- (1.) This appeal arises out of an incident which took place at about 7.30 p. m. to 7.45 p. m. on 12/11/1977 in Village Manjalpur, District Vadodara, in Gujarat wherein two persons, namely, Zaver Chhita Solanki and Raman Shiva Parmar sustained gunshot injuries caused by a gun fired by the appellant. The said injuries resulted in the death of both of them. Eight persons, including the appellant, were prosecuted before the Additional Sessions Judge, Vadodara on charges under S. 302 read with S. 149. ipc and S. 27 of the Indian Arms Act. The Additional Sessions Judge, by judgment dated 28/11/1978, acquitted all the accused persons of the charges levelled against them. The State filed an appeal before the High court of Gujarat against the said order. The said appeal as against the acquittal of the seven accused other than the appellant was dismissed by the High court at the admission stage. The appeal as against the acquittal of the appellant was, however, admitted and it was allowed by the High court by judgement dated March 30-31, 1981. The appellant has been convicted for the offence punishable under S. 302, Indian Penal Code and has been sentenced to imprisonment for life. Aggrieved by the judgment of the High court, the appellant has filed this appeal under S. 2 (a) of the Supreme court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, 1970 read with S. 379 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
(2.) The case of the prosecution, briefly stated, is as follows: The appellant and the other accused persons are Vankars by caste whereas deceased Zaver Chhita and the complainant party are Chamars. The residential locality of the Vankars is called Vankarwas and the residential locality of Chamars is called Chamarwas. Both are situated adjacent to each other. There is street running in east-west direction in Vankarwas and on the eastern side of the said street, there is the temple of Ranchodji. Towards south of the said temple is the temple of Chamunda Mata which was built by Chamars about a month prior to the occurrence. The relations between Vankars and Chamars in village Majalpur were strained for some time past. Vankars were not permitting the Chamars to pass through the street in Vankarwas. On 12/11/1977, the day of the occurrence, at about 7.30 p. m. , one Shantaben (Public Witness 1) was passing through the street in Vankarwas to which the ladies of Vankars objected. The appellant also objected to Shantaben passing through the said street and kicked her on the abdomen. Shantaben went to the temple of Chamunda Mata where Arti and Bhajans were going on and after the Arti and Bhajans were over, she informed the deceased 196 Zaver Chhita, who was elder brother of the deceased husband of Shantaben as well as other persons present there about her having been assaulted by the appellant. Thereupon, Zaver Chhita along with his son Thakorebhai (Public Witness 2) , his cousin brother Rameshbhai (Public Witness 4) and other persons present at the temple proceeded towards the house of the appellant. When they had reached near the Neem tree near the temple of Ranchodji, they were confronted by the appellant and other accused persons. The appellant was armed with a gun and other accused persons were also armed. The appellant fired his gun at Zaver Chhita. The gunshot hit Zaver Chhita on the chest and he fell down near the Neem tree. Thakorebhai, Public Witness 2 took Zaver Chhita to a place near the temple of Chamunda Mata. About ten minutes after the firing of the first gunshot, another gunshot was fired by the appellant towards the house of Punja Chhita. The said shot hit Raman Shiva who was standing in the osri (courtyard) of the house of Punja Chhita. Zaver Chhita and Raman Shiva died as a result of the gunshot injuries sustained by them. Two of the accused persons, namely, Chandulaiji (accused 7) and Manilal Jethalal (accused 8) also received injuries. The information about the incident was given to the police control room by Chittabhai Mithabhai Parmar (Public Witness 27) and Mahendra Manilal Vaghela. The control room passed on the said information to Makarpura police station and thereupon the police reached the scene of the occurrence. On the basis of the complaint dictated by Thakore Chhita Solanki (Public Witness 2) a case was registered at the police station, Manjalpur and investigation was started. After completion of the investigation, the police submitted the chargesheet against the accused persons.
(3.) The post-mortem examination of the dead bodies of the deceased persons was conducted by Dr R. K. Patel, Public Witness 6/11/1977. The following injuries were found on the person of Zaver Chhita: "1.A gunshot wound of 2 cms. diameter at the 6th intercostal sparean (sic) the right side chest 3 cms. anterior to the middle axillary line margins inverted, the wound was vacity (sic) deep with surrounded charring and blackness. 2. A gunshot wound 1 cm. in diameter just near the 1st injury on the right side chest on the mid-axillary line on the 5th rib, margins inverted, the wound was cavity deep with surrounding charring and blackness. 3. A multiple gunshot wound of 1/4 cm. diameter with surrounding blackness and charring on the right side chest extending from second rib to the 8th rib in axillary line about 60 were counted and were in 16 cms. area. 4. A reddish contusion of 2 cms. diameter below the right nipple. ";