- (1.) Heard Sri S.V.Goswami learned counsel for the appellant and Sri Rajeev Gupta, learned AGA appearing on behalf of the State and have been taken through the record.
(2.) The instant appeal was preferred on behalf of the quadruple appellants against the judgement and order dated 23.8.1982 passed by the learned Sessions Judge Deoria whereby the appellant nos. 2,3 & 4 namely Awadh Bihari alias Bihari, Ram Naresh @ Naresh and Lala alias Subhas have been convicted and sentenced under sections 302 IPC and Ram Govind, the appellant no.1 has been convicted and sentenced under section 302/34 IPC vide Sessions trial no. 261 of 1981 (State v. Ram Govind) arising out of Case Crime no. 177 of 1980 under sections 302 IPC Police Station Rudrapur District Deoria to serve out the sentence of life imprisonment. At the very inception learned counsel for the appellant Sri S.V.Goswami, fairly submitted that during the pendency of appeal, the appellant no.1 Ram Govind has died on 22.9.2007 and the appellant no.2 Awadh Bihari alias Bihari has also died about two years back thus the appeal stood abated against both the appellants vide order dated 13.10.2009 and 30.11.2009. Learned counsel for the appellants is now mooting his arguments on behalf of the appellants no. 3 & 4 Ram Naresh alias Naresh and Lala alias Subhas. The genesis of the prosecution in a short conspectus is that an F.I.R. was lodged by Nazeer Ahmad on 16.7.1980 at 3.00 p.m. with respect to the incident of the same day dated 16.7.1980 at 2.00 p.m. against Ram Govind, Awadh Bihari, Naresh and Lala alias Subhas resident of village Kedar , Police Station Rudrapur District Deoria vide Case Crime No.177 of 1980 under sections 302 IPC with the allegation that litigation was going on between Shiv Lochan Yadav and Ram Newaj in the consolidation court. The brother of the complainant Yaseen has given evidence on behalf of Shiv Lochan on account of which the family members of Ram Newaj were nurturing animus and grudge against him. On the fateful day of occurrence, the complainant, his brother Yaseen, Abdul Kalam and Shiv Lochan, were heading towards their village and his nephew Mohd. Kameel and Isha were coming back from the market situated at Rudrapur. When they reached near Korwa village at about 2.00 p.m. Ram Govind armed with Lathi, Avadh Bihar armed with pistol and his relative Naresh and Lala alias Subhash equipped with pistols encircled Yaseen. Ram Govind the appellant no.1 exhorted that he will teach a lesson for giving the testimony against him. On his exhortation, Awadh Bihari, Naresh and Subhas started firing from their respective weapons which hit him fatally as a result of which he fell down on the ground raising shrieks and shrill grappling with his life. Taking the advantage of his grievous hurt, Ram Govind began to thrash him with lathi. The complainant and the other persons of the locality raised alarm and chased the assailants but the assailants fled towards east crossing the fields. The complainant and the other witnesses could not chase him on account of fear and intimidation. The complainant took the victim on Tanga (horse cart) to the police station but the victim could not survive and succumbed to injuries on the way. The complainant reached at the police station Rudrapur with the dead body of the victim Yaseen and the first information report was immediately lodged at the concerned police station. After registration of the case, the investigating officer swung into action and prepared the inquest report , diagram, challan of the dead body. The corpse was put in a sealed cover and was sent to mortuary for autopsy with constable Asfandyar Beg. The investigating officer interrogated the witnesses at the police station and reached at village Korwa ,the place of occurrence where he collected blood stained and plain earth. The corpse of the deceased Yaseen reached at the mortuary and the autopsy was conducted by Dr. V.P.Gupta on 17.7.1980 at 11:30 AM and following ante-mortem injuries were found on the person :- 1. Gun shot injury 1.5 cm x 1.5 cm x diffused tissues , depth on the left side of cheat outer aspect, 8 cm below and outer to the inferior angle of the left scapula. 2. Gunshot injury 1 cm x 1cm x bone deep on the left side root of the nose. 3. Gun shot injury 1 cm x 1 cm x bone deep on the right side root of the nose. Injuries no. 2 and 3 are communicating to each other. 4. Gun shot injury 0.5 cm x 0.5 cm x scalp deep on the right side of skull,5 cm 10 cm above the right ear. 5. Gun shot injury 0.5 cm x 0.5 cm x scalp deep on the right side of the scull. 10 cm back to the right ear and 8 cm below injury no.4 6. Gun shot injury 0. 5 cm x 0.5 cm x muscle deep on the right side of neck 5 cm below the right ear lobula. 7. Gun shot injury 0.5 cm x 0.5 cm x muscle deep on the left side of neck, back aspect 12 cm the left ear.
(3.) During the course of autopsy, the doctor on the internal examination found that the tenth rib on the left side fractured, pleura and the left lung were punctured. About 100 grams semi digested food was present in the stomach. Small and the large intestines were full of gases. Liver was also ruptured and punctured. The doctor opined that the cause of death was due to shock and hemorrhage as a consequence of antemortem injuries. The doctor had testified that the death had occurred in between 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. on 16.7.1980 on account of gun shot injuries inflicted on his person.;