Bachan Singh & Anr vs State Of Bihar

3. On the morning of 3rd December 1975, one Shekhar Singh, resident of Village Moory was assaulted by some of the 2 accused. Later on information was conveyed to Bhagwati Devi that her sons-in-law, Lakshman Singh and Bacha Singh and her son Nathuni Singh had been surrounded by the accused in the Khalihan of one Marua Singh with a view to commit their murder. Bhagwati Devi, accompanied by her daughter and son, went to the Khalihan of Marua Singh and when she reached there, she saw the accused persons, 13 in all, armed with guns, spears, pharsas and lathis etc. standing on the road outside the Khalihan whereas her two sons-in-law and her son were inside. She also heard accused Chirkut Singh asking them to come out of the Khalihan and he also opened fire hitting Bacha Singh on which, he fell down. Lakshman Singh thereafter opened fire with a country-made gun in self defence hitting Kishore Singh, as a result of which, he too fell down on the ground. Thereafter, accused Jang Bahadur Singh fired a shot with his weapon hitting Lakshman Singh, and accused Bashishta Singh also fired his weapon hitting Nathuni Singh and they both fell on the ground. The other accused thereafter gave blows with lathis to Nathuni Singh. In the meanwhile Sachmucha Devi, the father's sister of 3 Nathuni Singh covered his body with her own and received gun butt/lathi blows given allegedly by accused Jang Bahadur Singh. It further appears that the accused persons started dragging Lakshman Singh and Bacha Singh in a southerly direction and also assaulted them which resulted in their deaths on the spot. On hearing the alarm raised by Bhagwati Devi, her co-villagers namely Bajranghi Singh and Chariter Singh reached the place and also witnessed the incident. The accused then ran away carrying Nand Kishore Singh with them. Bhagwati Devi then rushed to the Police Station, Chainpur on which an FIR was registered for offences punishable under Sections 147,148,149,302,307 and 325 of IPC and under Section 25(a) of the Arms Act against all the thirteen accused and on completion of the investigation, they were charged under the aforesaid offences and as they pleaded innocence, they were brought to trial. The trial court relying on the statements of PW5 Bhagwati Devi, PW4 Jai Prakash, PW6 Binda Devi, PW7 Sachmucha Devi and PW8 Nathuni Singh held that the case stood proved against nine of 4 the thirteen accused and accordingly convicted them as under:-

4. Accused Nirmal Singh, Muni Singh, Durga Singh and Bramha Singh were acquitted. The High Court in appeal, acquitted Bashistha Singh of all charges. The appeals filed by 5 the other accused were dismissed with some cosmetic changes in the nature of the offence.

5. Before we embark on a discussion of the arguments raised, the details or otherwise of the appeals filed in this Court need to be reproduced. It may be mentioned that Chirkut Singh, Badri Singh and Briksh Singh did not file any appeal in this Court. Jang Bahadur Singh has filed Criminal Appeal No.408/2005 whereas Bachan Singh and Sobhu Singh have filed Criminal Appeal No.1176/2004 and Kailash Singh and Kumar Singh have filed SLP No.599/2007.

9. Mr R. Sundarvardhan's primary argument has been that the incident was the outcome of a free fight between the two groups after they had made preparations to settle scores. We have examined the statement of PW5 Bhagwati Devi, the first informant, who deposed that 5 or 6 days before the occurrence, Chirkut Singh's crop had been burnt on which a complaint had been lodged against her sons-in-law (the deceased), her son and her husband and that Chirkut Singh had threatened her sons-in-law that they would be beaten. She also stated that Lakshman Singh often carried a country- made gun though he had no licence for it. It is apparent from her evidence that a free fight between the parties had taken place during the course of which several shots had been fired resulting in three deaths from both groups. The stand taken 12 by Bhagwati Devi has been supported on material points by the other prosecution witnesses. We are of the opinion in the facts stated above, that both the parties appeared to be itching for a fight and had collected their relatives and supporters from far and between to augment their strength. In this view of the matter, we are disinclined to go into the other arguments raised by the learned counsel for the appellants.

10. In the light of what has been discussed above, we find that both groups must share equal responsibility for this incident. Accused Chirkut Singh who has been attributed the gun shot injury on Bacha Singh and Jang Bahadur Singh who had likewise given a fatal injury to Lakshman Singh must be held liable for offences punishable under section 302 IPC and section 27 of the Arms Act. The trial court acquitted Bashistha Singh charged under section 307 for having caused a gun shot injury to Nathuni Singh but convicted him for the offence under section 148 of the IPC. In appeal, however, he was acquitted of this charge as well. We accordingly dismiss Criminal Appeal No.408 of 2005 filed by Jang Bahadur Singh, and as Chirkut Singh has filed no appeal in this Court, we 13 maintain his conviction as well. Criminal Appeal No. 1176/2004 filed by Bachan Singh and Sobhu Singh are allowed whereas we grant leave in SLP No.599/2007 and order the acquittal of Kailash Singh and Kumar Singh as well.