Imtiyaz Murtaza, J. - (1.) THE above appeals have their genesis in a composite judgment and order dated 30.11.2006 rendered by the Special Sessions Judge, Court No. 3, J. P. Nagar. Criminal Appeal No. 698 of 2007 is a jail appeal preferred by Dharampal-appellant. It would appear that S.T. Nos. 485 of 2003, State v. Suraj and others, 482 of 2003, State v. Suraj, 483 of 2003, State v. Dharampal and 484 of 2003, State v. Munnu were knit together for trial by reason of being related to one and the same occurrence and a composite verdict has been rendered. It would further appear that Munnu, Suraj and Dharampal-appellants were convicted under Section 302, I.P.C. and out of which Suraj and Dharampal have been sentenced to be hanged till death. Appellant-Munnu has been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life upon his being held guilty under Section 302/34, I.P.C. THE trial court also recorded conviction of the accused persons under Section 307, I.P.C. and each of them have been sentenced to suffer five years R.I. All the accused persons have further been convicted under Section 354, I.P.C. and each of them have been sentenced to undergo R.I. for two years. THE trial court also recorded conviction of the appellants-Suraj and Dharampal under Section 25 of Arms Act and sentenced each of them to suffer R.I. for two years. Accused-Munnu has been further convicted under Section 4/25, Arms Act and sentenced to undergo R.I. for one year. All the accused persons have also been sentenced to pay fine separately on various counts as embodied in the judgment of the trial court.
(2.) APPELLANT - Suraj is represented by Apul Misra, appellant-Munnu by Sri V. K. Mishra, K. S. Chahar, Sushil Kumar Tiwari and Brahm Singh and appellant-Dharampal by Sri Rajiv Gupta. The State is represented by Sri K. N.Bajpai learned Additional Government Advocate. We have heard the counsel for the parties at prolix length who have taken us through the entire record and judgment of the trial court in order to press home their respective points. The incident is stated to have occurred on 4.8.2003 and the report of the occurrence was lodged at Police Station, Hasanpur at about 5 p.m. by the informant namely, Ram Prasad to the effect that the prosecutrix namely Sumrati daughter of Daulat and Kamlesh daughter of one Futteh Singh of village Kakathaur had gone to the field to collect grass and when they were busy cutting grass in the field adjacent to the field of sugar-cane of Nathu, accused persons who were sitting on the edge of the field, caught hold of the girls and dragged them inside the field. Upon the screams raised by the aforesaid girls, the village people who were present in their respective fields nearby namely, Nanak, Chandrapal, Harpal, Shanker, Ramahar, Nainsukh, Inder, Ramautar, Nathu Singh, Prem Giri, Hari Om, Bihari, Gana Pooran etc. rushed to the rescue of the girls. Upon noticing the village people converging to their side, the accused persons freed the girls from the clutches and began to flee and fired which hit Nanak deceased who slumped down on the ground. However, the village people continued to pursue the accused persons. The accused persons again fired back and this time the fire hit Chandrapal and thereafter, Harpal who fell down. However, the pursuit continued and people of village Hajipur also joined the pursuit. Subsequently, on being informed, the police of P. S. Saidanagli also arrived and challenged the accused persons and ultimately, with the coordinated efforts of the police and the public, the accused persons were overpowered at about 7 p.m. near village Hajipura. The accused persons upon being caught by the police disclosed their identity as being Munnu, Suraj and Dharampal. The search of their persons yielded country made pistols, cartridges and a dagger. At police station Hasanpur, case was registered at Case Crime No. 857 of 2003 under Section 354, 307 and 302, I.P.C. against Suraj, Dharampal and Munnu. Another case under Section 307, I.P.C. was also registered at Case Crime No. 859 of 2003 against the accused-Suraj. A third case of Case Crime No. 860 of 2003 also came to be registered under Section 25 of Arms Act against the accused-Dharampal. In so far as accused-Munnu was concerned, a case at Case Crime No. 861 of 2003 under Section 4/25 of Arms Act was registered at P. S. Rajabpur.
(3.) IT would further appear from the record that upon oral information received at 6.30 p.m. by the police of P.S. Hasanpur, from one Ghanshyam to the effect that the village people had surrounded the accused persons in the field of village Kadaua and the accused persons were firing to scare away the village people and upon receipt of this information, the police of P. S. Hasanpur rushed to the indicated place and in the jungle of village Kadaua, they found the three dead bodies and upon being guided by the village people, the police force proceeded towards north of village Hajipur. At a distance of about a furlong in the south of the village Hajipur, the police force of P. S. Hasanpur came across police force of P. S. Saldangali alongwith three accused persons who had been held tight by the public and also S.O. of P. S. Saldangali who was processing papers in the light of the petro-max and torch. IT is alleged that the S.O. Hasanpur was shown the written report prepared by Ram Prasad and Amar Singh which written report was perused by Investigating Officer who handed it back to Ram Prasad with the direction to go back to police station alongwith Vishnu Dutt for lodging the report. Thereafter, they came back to complete the formalities on the dead body of Nanak and others. After a short interval, S.O. Saldangali came there and thereafter, they all went back to P. S. Hasanpur where the accused persons were put in prison and recovered articles were deposited in the malkhana. According to narration contained in the recovery memo pertaining to Case Crime No. 858 of 2003 and 861 of 2003, the police party consisting of S.O. B. K. Arya, B. K. Yadav, R. K. Singh, Munnaramdas, Guru Dayal Singh alongwith the driver of police jeep namely Lallu Singh were on their usual patrol and at about 4 p.m. they were all present near the Ujhari Petrol Pump. On receiving information about the incident on R.T. Set, the police party proceeded towards Tarara jungle. Leaving the Jeep and Driver near the Jheel, the police party proceeded on foot towards the jungle of Hajipura Tarar. According to further narration in the recovery memo, the police party noticed three persons hiding in the maize field and they were challenged. The accused persons initially fired at the police party and the police also retaliated by firing. Subsequently, they were overpowered at about 7 p.m. with the aid of certain persons namely, Ram Prasad of Kandaha and Bhojraj, Netram, Ramkesh of village Hajipura. According to further narration in the memo, Suraj was holding 315 bore country made pistol in his right hand and further search of his person yielded two live cartridges from the pocket of his trouser and one empty cartridge stuck in the barrel of the pistol while accused-Dharampal was found holding 12 bore country made pistol in his right hand and the search of his person yielded three live cartridges from the pocket of his trouser. The search of Munnu yielded a dagger with a long blade of prohibited dimension.;