Criminal Appeal (SJ) No. 173 OF 1994 ******** Against the judgment and order of conviction dated 30.5.1994 passed in S.T. No. 312/1990 by the learned 4th Addl. Sessions Judge, Nalanda at Biharsharif. ****** 1. RAJ KUMAR KAHAR S/O SOHRAI KAHAR 2. KRISHNA KAHAR S/O KANHAI RAM 3. SONA DEVI W/O RAJ KUMAR KAHAR 4. SONA DEVI W/O KANHAI RAM 5. ALL R/O VILLAGE RAJGIR, P.S.- RAJGIR, DISTRICT-NALANDA ……..….. Appellants Versus THE STATE OF BIHAR …..………. Respondent ************ For the Appellant : Rajeshwar Pd. Singh Adv. For the State : Mr.Chaubey Jawahar APP. P R E S E N T THE HON'BLE JUSTICE SMT. ANJANA PRAKASH ********* Anjana Prakash, J. The appellants have been convicted under Section 323 I.P.C. whereas appellant nos. 1 and 2 was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 4 years, the appellant nos. 3 and 4 was sentenced to the period already undergone by the learned 4th Addl. Sessions Judge, Nalanda at Biharsharif by the judgment dated 30.5.1994 in S.T. No. 312/1990. 2. The prosecution case is that the informant Shanti Devi was informed by her sister-in-law P.W.11 that her husband was being variously assaulted by the accused persons on 3.9.1989 at 12.30 p.m. and when she went to the place of occurrence she found that the accused persons were assaulting the deceased as a result of which when he was removed to the hospital later he lost his life. 3. During trial the prosecution examined 14 witnesses out of whom P.W.1,3,6 and 9 were declared hostile whereas P.W. 7 and 10 were formal in nature, P.W. 11 and 12 i.e. sister and wife of the deceased respectively are witnesses and material to the prosecution case, P.W. 3 is the doctor who conducted the post mortem examination report on 4.9.1989 whereas P.W. 14 is the Investigating Officer. 4. It is noteworthy that initially the appellants were charged under Section 302/34 I.P.C. Since the prosecution case is now dependent on the evidence of P.W. 11 and 12, it would be desirable to assess their evidence to arrive at a finding whether the conviction is liable to be sustained. From the evidence of P.W.11, I find that there was consistent suggestion to her that in fact the deceased was mentally unsound and he had been assaulted by the accused persons for reasons of his misbehavior. Similarly P.W. 12 has also not stated as to why exactly the accused persons were beating up the deceased. No doubt the motive for an occurrence in criminal cases has no meaning but some times it may be of some importance and, therefore it is difficult to accept the prosecution case in its entirety. However, since the witnesses are consistent in their evidence on the fact that they were assaulting the deceased, in my opinion the conviction of the appellants should be maintained. 5. In view of such, the appeal is dismissed but with modification in sentence that the appellant nos. 1 and 2 will pay a fine of Rs. 1000/- each to the family of the deceased within 8 weeks of receipt of notice in this regard from the Trial Court and in case they fail to do so they shall be further sentenced to 6 months rigorous imprisonment. However, since the appellant nos. 3 and 4 who are ladies have already been sentenced to a period already undergone, I would not like to interfere in their sentence. 6. In the result, the appeal is dismissed with the aforesaid modification. Patna High Court, ( Anjana Prakash, J. ) Patna Dated the 29th March, 2011 NAFR/ Fahad.