Anand Mohan vs State Of Bihar

2. The facts are that a typed report was lodged by Mohan Rajak, Deputy Superintendent of Police (East), Muzaffarpur (for short ‘the informant’) on 05.12.1994 at 22.10 hours (10.10 p.m.) at PS Sadar, District Muzaffarpur (East), which was treated as FIR. The prosecution case in the FIR briefly was as follows: On the night of 04.12.1994, certain unknown criminals had murdered Shri Kaushlendra Kumar Shukla @ Chhotan Shukla and his associates at NH-28 and the post mortem on Chhotan Shukla and the other deceased persons was done on 05.12.1994 at the SKM College Hospital. The supporters of Chhotan Shukla belonging to the Bihar Peoples Party gathered in large numbers at the hospital. Considering the possibility of breakdown of law and order, the officers of the civil and police administration remained present with armed force and lathi force at the hospital. After the post mortem, the dead bodies were taken in a procession to the house of Chhotan Shukla. The procession was led by Arun Kumar Singh, Ramesh Thakur, Shashi Shekhar Thakur, Ram Babu Singh, Harendra Kumar, Vijay Kumar Shukla @ Munna Shukla and others and was escorted by the officers of the civil and police administration. When the procession reached the house of Chhotan Shukla, Anand Mohan, MLA, and Lovely Anand, M.P., and others who were present there, offered flowers to the dead body of Chhotan Shukla. At about 3.30 p.m., the dead body of Chottan Shukla was taken in a procession to his ancestral house in village Jalalpur under Lalganj Thana in Vaishali district where about 5000 people gathered. Thereafter, the procession was led by Anand Mohan, Lovely Anand, Professor Arun Kumar Singh, Akhlak Ahmad, Harender Kumar, Rameshwar Wiplavi and others and they were all in different vehicles. Anand Mohan and Lovely Anand were sitting in their Contessa car. An Ambassador car and a white coloured Gypsy were moving in front of the procession. When the procession reached the Bhagwanpur Chowk, the dead body of Chottan Shukla was kept for a while and Anand Mohan, Lovely Anand and Professor Arun Kumar Singh gave speeches instigating the crowd to take revenge of the murder of Chhotan Shukla and others by murder and to teach the administration a lesson if it created any hurdle. After listening to the speeches, the people became aggressive. The procession then moved from Bhagwanpur Chowk towards Ram Dayal Nagar through the National Highway. At about 4.15 p.m. when the procession came near Khabra Village on the National Highway, the shouts “Maro Maro” were heard from the midst of the procession. When the informant along with other officers reached the place from where the shouts were being heard, they found that on the right hand side of the road the Ambassador car of the District Magistrate, Gopalganj, G. Krishnaiyyah (coming from the opposite direction) had turned turtle and the District Magistrate was lying on the ground. They also saw Anand Mohan, Lovely Anand, Professor Arun Kumar Singh and some others were loudly provoking Bhutkun Shukla (brother of Chhotan Shukla) to kill the District Magistrate and take revenge. Thereafter, Bhutkun Shukla drew out a revolver from his waist and fired three shots and then escaped into the crowd. The District Magistrate got wounded. Looking at the gravity of the situation, the Sub-Divisional Officer (East) ordered lathi charge and the police and other officers present started charging lathi at the crowd. The District Magistrate, Gopalganj, was sent in a Gypsy to the SKM College Hospital for treatment. Information was sent through wireless to the District Headquarters of Vaishali District about the incident. In the meantime, the assailants fled to Hajipur and the informant and the Sub-Divisional Officer (East) chased the assailants and reached Hajipur where they found 15 persons including Anand Mohan and Lovely Anand caught by the Hajipur police. All the 15 persons were arrested and their vehicles were seized. After the informant came back to Muzaffarpur, he got information that the District Magistrate, Gopalganj, died at the SKM College Hospital.

4. At the trial, the prosecution examined as many as 25 witnesses. PW- 1 to PW-14 were police officials who claimed to be with or behind the procession till the incident occurred. PW-15, PW-16 and PW-23 were doctors who proved the injury reports and the post mortem report. PW-17 and PW-21 are the driver and the bodyguard of the deceased. PW-18 and PW-19 are the Director and employee of the Forensic Science Laboratory, Patna, who collected the blood-stained earth and broken pieces of glass from the place of occurrence. PW-20 is the Executive Magistrate who accompanied the procession. PW-22 is the Assistant Sub-Inspector, Muzaffarpur District, who investigated the case from 14.12.1994 to 16.12.1994. PW-25 is the Additional S.P. Muzaffarpur who investigated the case for a few hours and PW-24 is the second investigating officer. The defence also examined twelve witnesses at the trial.

5. The Additional Sessions Judge-I, Patna (for short ‘the trial court’) found Anand Mohan, Lovely Anand, Professor Arun Kumar Singh, Akhlak Ahamad, Vijay Kumar Shukla @ Munna Shukla, Harendra Kumar @ Harendra Pd. Sahi and Shashi Shekhar Thakur (A-1, A-2, A-3, A-4, A-5, A-6 and A-7 respectively) guilty of the offences under Sections 147, 302/149, 307/149 and 427/149 of the IPC. The trial court also held Anand Mohan, Lovely Anand, Professor Arun Kumar Singh and Akhlak Ahamad (A-1, A-2, A-3 and A-4 respectively) guilty of the offence of abetment to commit murder under Sections 302/109 IPC. The trial court acquitted the remaining accused persons A-8 to A-36 of all the charges. After hearing on the question of sentence, the trial court sentenced A-1, A-3 and A-4 to death for the offence under Sections 302/149 and 302/109 of the IPC and further sentenced them for one year R.I. for the offence under Section 147 IPC, 5 years R.I. for the offence under Section 307/147 IPC and one year R.I. for the offence under Section 427/149 IPC and all the sentences were to run concurrently. The trial court, however, sentenced A-2 to life imprisonment for the offences under Sections 302/149 and 302/109 IPC and a fine of Rs.25,000/-, for one year R.I. for the offence under Section 147 IPC, 5 years R.I. for the offence under Section 307/149 IPC and one year R.I. for the offence under Section 427/149 IPC and all the sentences were to run concurrently and in default of payment of fine she was to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of two years. The trial court sentenced A-5, A-6 and A-7 for life imprisonment for the offence under Section 302/149 IPC and to pay fine of Rs.25,000/- each, R.I. for five years for the offence under Section 307/149 IPC, R.I. for one year for the offence under Section 147 IPC and R.I. for one year for the offence under Section 427/149 IPC and in default of payment of fine to undergo simple imprisonment for two years and all the sentences were to run concurrently.

6. The sentence of death on A-1, A-3 and A-4 were referred to the High Court. Criminal appeals were also filed by the convicts before the High Court. The High Court held in the impugned common judgment that the prosecution has not been able to establish a case of unlawful assembly with common object of causing death of the deceased, or any other person and thus there could be no conviction under Sections 147 and 302/149 IPC. The High Court, however, held on the basis of evidence of PW-1, PW-3, PW- 4, PW-9, PW-10 and PW-14 that A-1 had exhorted the lone shooter to kill the deceased and hence he alone was guilty of the offence of abetment of murder under Section 302/109 IPC. Accordingly, the High Court acquitted A- 2 to A-7 of all the charges and sustained the conviction of A-1 but converted the sentence of death on A-1 to one of rigorous imprisonment for life.

On dissection the two wound were found interconnected.

On dissection maxilla and mandible were found fractured and tongue and inner part of lower lip was found lacerated. The projectile after entering the left cheek and damaging above organs have passed away from oval cavity.

(iii) One oval wound with interverted margin and singling and burning of the margin ¼” in diameter was found on right parietal region of head;

40. In the result, we do not find any merit in either the appeal of A-1 or the appeals of the State and we accordingly dismiss all the criminal appeals.