Satvir vs State Of U.P

1. Eight accused, namely, (1) Fateh Singh, (2) Ram Chander, (3) Brahma, (4) Satvir, (5) Ram Saran, (6) Harbir, (7) Pratap and (8) Genda were tried by learned VI Additional District & Sessions Judge, Meerut, in Sessions Trial No. 70 of 1978 for committing the murder of Hari Dutt Singh.

2. By judgment and order dated 05.12.1979, the learned trial judge convicted all the accused under Section 302 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code (for short "IPC") and sentenced each to imprisonment for life. The accused - Ram Saran, Satvir and Harbir have been further convicted under Section 148 IPC and each sentenced to two years 2 rigorous imprisonment, whereas Fateh Singh, Genda, Pratap, Brahma and Ram Chander have been convicted under Section 147 IPC and sentenced to one year rigorous imprisonment. All the sentences were, however, ordered to run concurrently.

3. The accused persons filed joint appeal in the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad. The High Court by final judgment and order dated 25.02.2003 modified the judgment of the trial court. It converted the conviction of accused Satvir, Ram Saran and Harbir to Section 302 IPC read with Section 34 IPC and sentenced them to undergo life imprisonment. It, however, acquitted Ram Chander, Brahma, Pratap and Genda. Fateh Singh accused, during the pendency of the appeal before the High Court, had died; therefore his appeal stood abated.

5. The incident leading to the prosecution of the appellant occurred on 31.10.1977 at about 4 P.M. in the jungle of village Ahmadpuri, Police Station Parikshatgarh, District Meerut (U.P.). The report of the incident was lodged by Mahendra Singh (PW-1) an eyewitness, son of the deceased Hari Dutt Singh at about 5.30 P.M. in the Police Station in which the names of all the accused persons were mentioned.

7. It was the prosecution case that Mahabir son of Ram Saran was murdered in the year 1976 and for the said incident; Hari Dutt Singh [deceased] and his son PW-1 were facing trial before the Court. One more criminal case filed by Smt. Sammo is pending against the deceased and PW-1 in the Court of a Magistrate at Meerut. On the day of incident, i.e. 31.10.1977, both PW-1 and Hari Dutt Singh had gone to the Court of Magistrate at Meerut to attend the proceedings in the said case but the same was adjourned at about 12 0'Clock in the noon. PW-1 and his father had returned to their village by bus. After getting down at Parikshatgarh, they started going to their village Ahmadpuri on foot. At about 4 P.M., they reached on the road dividing the fields of Balley and Muley where PW-1 was going about 20 paces ahead of his father. The accused persons hiding themselves in the sugarcane fields of Balley, suddenly appeared and laid down Hari Dutt Singh on the ground. Appellant Satvir, accused Ram Saran and accused Harbir 5 each were armed with knives with which they inflicted fatal injuries on Hari Dutt Singh at the instigation of accused Ram Saran, who proclaimed that the life of Hari Dutt Singh should be cut short as he was responsible for the murder of his son Mahabir. PW-1 shouted and raised alarm which attracted Bakhtawar Singh (PW-2), Ganga Saran (PW-4), Gajraj and few more persons to the place of occurrence. All the accused persons had fled from the place of incident after committing the murder of Hari Dutt Singh. One Jasbir Singh recorded the report (Ex. Ka-1) of the incident at the instance of PW-1 on the basis of which First Information Report came to be lodged at Police Station at about 5.30 P.M.

10. On internal examination, small intestine was found stabbed at two places and large intestine stabbed at one 7 place. Left lobe of liver was also stabbed. According to the opinion of the Doctor, the deceased died due to shock and haemorrhage as a result of ante-mortem injuries.

13. The prosecution, in order to substantiate its case, examined as many as 7 witnesses, out of whom Mahendra Singh (PW-1), Bakhtawar Singh (PW-2) and Ganga Saran (PW-4) are the eyewitnesses.

16. Being aggrieved, the accused had filed appeal before the High Court. The High Court, as stated above, allowed the appeal of accused Ram Chander, Brahma, Pratap and Genda and, accordingly, set aside their conviction and sentences, whereas the conviction of the appellant-Satvir, Ram Saran and Harbir is converted from Section 302 read with Section 149 and Section 148 IPC to Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC. They were sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life.

23 The ocular version of the eyewitnesses finds corroboration from the evidence of Dr. O.P. Sharma who has found abovesaid six injuries on the body of Hari Dutt Singh. As per the post mortem report placed on record by Dr.O.P. Sharma, the deceased received three stab wounds 13 and two incised wounds and in his opinion death of the deceased had occurred due to shock and haemorrhage as a result of ante-mortem injuries.

26. We, thus, find no merit and substance in any of the submissions made on behalf of the appellant.

27. In the result, for the afore-stated reasons, there is no merit in this appeal and it is, accordingly, dismissed.