Arvind Kumar Mishra, J. - (1.) Heard Sri Prem Prakash, Chandra Prakash Pal learned counsel appearing for the two surviving appellants, namely, Sar Nath Singh (appellant No.6) and Vijayee Yadav (appellant No.7) and learned AGA for the State.
(2.) Relevant to mention that this appeal was preferred by seven appellants before this Court, wherein five appellants- Jharkandey Singh, Bhairon Singh, Kedar Singh, Harkandey Singh and Ram Kandey Singh- expired during the pendency of this appeal, therefore, their appeal stood abated by order of this Court dated 19.12.2016. Now, the consideration of this appeal is confined to the aforesaid two surviving appellants, namely, Sar Nath Singh (appellant No.6) and Vijayee Yadav (appellant No.7).
(3.) Prosecution story as unfolded by the record has its genesis in the first information report lodged by the informant- Satya Narayan Singh (P.W.1) at police station- Sakaldiha, District- Chandauli regrading the offence/incident in question at village- Kharehara against 7 persons, including the two surviving appellants, on 07.07.1984 at 10.45 P.M. at Case Crime No.4919 of 1984, under Sections 147, 148, 325, 324, 323, 307, 379 IPC, whereby, it was alleged, inter- alia, that the incident took place around 8 P.M., on 7.7.1984 the informant and his elder brother Ambika Singh and Ramashanker Singh s/o Ambika Singh were working in their field and were cutting mud by shovel, when the aforesaid appellants- resident of same village- appeared on the scene, possessing lathi, danda, Garasha and ballam and asked Ambika Singh not to cut through water from the field. This ignited the dispute followed by heated altercation between the two sides. Dr. Ram Bahadur Singh and Raj Narayan Singh also arrived on the spot after hearing the noise. In the meanwhile, all the accused assaulted the informant side with their respective weapons. Written report contains narration that the informant on coming to know about the incident by hearing noise arrived on the spot with his licensed gun and tried to scare away the assailants by firing in the air. In the meanwhile, Harkandey Singh gave him lathi blow on his head due to which, the informant fell down, and Harkandey Singh, snatched away his gun and the rest of the assailants started assaulting the informant. A number of persons arrived on the spot and they intervened in the matter. Thereafter, appellants fled away from the scene.;