V.K.Mehrotra - (1.) BOTH these appeals arise out of the judgment dated November 27, 1976 of the VI Additional Sessions Judge, Varanasi in S. T. No. 76 and 244 of 1976 by which Antu (appellant in Criminal Appeal No. 2815 of 1976) and Bedi (appellant in Criminal Appeal No. 2800 of 1976) have been convicted under sections 307 IPC and 307 IPC read with section 34 IPC and directed to undergo rigorous imprisonment for five year and two years respectively.
(2.) ONE Mewa Lal was the victim of an assault at about 10-00 a. m. on July 8, 1975 in Mohalla Jangambari at Varanasi. It is said that at the instigation of appellant Bedi, Antu gave him several blows with a knife. The medical examination of Mewa Lal by Dr. V. Kumar (PW 5) revealed that there were as many as five injuries on his person, two of which were incised wounds and one a punctured wound. The injuries were as under :-(injuries quoted-Ed.) On a reference made by Dr. Kumar, PW 7 Dr. P. K. Tandon performed an operation in an attempt to save the life of Mewa Lal. He succeeded in doing so. In a report lodged at police station Dashaswamedh at a distance of 1-1/2 furlong from the place of assault art 10.20 a. m. the same day, Mewa Lal gave out that there was ill will between him and the said appellant on account of failure of Bedi to vacate the house, belonging to the reporter, in his tenancy. Appellant Antu, according to the allegations in this report, was an associate of appellant Bedi. At about 10. 00 a. m. on the date of the incident, proceeds the report, when reporter Mawa Lal was carrying water from the water tap to his house, both the appellants met him in the lane. Antu took out a knife and upon the exhortation of Bedi to kill him, assaulted him with it. Kalloo (PW 1), Sud-dhoo (PW 3) and others of the mohalla are said to have arrived there on the screams of the injured persons. They are said to have seen appellant Aatu assaulting the reporter. The case registered on this report was investigated by PW 8 Sub-Inspector Akhlaq Ahmad who eventually (submitted a charge-sheet against the two appellants.
(3.) AT the trial, PW 1 Kalloo, 'who had scribed the first information report of Mewa Lal, apart from the injured PW 2 Mewa Lal himself as well as Suddhu PW 3 and one Km. Madhu, a girl aged about ten years, came forward to depose to the facts of the case. During the course of his testimony, however, Kalloo Ram did not support the prosecution case in its entirety. He did not incriminate Bedi. Victim Mewa Lal, however, gave a detailed account of the incident and the facts preceding and succeeding it. He was substantially corroborated by PW 3 Suddhu and PW 4 Km. Madhu. Relying upon the testimony of these three witnesses, the Trial Judge came to the conclusion that the assault on Mewa Lal had been made by appellant Antu at the instigation of appellant Bedi. He, therefore, convicted and sentenced them as aforesaid. Appearing for appellant Bedi,Sri R. P. Srivastava, his learned counsel, has urged that even from the testimony of the prosecution witnesses themselves it appeared doubtful that appellant bedi was actually present at the scene of the incident or that he exhorted Antu to assault Mewa Lal. He has drawn my attention to some portions of the statement made by the eye-witnesses in the case. In the first information report, it was alleged by reporter Mewa Lal that the incident had taken place on account of enmity that appellant Bedi had with him, in his statement at the trial, the said stand had been virtually given up. There seems to be substance in his submission.;