BABBAN CHAUDHARY Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The solitary appellant Babban Choudhary was put on trial by the Presiding Officer, Fast Track Court No. 5, Jehanabad by framing charge under Section 302/34 of the Penal Code in Sessions Trial No. 18 of 2004/219 of 2002. By judgment dated 19th of August 2004, the learned trial Judge found the appellant guilty of committing the offence under Section 302 of the Penal Code and while passing sentence on 25.8.2004, the appellant was directed by him to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life as also to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- else to suffer simple rigorous imprisonment for one year.

(2.) The prosecution case is contained in the FIR of P.W.14 Raj Rani Devi, mother of the deceased Munna Sao in which she alleged that in the night of the occurrence both the deceased Munna Sao and Sri Ram Paswan had eaten and drank together in the house of Sri Ram Paswan and both were coming to the house of Munna Sao. The informant claimed that she was outside her house and heard the sound of firing. She rushed out to find that her son had been hit by gun shot and that the present appellant along with other accused, Nanda Choudhary and Ganga Sao, were running away towards south after having fired the shots. On proceeding further the informant found that Sri Ram Paswan was also lying after having received gun shot injuries and was wreathing in pain and narrated to the informant that it were this appellant Babban Choudhary and the other two co-accused, Nanda Choudhary and Ganga Sao, who had fired at them. The informant stated that people, who had assembled there, took injured Sri Ram Paswan to Dr. Ram Kumar Singh and he died there.

(3.) The reason for the occurrence as narrated by P.W.14 in her fardbayan was that there was enmity between the accused persons on the one hand and the two deceased on the other because the accused persons of the case were also accused in a case instituted for the murder of one Madhusudan Sharma and appellant Babban Choudhary had also been sent to jail in that connection. As regards co-accused Nanda Choudhary and Munna Sao, the police was on a hunt for them and the three accused regularly held out threats to the two deceased that if they attempted to get them arrested by the police or informed it about their whereabouts, they would not spare them and rather kill him.