V. N. Misra, J. - (1.) THIS is an appeal from the judgment and order of Sri Surya Prasad III Additional Sessions Judge, Banda by which he convicted the appellants-Lal Bahadur Singh, Had Bahadur Singh, Nawal Kishore, Jaswant Singh, Indra Jit Singh, Babu Lal Singh, Shambhu Singh, Khilloo Singh, Ram Asrey Singh, Iqbal Singh, Dwarka Singh, Rameshwar Singh, Shailendra Singh and Yadu Rai Singh-under Sees. 304/149, 3077149 and 323/149 IPC and sentenced each one of them to imprisonment for life under the first count, 10 years R. I. under the second count and one year R. I? under the third count. He further convicted Jaswant Singh and Ram Asrey Singh under Sec. 148 IPC and the remaining ones under Sec. 147 IPC and sentenced the former set to three years R. I. and the latter set to two years' R. I. each.
(2.) ALL the appellants who are Thakurs and are closely related to each other, are residents of village Santar, P. S. Baberu, district Banda. Lola who lost his life in this case also belonged to village Santar and his house was quite close to the house of the appellants. He belonged to Yadav caste. Kallu, Indrapal P. W. 1, Lotan P. W. 2, Smt. Kunwaria P. W. 3 and Gangadin (all injured) are relations of Lola deceased and their houses are also close to his house. It appears that for some time past the relations between the appellants on the one hand and Lola deceased, Kallu and others on the other had been far from satisfactory. Some litigations had taken place between them and this thing had quite soured their relations. One of the fields of appellant Indra Jit Singh was close to the field of Kallu, nephew of the complainant (PW 1). On 24-3-1973 at about 4 P. M. appellant Indra Jit Singh took his bullock cart to his field for carrying his harvested crop from there. He unyoked 'the bullocks from the cart and after a little while those bullocks strayed into the field of Kallu and started damaging the crop standing therein. The complainant happened to be present near Kallu's field at that time and he asked appellant Indra Jit Singh to drive away his bullocks from the field of Kallu. Indra Jit Singh gave no heed to his words, whereupon the complainant himself drove away the bullock from Kallu's field. This thing caused annoyance to Indra Jit Singh and he started hurling abuses on the complainant. The complainant also) retaliated and abused Indra Jit Singh. Tempers, however, cooled down after a short while and the complainant then left the place. On 25-3-1973 at about 7 A. M. or so Smt. Kunwaria P. W. 3 sister-in- law of the complainant, went to the shop of one Ghisla Bhujwa in the village to purchase betel nuts. Ghisla Bhujwa inquired from her about the quarrel which had taken place between appellant Indra Jit Singh and the complainant on the previous evening. She lost no time and started telling him about the facts that had led to the quarrel. In the meantime appellant Indra Jit Singh also happened to come to the shop of Ghisla Bhujwa. He scolded Smt. Kunwaria for defaming him in the village for nothing. She took exception to this thing and insisted on telling the true facts to Ghisla Bhujwa. Appellant Indra Jit Singh lost his temper and started abusing Smt. Kunwaria. Smt. Kunwaria returned home and told the complainant and the other members of the family including Lola deceased about the treatment meted out to her by appellant Indra Jit Singh. Soon thereafter appellant Rameshwar Singh and Khilloo Singh carrying lathis with them happened to pass in front of the house of Lola deceased. Lola inquired from them as to why appellant Indra Jit Singh had abused Smt. Kunwaria at the shop of Ghisla Bhujwa. Instead of feeling sorry for the conduct of appellant Indra Jit Singh, they adopted an aggressive posture and told him that Indra Jit Singh had done a right thing and he would continue to insult his family members in future also. This; led to an exchange of hot and indecent words between the two sides. The other appellants heard these hot and indecent words and they rushed to the house of Lola to teach him a lesson. At that time Jaswant Singh and Ram Asrey Singh were armed with guns, while the rest were armed with lathis. Khilloo Singh, Dwarka Singh and Rameshwar Singh cornered Lola and started assaulting him with lathis. Smt. Kunwaria shouted for help hearing which Kallu, Indrapal P. W. 1, Lotan P. W. 2 and Gangadin rushed to the rescue of Lola. Indra Jit Singh fell upon Smt. Kunwaria and gave her lathi blows. Likewise Bahadur Singh and Shailendra Singh surrounded Indrapal and beat him with lathis, while Rameshwar Singh and Iqbal Singh beat Kallu and Gangadin resoectively Lal Bahadur Singh and Shambhu Singh did not lag behind and they gave lathi blows to Lola. Indrapal and others from the side of the complainant had also been carrying lathis and they wielded their lathis in self defence. In that process appellant Lal Bahadur Singh also received some injuries. In the meanwhile a large number of villagers collected there and on their intervention the appellants left the place and ran away. While they were going away Jaswant Singh and Ram Asrey Singh fired their guns in the air.
(3.) LOLA had received serious injuries and had become unconscious. Indrapal P. W. 1 immediately wrote a report (Ex. Ka-1) and left for Thana carrying LOLA on a bullock cart. He delivered that report at the thana at 11.30 A. M. On the basis of that report a case was registered against the appellants. LOLA was immediately sent to Primary Health Centre Baberu for medical aid. Kallu, Lotan, Smt. Kunwaria, Indrapal and Gangadin had also gone to Thana and they too were sent to Primary Health Centre; Baberu for medical examination. LOLA as also these five persons were examined by Dr. V. N. Upadhya between 1 P. M. and 3.30 P. M. on the same day and he found the following injuries on their bodies :- In jury of LOLA :-Lacerated wound 2 1 /2 cm x 2 cm skin deep on right side of forehead, 11 cm back from right eye brow. Injury of Kallu :-Lacerated wound 3 cm x 2 cm skin deep on front part of left index finger of hand. Injury of Lotan :-Lacerated wound 3 cm x I cm skin deep on right side of scalp 6 cm above right eye. Injury of Smt. Kunwaria :-Lace ratted wound 8 cm x 2 cm x skin deep on scalp on right side 12 cm above right eye brow. Injury of Indrapal:--Lacerated wound 3 cm x 1 cm x skin deep on middle of scalp 12 cm above front right. Injury of Gangadin :-Lacerated wound 5 cm x 1 cm x skin deep on right side of scalp 16 cm back from right eye brow. The condition of Lola was found unsatisfactory and he was sent to district hospital Banda for medical aid. Lola, however, succumbed to his injuries in the hospital on 27-3-73.;