Criminal Appeal (SJ) No. 124 OF 1996 Against the judgment and order dated 16.04.1994 passed by Sri Hemand Kumar Srivastava, 5th Additional Sessions Judge, East Champaran at Motihari in S.Tr. No. 106/89. ************ 1. Krishna Kumar Jha, S/o Bal Mukund Jha. 2. Raghubansh Jha, S/o Punit Lal Jha. 3. Punit Lal Jha, s/o Late Paras Nath Jha. 4. Rameshwar Jha, S/o Late Bhola Jha. 5. Kishori Jha, S/o Kant Lal Jha. 6. Chandra Shekhar Jha, S/o Late Kant Lal Jha. 7. Bachcha Jha, S/o Late Kant Lal Jha. 8. Bal Mukund Jha, S/o Late Kant Lal Jha. All resident of Village-Barharwa Sion, Police Station-Dhaka, Dist.-East Champaran at Motihari. ……(Appellants) Versus THE STATE OF BIHAR-------(Respondent) ************* For the Appellant : Mr. Akhileshwar Kumar, Adv. : Mr. Ajit Ranjan Kumar, Adv. For the State : Mr. Sanjay Kumar, APP. ************** P R E S E N T THE HON'BLE JUSTICE SMT. ANJANA PRAKASH Anjana Prakash, J. 1. The appellants have been convicted under Sections 325 and 149 IPC and sentenced to RI for two years and also all the appellants except appellant No. 8 have been convicted under Section 147 IPC and sentenced to RI for two months by the 5th Additional Sessions Judge, East Champaran at Motihari in S.Tr. No. 106 of 1989 by a judgment dated 16.04.1994. 2. The case of the prosecution according to the informant Treta Nath Jha is that on 20.04.1987 when the informant was going on his cycle to the school the accused persons variously armed accosted him and assaulted him as also committed theft of the money which he was carrying. Initially charge was framed under Section 307/149 IPC but 2 the accused persons were acquitted of the charges and convicted as mentioned above. 3. The prosecution adduced the evidence of eight witnesses to prove its case out of whom P.W. 1, P.W. 2 and P.W. 3 are members of the same family out of which P.W. 3 is the informant. P.W. 6 is also an interested witness. P.W. 4 is the Doctor who examined the injured as also P.W. 5 and P.W. 8 is a formal witness whereas P.W. 7 is the Investigating Officer. 4. On going through the evidence of the three material witnesses, I find that admittedly all the three appellants were inimical to the informant and even though the occurrence is said to have taken place in an open area no independent witness has been examined on behalf of the prosecution. In my view, this alone would render the prosecution case untrustworthy. 5. In the result, the appeal is allowed and the judgment dated 16.04.1994 passed by the 5th Additional Sessions Judge, East Champaran at Motihari in S.Tr. No. 106 of 1989 is, hereby, set aside. The appellants are acquitted of the charges and discharged of the liability of their bail bonds. (Anjana Prakash, J.) Patna High Court, Patna, Dated, the 30th June, 2011. NAFR/Vikash/-