- (1.) THIS appeal has been preferred by the seven appellants against the judgment of conviction and sentence dated 5-7-1980, passed by Sri J. S. Singhal, IVth Addl. Sessions Judge, Sitapur, convicting and sentencing the ap pellants to imprisonment for life under Sections 302/149, I. P. C. and to undergo eighteen months' R. I. under Section 148, I. PC, both the sentence were ordered to run concurrently.
(2.) THIS is a double murder case. One Khusal Pasi and his wife Smt. Phulbasa are alleged to have been murdered by the ap pellants. Admittedly, appellants No. 1 to 5 are closely related to the deceased Khusal, being his nephews and nephew's son. Thus, they were undisputedly the mem bers of the same family. Appellant No. 6 Lawa is the father-in-law of appellant Chhotkanne and appellant No. 7 Ramley is the son of accused-appellant No. 6. Thus, these two appellants are also related to the deceased. The prosecution case, in brief, is that since much before the date of occur rence some dispute regarding the Ahata and cattle-trough was going on between the deceased Khusal and accused- appel lant Chhotkanne and about 4-5 months prior to the incident in question there had occurred some quarrel also in this regard, According to the prosecution, the incident in question occurred during the mid-night of 14/15lh July, 1976 in village Dudhiapur, h/o Manpur, Police-Station Jalgaon, district Sitapur at the house of deceased Khusal. Both the deceased persons, name ly, Khusal and Smt. Phulbasa were sleep ing outside their house under the thatch ing called 'tarwaha'; their son Blsram (P. W 1) and married daughter Smt. Kamla (P. W. 4 ). besides other daughters, were sleeping inside the house. One 'dibbi' was burning in the 'tarwaha' outside the house. According to the prosecution Bisram (PW 1) and Smt. Kamla (PW 4) got awakened when they heard cries of their parents during the mid-night and slightly opening the door they saw that all the accused-appellants were severely assault ing their parents by 'gandasa' and 'banka'. They could see all this with the help of 'dibbi' which was burning in the 'tarwaha' where their parents were sleeping and also when Bishram (P. W. 1) had flashed his torch. They could not dare to come out of the room because of the fear of the ac cused-appellants. They had also heard the accused-appellants saying "vara Nyara Karke Hi Hazir Honge". They raised alarm to attract the villagers for help. Their uncle Bhoop (P. W 5) and other persons reached over there. After committing murder of Khusal and his wife Smt. Phulbasa ac cused appellants had run away. Bisram (P. W1) and Smt. Kamla (P. W 1,) then came out and found that their parents had died. Next day at about 10. 00 aim. P. W 1 Bisram reached the Police-Station and lodged the first information report which was written by the Police Head Moharrir and a criminal case was registered against all the seven accused- appellants and the inves tigation was started by Station House Officer Syed Ajlal Hussain (P. W 8 ). Syed Ajlal Hussain (P. W 8), Inves tigating Officer, had recorded the state ments of Bisram (PW 1), informant and son of deceased persons, at the Police-Sta tion itself and then reached the place of occurrence, summoned the main wit nesses and conducted the inquest proceed ings. He prepared the relevant documents, seized dead-bodies and sent them through Constables Bans Gopal and Munna Lal (P. W 9) to the District Hospital, Sitapur for their post-mortem examination. The blood-stained 'kathri' lying over the cot under the dead-bodies, blood-stained earth lying below the cot and unstained earth were seized and sealed separately. The 'dibbi' which was burning in the 'tarwaha' in the night and the torch which was alleged to have been flashed by in formant Bisram (P. W. 1) were also seized and sealed and connected memos were prepared in the presence of the witnesses. The site-plan was also prepared by the Investigating Officer Syed Ajlal Hussain (RW. 8 ). The statements of Smt. Kamla (P. W 4), daughter of the deceased persons and Bhoop (P. W. 5), brother of the deceased Khusal were recorded. The ac cused persons could not be traced at that time but afterwards they were arrested at the Bus Station Sitapur. They were also interrogated by the Investigating Officer Syed Ajlal Hussain (P. W. 8) and on their information weapons of offence, namely, 'gandasa' and 'banka' were got recovered and relevant memos were prepared in this regard. The 'gandasa' and 'banka' were seized and sealed and along-with other collected materials they were also sent for chemical examination. Dr. Shashank tandon (P. W. 3) had conducted the autopsy on the dead-bodies of Khusal and his wife Smt. Phulbasa. Reports of post- mortem examination are Exts. Ka-2 and Ka-3 respectively and reports of the doctor for post-mortem examination arc Ext. Ka-11 and Ka-12. The other exhibits prepared by the Investigating Officer Syed Ajlal Hus sain (P. W. 8) are: inquest reports of the dead-bodies (Exts. Ka-5 and K. a-6), sketch memos of the dead-bodies (Ext. Ka-7 and Ka-8), despatch memos of the dead-bodies (Ext. Ka-9 and Ka-10), the memos of blood-stained earth and torch (Ext. Ka-13 and Ka-14) site-plan (Ext. Ka-15), G. D. reports (Exts. Ka-16 and Ka-17), memos of delivery of weapons by the accused persons (Exts. Ka-18 and Ka-19), site-plan of the place of delivery of weapon (Ext. Ka-20 and G. D. report Ext. Ka-21 ).
(3.) AFTER completing the investigation in the case the Investigating Officer Syed Ajlal Hussain (P. W. 8) filed the charge-sheet in the court of the concerned Magistrate wherefrom the case was com mitted to the Court of Sessions. Charges for the offences under Sections 148 and 302 read with Section 149, I. P. C. were framed by the learned Addl. Sessions Judge against all the seven accused-appel lants. Charges were read over and ex plained to them in Hindi; they pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. In their statements under Section 313, Cr. P. C. the accused-appellants have denied their com plicity with the crime in question; their version is that they had been falsely implicated due to enmity. However; they did not examine any witness in their defence. To prove the complicity of the ac cused-appellants with the crime in ques tion the prosecution examined nine wit nesses, out of whom Bisram (P. W 1) and Smt. Kamla (RW. 4) are the son and daughter respectively of the deceased per sons and they are the eye-witnesses of the incident in question, Bhoop (P. W. 5) is the brother of the deceased Khusal who, ac cording to the prosecution, is also an eye witness, but he did not support the prosecution and simply alleged that he had not seen the assailants and Dr. Shashank Tandon (RW. 3) is the Surgeon who con ducted the autopsy on the dead bodies of both the deceased persons. Natthu (P. W. 2) is the witness of recovery of the weapons of offence but he did not support the prosecution and turned hostile. V. K. Tan don (P. W. 7) is a formal witness as he was a clerk in the hospital and he simply deposed regarding the sending of the various bundles of the seized articles for chemical examination. Ram Avtar Singh (P. W. 6) and Munna Lal (P. W 9) are Police Con stables and they arc formal witnesses. Syed Ajlal Hussain was Station Officer of the Police Station Talgaon; he conducted the investigation in the case and filed the charge-sheet in the Court.;