Khairuddin & Ors vs State Of West Bengal

2. Facts giving rise to the commission of the offence and the registration of the case alleged against the appellants, as also their eventual conviction and sentence have been stated at length by the trial Court in its judgment and recapitulated even by the High Court in the order under appeal before us. We need not, therefore, recount the same over again except to the extent it is absolutely necessary to do so for the disposal of this appeal.

3. The prosecution case precisely is that one Akalu was in cultivating possession of a parcel of agricultural land admeasuring 21 bighas situated in village Fatehpur, Mouza Lakhipur. Akalu, it appears, was helped by his tillers colloquially called adhiars. Some of the appellants claim to be the pattadars of the said parcel of land. A dispute regarding possession and the right to cultivate had embittered the relations between the appellant-pattadars on the one hand and Akalu and his adhiars on the other. The prosecution story is that on 3rd November, 1978, at about 10.00 a.m., Akalu, along with Budhu Md. (PW-1) and deceased Dabaru and Imamuddin, accompanied by a few others, namely, Jharu, Monglu, Bholu and Lal Khan were working in the disputed parcel of land when twenty four named persons including the appellants and some unnamed persons came to the spot, armed with sharp weapons like bows and arrows, knives, daggers, khapa-ballams and lathis. An altercation ensued between the two parties when the appellants tried to obstruct Akalu and his men from ploughing the land in question. The altercation escalated into a murderous assault by the appellants upon the persons in cultivation of the land who sustained grievous injuries with sharp edged weapons which the appellants’ party was carrying with them. While Dabaru succumbed to his wounds and died on the spot, deceased- Imamuddin breathed his last within an hour thereafter. Other members of the complainant party also sustained several injuries on their bodies.

4. A First Information Report about the incident was lodged by Budhu Md. in which several persons including some of the appellants were named as the assailants. It was also alleged that apart from the persons named in the First Information Report, there were 15-16 unnamed persons who participated in the assault. C.R. Case No.1352/78, corresponding to Case No.4 dated 3rd November, 1978 was accordingly registered by the police at Chopra P.S. and the investigation started, in the course whereof the investigating officer conducted an inquest and got the dead bodies of the deceased subjected to post-mortem examination, apart from making recoveries of the weapons of offence used by the assailants. A chargesheet was eventually filed by the police before the committal Court against as many as 26 persons including the appellants herein. The case was, in due course, committed to the Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Islampur, before whom the appellants pleaded not guilty and claimed a trial.

5. At the trial, the prosecution examined as many as 19 witnesses in support of its case. By its judgment dated 30th May, 1990, the trial Court found 21 out of 26 accused persons guilty of the offence of murder punishable under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC, and by its order dated 31st May, 1990, sentenced each one of them to undergo imprisonment for life besides payment of fine as already indicated earlier. The trial Court also found the said 21 persons including the appellants herein guilty of commission of the offences punishable under Sections 148 and 323 read with Section 149 IPC but did not separately award any sentence for those offences in view of the fact that the accused had already been sentenced to undergo life imprisonment for the main offence punishable under Section 302/149 IPC. Out of the remaining five accused persons the trial Court acquitted Yusuf Amin, Jabbar and Abdul Rahman giving them the benefit of doubt, while the other two having died during the pendency of the trial, the case against them was held to have abated.

6. Aggrieved by the judgement and order pronounced by the trial Court, the convicts including the appellants filed Criminal Appeal No.291 of 1990 before the High Court of Judicature at Calcutta. During the pendency of the said appeal, five of the convicts passed away. The appeal qua them was accordingly held to have abated. The High Court heard the appeal on merits qua the remaining sixteen convicts/appellants before it and upon a reappraisal of the evidence came to the conclusion that the appellants had been rightly convicted and sentenced by the trial Court to undergo imprisonment for life as the prosecution had proved the charges framed against them beyond a reasonable doubt. The present appeal by special leave assails the correctness of the said judgment and order of the High Court.

Khairuddin, No.3-Nazrul Haq, No.4-Nasir Md. Munshi, No.9-Bhoka @ Jarifuddin and No.16-Monglu. The appeal in so far as appellant No.11-Ishwahaque is concerned, shall stand dismissed as abated. The rest of the appellants are given the benefit of doubt and acquitted of the charges framed against them. The appeal qua them is allowed and the judgments and orders of the Courts below modified to that extent. The appellants No.2- Rahimuddin, No.5- Idrish, No.6-Nurul, No.7-Ibrahim, No.8- Motilal Motin, No.10 Asir @ Asiruddin, No.12-Hafijuddin, No.13-Khoka Md., No.14-Pasir @ Bishu, and No.15-Kanchu shall be released from custody forthwith, unless otherwise required in connection with any other case.