HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH, BILASPUR DIVISION BENCH -_- ————— v CORAM: HON’BLE MR. T.P. SHARMA AND, HON’BLE MR. R.L. JHANWAR, JJ. Criminal Agpeal No.337v of 2003 APPE LLANTS: 1 . ‘Kan'derpo Yadav, (In Jail) Slo Maksudan Yadav, Aged about 55 years, Agriculturist 2. Chabi Yadav, Slo Kanderpo, Aged about 24 years, Agriculturist. 3, Ku. Mino Bai, D/o Kanderpo, Aged about 22 years, Agriculturist. Bagicha, Distt. Jashpurl(C.G.) Versus RESPONDENT: All the three are R/o Village — Rai Kera, P.S. State of Chhattisgarh, ‘ Through District Magistrate, Jashpur. {Appeal under Section 374 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973} Present: Mr.Prashant Jayaswai, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Ajay Mishra. counsei for the appellants. Mr. Rakesh Jha, Deputy Govt. Advocate for the State/respondent. ORAL JUDGMENT ‘ (05“; February, 2010) The foltowingiudgment of the Court was passed by T.P. Sharma. J: - 1. Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment of conviction & order of sentence dated 28-2—2003 passed by the 2'” Additionai Sessions Judge (Fast Tract Court), Jashpur in Sessions Trial No.21 4/2002, whereby & J whereunder learned Additional Sessions Judge after holding the appellants guilty for causing the homicidal death of Niruddh Ram mayWV ~ amounting to murder and concealing the evidence of criminal case, convicted the appellants under Section 302 read with 34 of the l.P.C. and sentenced each of them to undergo imprisonment for life & pay fine of Rs.1,000/-, in default of payment of fine to further undergo R.l. for nve months, respectively. c . Judgment is impugned on the ground that without any credible and clinching evidence the Court below hasconvicted & sentenced the appellants as aforementioned and thereby committed illegality. . Case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on the fateful day i.e. 18-6-2002 at about 6.30 a.m. appellant- Kanderpo was holding axe and remaining appellants were also holding axe, and causedfatal injury to Niruddha Ram on account of land dispute. Niruddha Ram fell down and the accused were absconding. F.l.R. was lodged by Ravi Yadav P.W.-1 and the injured was taken to the hospital where he was declared dead. K? ’ . After summoning the witnesses inquest over the dead body of Niruddha Ram was prepared vide Ex.P-3. Spot map was prepared by the investigating Officer vide EXP-4. Dead body of Niruddha Ram was sent for autopsy to Govt. Hospital, Bagicha vide Ex.P-14. Autopsy was conducted by Dr. R.N. .Dubey (PW-7) vide Ex.P-15 and following injuries were found: - (1) lncised wound over right part of the shoulder 12x5x4 c.m.. (2) lncised wound over right hand 7x4x4 c.m. (3) incised wound over little tinger of right hand thereafter middle of the. finger 9x2 c.m. (4) lncised wound over right ear 2x1 x1 c.m. (5) lncised wound over right elbonijoint 1 1x5x6 c.m. iiV (e) lncised wound 8x5x4 c.m. on the lower part of the thigh (7) lncised wound 7x2x2 c.m. on the upper part of the left leg (8) lncised wound 4x1 x1 c.m. on the middle of the left leg (9) Incised wound 10 c.m. above the right knee joint sharp cut of bone and vessels only 1/4 in remaining (18x8x10 cm) (10)incised wound 7x3x2 c.m. on the middle of the right thigh. (mincised wound 2x1x1 cm. right ear. (12)Incised wound 5x2x2 cm. behind the neck (13)lncised wound 4x2x1 c.m. behind the right ear. Cause of death of the deceased was homicidal in nature. \ . During the course. of investigation, appellant Kanderpo was taken into custody,» he made discloser statement of Balua (small betel) vide Ex.P- 7 and at his instance one small betel axe, lungi & white baniyan were recovered vide Ex.P-8. Appellant No. 2 Chhabi was also taken into custody and one betel axe, lungi, full shirt stained with blood were recovered at his instance Ex.P-10. Patwari prepared spot map vide Ex.P-13. One wooden bamboo, one wooden basket. and blood stained soil were recovered from the place of incident vide EXP—6. Clothes of the accused were seized vide Ex.P-7. Clothes of the deceased were recovered vide Ex.12. Seized weapon was sent for examination to the doctor vide EXP-16 and the doctor has opined that the injuries found on ‘ the body of Niruddha are likely to be caused by both Tangi 8. Tabbal. Seized articles were sent for chemical examination vide EXP-22. . Statements of the witnesses were recorded under Section 161 of the Cr.P.C. and after completion of investigation, charge sheet was tiled before the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Jashpur, who in turn, committed the case to the Court of Sessions, Raigarh, from where learned Additional Session Judge received the case on transfer for s trial. 7. In order to prove the guilt of the appellants the prosecution has examined as many as elev witnesses. The accused persons were en also examined unde Section 313 of the Cr.P.C. in which they denied r \ the circumstances appearing against them and pleaded innocence & false implication. 8. Afte providing opportunity of hearing to the parties, learned Additional r Session Judge has cnvicted & sentenced, the appellants in the s o aforesaid manner. 9. We have heard learned counsel for the partiesrperused the judgment and record of the trial Court. 10.lt ls argued on behalf of the accused/appellants that the prosecution has utterly failed to adduce any credible evidence to connect the accused/appellants with the crime in question and the present appellants have been falsely implicated on the previous enmity. 11.0n the other hand, learned State counsel opposed the appeal and vehemently argued that evidence is based on eye witnesses P.W. 1 £ Ravi, PW 2 Vijay Kumar and P.W. 3 Dileshwar which is sufficient to prove that the present appellants have caused the homicidal death of the deceased by causing injuries by axe and betel axe and the accused persons. 12. ln order to appreciate the arguments advanced on behalf of the parties, we have examined the evidence adduced on behalf of the prosecution. In the present case, homicidal death as a result of fatal injury of the deceased Niruddharam is not disputed, otherwise established by the evidence of Dr. R.N. Dubey (PW-7) and autopsy report EXP-15 which reveal that fatal injuries, chopping of the left hand and 13 incised injuries found over leg & neck are sufficient for causing the death of c deceased and the death i's homicidal in nature. l" ' a 13.As regards complicity of the appellants in the crime in question, conviction of the appellants is based on evidence P.W. 2 Vijay. P.W.-3 DileshWar Yadav. 14.Ravi Kumar (PW-1) has deposed in his evidence that at the time of incident he was going to the field and saw thatappellant Kanderpo was assaulting the deceased. Appellant Kanderpo was holding betel axe, appellant Chhabi was holding axe and they were assaulting Niruddha Ram with axe and betel axe over his neck, thereafter he fell down. He (Ravi Kumar) tried to intercept. Other witnesses also tried to interrupt the incident but the accused‘persons refused to stop and finally they caused aforesaid injuries to injured Niruddha Ram. Thereafter Kanderpo chased Dileshwar P.W. 3 and all these witnesses run away to the village and informed about the incident to brother and wife of injured Niruddha Ram. Thereafter the witnesses again came near the place of incident and saw that left hand of the injured was chopped and they also caused injuries over other parts of the body of the deceased. F.l.R. was lodged by Ravi Kumar P.W.1. P.W.2 Vijay Kumar corroborated the statement of P.W.1 Ravi Kumar. He stated that on the \g date of incident three persons assaulted Niruddha Ram with betel axe and caused several injuries over hand, le and neck including chopping of the leg. 15.Adduced the evidence relating to recovery of weapon, axe, betel axe, blood stained clothes of the appellants vide Ex.P.8, Ex.P.10 and Ex. P.11 on the basis of disclosure. statements made by the appellant Kandarpo vide Ex.P/7,' appellant Chhabiram vide EXP/9. P.W.-10 C.S. Sharma, Assistant Sub Inspectorhas categorically deposed that the appellant Kandarpo made disclosure statement of small betel axe in the cloths vide Ex. P/7 the same was recovered at the instance vide Ex. P/8. Another appellant Chhabiram has also made disclosure statement vide Ex. Pl9 and same was recovered at the instance, of Chhabiram vider' Ex. P/10. Evidence of P.W.-10 ’C.S. Sharma has been corroborated vide evidence of P.W./6 Hatkeshwar. Deceased weapons and clothes were sent for categorical examination vide Ex. PI22 in presence of blood over the weapons and clothes were confirmed vide Ex. P/24. The evidence of eye witnesses P.W.-1 Ravi, P.W.-2 Vijay Kumar and P.W.-3 Dileshwar have been corroborated by the another set of evidence of recovery of weapons and blood stained clothes at the instance of appellants. l 16.After appreciating the evidence available on record learned Additional Sessions Judge has convicted the accused/appellants under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. The act of the appellants clearly reveals that they have assaulted the deceased with dangerous weapons like axe & betel axe, including chopping of leg. .r w xmwmmmh 17.Conviction of the appenants is based on legal, clinching & credible evidence sustainable under the law. The Court below has not committed any illegality or infirmity in convicting the appellants,. on the basis of the aforesaid evidence. The Court, below has imposed s minimum sentence prescribed under the law. 18.0n close scrutiny of the evidence, we do not find any scope of ' interference or substance in the appeal. The appeal is, therefore, liable to be dismissed and it is hereby dismissed. / Sd/- saw R.L. Jhanwar mp. SHARMA Judge i, w Judge ‘i l i i l \