U.S.Tripathi, J. - (1.) THE above appeals and revisions have been directed against the judgment and order dated 18.5.2002, passed by Special Judge (E.C. Act), Muzaffar -nagar in Sessions Trial Nos. 344 of 2000, 341 of 2000, 342 of 2000 and 343 of 2000 convicting appellants Parvinder, Subhash, Chandraveer, Satyapal and Sahdeo, under Sections 148 and 302, I.P.C. read with 149, I.P.C. and 452, I.P.C. and sentencing each of them to one year rigorous imprisonment under Section 148, I.P.C., death penalty under Section 302 read with 149, I.P.C. and two years R.I. under Section 452, I.P.C. Appellants Subhash and Chandraveer were further convicted under Section 27, Arms Act and each of them were sentenced to R.I. for a period of three years and acquitting the accused respondents of Government Appeal No. 4020 of 2002. THE learned Sessions Judge has also sent a reference for confirmation of death sentence awarded to above appellants.
(2.) THE prosecution story, briefly stated, was as under : "Data Ram and Lila Pat were real brothers and sons of Ganga Sahai, Data Ram had six sons, namely, Phool Singh, Malkhan Singh, Lal Singh, Sahab Lal, Zile Singh and Samay Singh. Malkhan Singh had 5 sons, namely, Rajendra, Rajesh (accused), Anandpal, Sahdeo (appellant No. 6) and Dharmendra alias Bittu (absconding accused). Samay Singh, the brother of Malkhan Singh, has two sons Satyendra (accused) and Virendra (accused). Sachin (accused) is son of Rajesh (accused). Lila Pat had six sons, namely, Balbir, Hukum Singh, Jaibir Singh (deceased -1), Padam Singh (deceased -2), Chhote and Dharamveer. Balbir had two sons namely, Prad Pal Singh (deceased -4) and Chandraveer. Hukum Singh had three sons, namely, Prem Singh (deceased -7), Rakesh (deceased -8) and Gulbir. Sonu (deceased -5) was son of Rakesh, Jaibir Singh (deceased -1) had four sons namely Brijesh Kumar (P.W. 1), Ashok (deceased -3), Lokesh and Prahlad. Padam Singh (deceased -2) had two sons, namely, Krishnabir and Yashpal. Chhote had a son, namely, Raj Bahadur (P.W. 2) and Dharamveer had a son, namely, Anil. Rajpal Singh (deceased -6) was brother -in -law (sala of Jaibir) deceased." Himmat Singh had two sons Bharat Singh and Mukhtiyar Singh. Bharat Singh had two sons Bahoran and Kabool. Bahoran had two sons Satyapal (appellant No. 5) and Harbir (accused). Kabool had two sons Kunwarpal and Vedpal. Kunwarpal had a son Parvinder (appellant No. 1). Mukhtiyar Singh had two sons Kalyan and Jai Lal. Kalyan had two sons Subhash (appellant No. 2) and Chandraveer (appellant No. 3). Anandpal, S/o Malkhan Singh was murdered on 5.3.1999, Jaibir Singh (deceased), Padam Singh (deceased), Sonu (deceased), Chhote Singh, Hukum Singh, Krishnabir, Chandraveer, Gulbir and Lokesh descendants of Lila Pat were nominated as accused in said murder case. Krishnabir, Chandraveer and Gulbir were in jail, while other accused of said case were on bail. The above case (Sessions Trial No. 842 of 1999) was pending at the time of occurrence of this case in the Court of VIIth Additional Sessions Judge, Muzaffarnagar. On account of murder of Anandpal, there was strong enmity between the parties.
(3.) 12.1.2000 was the date fixed in the above Sessions Trial No. 842 of 1999. Brijesh Kumar (P.W. 1) along with Jaibir Singh, Padam Singh, Ashok, Pard Pal Singh, Rajpal Singh, Sonu, Rakesh, Prem Singh (all deceased), Raj Bahadur (P.W. 2) and Anil and others had come to the Courts at Muzaffarnagar in connection with the said case. In the evening Brijesh Kumar (P.W. 1), Raj Bahadur (P.W. 2) and above persons were returning to their house by bus. Other passengers were also sitting in the bus. When the bus carrying above persons and other passengers crossed village Bahadurpur and reached near field of Chandra, two white coloured maruti cars and one red coloured motor cycle came in front of the bus and got it stopped. The appellants and other accused persons got down of the maruti cars and motor cycle. Appellants Subhash and Dharmendra alias Bittu (since absconding) were having rifles, appellants Sahdeo, Chandraveer and Satyapal were having guns, appellant Parvinder was having country made pistol, accused respondent Satyendra was having country made pistol and remaining accused respondents Rajesh, Harbir Singh, Kunwarpal Singh, Virendra Singh and Sachin were having dandas. The appellants, abusing and saying that they had to take revenge of the murder of Anandpal entered into the bus from its two gates and started firing on the deceased. Deceased Jaibir, Padam Singh, Ashok, Prad Pal Singh, Sonu and Rajpal Singh sustained fire arm injuries and died on the spot. Brijesh Kumar (P.W. 1), Raj Bahadur (P.W. 2), Anil and other passengers of the bus jumped out of the bus and ran to save their lives. The appellants and other accused chased Brijesh Kumar (P.W. 1) and Raj Bahadur (P.W. 2) who ultimately hid themselves in the house of Hukum Singh at village Munauwar Pur. The appellants and other accused entered into the house of Hukum Singh and fired on Rakesh and Prem Singh deceased, who died on the spot. They also looted ornaments, cash and double barrel gun from the house of Hukum Singh and threatened that in case anyone came forward, became witness or lodged report, would meet the same fate. Due to fear of the appellants and accused no person of the village came forward. After the occurrence Brijesh Kumar (P.W. 1) prepared report of the occurrence (Ext. Ka -1) and came to police station Sikhera, where he lodged report at 7.15 p.m. On the basis of written report chik F.I.R. (Ext. Ka -82) was prepared by head constable Asarpal Singh, who made an endorsement of the same at G.D. report (Ext. Ka -83) and registered a case against the appellants, other accused and Bittu under Sections 147, 148, 149, 302, 307, 395, 397, 452, 504 and 506, I.P.C.;