- (1.) All these three appeals are filed against the judgment of High court of Patna, wherein convictions of the thirteen accused under S. 302/149, 436/149 and 435/149 Indian Penal Code and the sentences awarded thereunder are confirmed. The convictions of some of the accused under Section 302/34 Indian Penal Code and the sentence of life imprisonment are also confirmed. The convictions of some of the accused under Section 27 of the Arms Act and the sentences awarded by the trial court are also upheld
(2.) Seven of them namely Ram Janam Pandey, Gopal Sharan Pandey, Sadhu Saran Pandey, Ram Ayodhya Pandey, Nar Narayan Pandey, Ram Gopal Pandey and Ram Deo Pandey have preferred Criminal Appeal Nos. 391-392 of 1989. The remaining six namely Lakshmi Narain Pandey, Kamla Pandey, Jairam Pandey, Bishram Pandey, Rajendra Pandey and Narsingh Pandey have preferred Criminal Appeal No. 522 of 1989. These 13 appellants along with 17 others were tried for the said offences by the First Additional Sessions Judge, Arrah. The trial court convicted all of them for the said offences. The High court, however, as mentioned above, upheld the convictions and sentences of these 13 appellants and acquitted the rest. Hence these appeals
(3.) The prosecution case is as follows: The five deceased persons in this case were the residents of village Gorpa within the limits of Sahar Police Station in the District of Bhojpur. The material witnesses also belonged to the same village. The accused were of Bhurnihar community and also belonged to the same village. In the year 1976 five persons of Bhurnihar community of the village were killed by some Naxalites. This enraged the Bhurnihars and they suspected that the Harijans and other backward caste people of the village had hired the Naxalites and killed the five persons and they wanted to wreak vengeance upon the Harijans and backward caste people of the village. The situation became so explosive that the authorities posted Armed Forces in the village to maintain peace and tranquility. But the Bhumihars of the village were on the look out for an opportunity to teach a lesson to the Harijans and backward caste people. On 11/03/1977 at about 5 p. m. when the Armed Forces were removed from the village, some time in the day, on the eve of election, a large crowd consisting of all these 671 accused and others armed within all sorts of lethal weapons like guns, pistols, bhala, garasha and kata etc. went on rampage, set fire to the houses and piles of straw belonging to the Harijans and backward caste people and killed and injured the persons whom they came across. In this incident five people were killed including two women and one person was injured having received gunshot injuries. Thirteen houses and eight piles of straw belonging to the Harijans and backward caste people were burnt to ashes. This went on for several hours and the miscreants retired only when they saw a flash of light of some vehicle which they thought was the vehicle of the police. But in fact the vehicle was of the canvassers who had come to pass by that way. On receiving information from them, the DSP and Inspector of Police came to the village in the night and they helped people to extinguish the fire and also took into custody some Bhumihars and also recovered a large quantity of firearms and ammunitions from their possession. In the morning, the Incharge of the Sahar Police Station recorded the report from Public Witness 5 at about 7 a. m. in which the names of 47 persons as perpetrators of the above crime were mentioned. One Ram Sahai Yadav (Public Witness 4 was injured and he was referred to the Hospital, Arrah for examination of injuries. Blood-stained earth and other articles were seized along with the ashes of burnt houses and piles of straw and bones of the human bodies which were found burnt. Some empty cartridges which were seized were sent to the experts. On completion of the investigation only 32 out of 47 persons named in the FIR were charge-sheeted. Out of these 32, one died and another jumped the bail and his trial was separated. In this way the 30 remaining accused were finally brought to trial. The prosecution examined 25 witnesses and out of them 13 persons were examined as eyewitnesses, namely, PWs 2 to 11, Public Witness 13, Public Witness 15 and Public Witness 16. The accused pleaded not guilty. Three out of them pleaded alibi and 8 witnesses in support of the same were examined. The trial court examined the evidence of the defence witnesses in detail and rejected the same. The trial court, relying on the evidence of PWs 2,5,6,8, 10 and 15 convicted all the 30 accused. In the appeals before the High court, the High court confirmed the convictions of the 13 accused, who are before us and acquitted the rest. Identification of the accused as the members of an unlawful assembly was the principal question and the High court felt that it would be safe to convict only such of those accused who have been identified by at least three eyewitnesses. Applying this test the High court convicted these 13 appellants before us and acquitted the rest.;