Inder Singh & Ors vs State Of Rajasthan

All these eight appeals arise out of one criminal case bearing FIR No.188/01 dated 10.09.2001 of P.S. Sunail, Distt. Jhalwada (Rajasthan) lodged by informant Amar Singh (P.W.15) against 29 named co-villagers. All the 29 accused persons were chargesheeted by the police. After trial, five accused were acquitted and the rest 24 were convicted for various offences. Five appeals preferred by 22 convicts were disposed of by a common judgment of the High Court dated 29.05.2008 which is impugned in 7 criminal appeals - 6 of them lodged in 2009 and Criminal Appeal No.1892 of 2011 by convict Kalu Lal lodged in 2011. Two of the convicts, namely, Ram Singh and Kesar Singh (accused nos.24 and 4 respectively) approached the High Court belatedly through jail appeals which were disposed of by judgment dated 10.03.2011 which is impugned in Criminal Appeal No.1194 of 2011. Since all the matters arise out of one criminal case, they have been heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment. Before noticing the prosecution case and the main defence of the appellants, it is noted that out of 29 accused who were put on trial, accused nos.12, 15, 16, 22 and 23 (as per number in the trial court judgment) were acquitted by the trial court. The High Court acquitted accused no.17 whereas accused no.19 died during the pendency of his appeal before the High Court. The records show that accused no.8, appellant Maan Singh has died during the pendency of his appeal before this Court. Thus presently there are 21 appellants who have been convicted of offences under Sections 302/149, 307/149, 147 and 148 of the IPC. Accused nos.1, 2 and 3 have also been convicted for offences under Section 27 of the Arms Act, 1959. All have been awarded life imprisonment along with other sentences which are to run concurrently.

Before adverting to the prosecution case, it is also useful to note that the occurrence is alleged to have taken place on 10th September 2001 at 06:45 p.m. in Village Dhodi, at a distance of 18 kms. from the concerned police station. The statement of informant Ram Singh (P.W.15) who was seriously injured, was recorded on the same date at 09:30 p.m. in presence of his uncle Chen Singh (P.W.17), by SHO at Camp Dhodi and formal FIR was recorded on same date at 10:30 p.m. The FIR was duly communicated to and seen by the Addl. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on 11.09.2001. There were 29 accused persons named in the FIR, all residents of Village Dhodi. The four deceased who died on account of assault in the same occurrence as well as the injured informant and material eye witnesses, i.e., P.Ws.12, 14, 15, 17, 19 and 24 also belong to the same village. The genealogy prepared by the defence and shown to us, discloses that at least accused no.8-Maan Singh and his two sons accused nos.5 and 29 belong to the same larger family as that of the four deceased and the injured informant Amar Singh. Accused no.8-Maan Singh happens to be brother of deceased no.2-Bapu Singh and deceased no.4-Manohar Singh whereas deceased no.1-Inder Singh and deceased no.3-Nagu Singh are sons of deceased Manohar Singh. Informant Amar Singh is son of deceased Bapu Singh. The accused persons named in the FIR and chargesheeted by name never challenged their identification either before the police or before the Magistrate. Nor there was any cross- examination of the witnesses on the point of identification when the witnesses in their depositions have referred to the accused persons and the appellants by their name as well as village relationship. According to the Parcha Bayan of Amar Singh (P.W.15) he was at his house at around 06:45 p.m. of 10.09.2001 and at that time he heard cries of his cousin Inder Singh (deceased no.1) from the side of a field known as 'Patwari ka Khet'. He came out of the house and saw his uncle Maan Singh (accused no.8) and 28 other named accused running behind Inder Singh. They were armed with sword, gun, country-made pistol, lathi and gandasi. They all together killed Inder Singh (deceased no.1). Then they ran towards informant (P.W.15) and caused a sword blow at the wrist of his right hand. On his cries, his father Bapu Singh (deceased no.2) came running to rescue the informant. His uncle Maan Singh fired with his gun due to which Bapu Singh fell down and died in the khaal in presence of everybody. His uncle Manohar Singh (deceased no.4) and his son Nagu Singh (deceased no.3) also came running to save them but the accused persons assaulted them also leading to their death. Many persons of the village were watching the incident. The accused persons had registered cases of theft of water motor against deceased Inder Singh and he had been recently released from the jail custody. The accused had declared that since police did not do anything, now they would see Inder Singh. There was an existing dispute over land between the informant side and accused Maan Singh and for these reasons Maan Singh and his associates, armed with weapons had caused death of four persons and had also caused injuries to the informant with an intention to kill him. Informant claimed that he, his uncle Chen Singh (P.W.17), his mother (P.W.16) and his wife could save themselves by hiding in the house.

The appeals preferred by the aforesaid five appellants, namely, Bhagwan Singh, son of Prabhu Lal (appellant no.3 in Crl. Appeal No.1239 of 2009); Suresh Kumar, son of Ram Dhakad (appellant no.3 in Crl. Appeal No.493 of 2009); Kanhi Ram, son of Prabhu Lal (appellant no.4 in Crl. Appeal No.1239 of 2009); Prahlad Singh, son of Nathu Lal (sole appellant in Crl. Appeal No.1241 of 2009); and Ram Prasad, son of Bheru Lal (appellant no.4 in Crl. Appeal No.493 of 2009) are allowed. They are granted benefit of doubt and acquitted of all the charges. The appeals of remaining 16 appellants are dismissed. If on bail, their bail bonds shall stand cancelled and they shall be taken into custody forthwith to serve out the remaining sentence in accordance with law.

January 06, 2015.