factory gate. He went there but could not identify any of the persons present in that mob. He was declared as hostile and was allowed to be cross examined at length by the learned A.P.P. for the State, but nothing material could be extracted from his cross examination to hold that he has deposed falsely. In cross examination, he has admitted one suggestion that he was also given beatings with fists and hands by the accused persons, but he did not name any of the accused persons. He admitted that there were 100 labourers present at the spot at the time of occurrence. He further stated that he cannot say out of the crowd present there as to who caused the injuries and to whom. He has also stated that he is not aware whether Jasbir Singh, Ashwani Kumar and B.P. Joshi suffered injuries. He further admitted the suggestion that several persons fell on the ground in the mob and injuries were sustained. - 5 - The other statements are not material except the statement of PW-3 Dr.Ashish Sharma, who has proved the medical certificates of four persons, namely, Jasbir Singh, Ashwani Rana, B.P. Joshi and R.K. Sethi. On appraisal of the above evidence, it is clear that the witnesses including the complainant have not named any of the respondents and have not attributed any specific role to them that they were involved in beatings at that time. The other witnesses examined by the prosecution, as discussed above, have not corroborated the statement of the complainant who had named two of the respondents and not others. Thus, from the above discussion of the evidence, it is clear that the final findings recorded by the learned trial Court holding that the prosecution has failed to prove their case beyond any reasonable doubt cannot be said to be perverse calling for an interference by this Court. In view of the above discussion, I hold that there is no merit in the appeal filed by the State of H.P. and the same is dismissed accordingly. The bail bonds furnished by the respondents shall stand discharged. December 12, 2008. (V.K. Ahuja), (TILAK) Judge.