- (1.) THIS appeal, preferred by the appel­lants u/s 374(2) of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter to be referred as Cr.P.C.), is directed against the judg­ment and order dated 19.12.1991 passed by Sessions Judge, Chamoli in Sessions Trial No.17/1990, State Vs. Ram lal & others, whereby the learned Sessions Judge convicted the accused/appellants Ram lal and Shyam lal u/s 323 r/w Sec­tion 149 of The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter to be referred as I.P.C.) and each of the accused/appellant was sen­tenced to undergo one year's R.I. and a fine of Rs.250/- (two hundred fifty). In de­fault of payment of fine, further three months S.I. was awarded. However, the co-accused persons, namely, Mohan lal, Birendra lal, Smt. Swari Devi and Bachhu Tamta were acquitted by the trial court of the charge levelled against them.
(2.) I have heard Sri R.C. Tamta, learned counsel for the appellants as well as Sri M.A. Khan, learned brief holder for the State and perused the entire material available on record. In brief, the facts of the case are that on 7.6.1987 at about 11:45 P:M Ramlila was being played meanwhile the accused/appellants Ram lal and Shyam and the other co-accused persons, namely, Birendra lal, Mohan lal, Bachhu Tamta and Smt. Swari Devi (aquitted by the trial court) assaulted the cashier Khilap Singh of the Committee causing injuries to him on his head with Lathies due to which blood started oozing out and his eyes get closed. Then the accused/appellants snatched the bag containing Rs.4,000/-cash in it from Khilap Singh. Then Khilap Singh enraged alarm that Ram lal and Shyam lal, sons of Bachhu Tamta, have snatched his bag containing Rs.4,000/-from him. After hearing the noise, volun­teers of the committee reached there. On this, other co-accused Mohan lal and Birendra lal assaulted the volunteers with Chain, Lathi and Dagger. They also pelted stones on them due to which Luthi Singh received serious injuries on his head and he fell down on earth. The co-accused also caused injuries on the back of Ranjeet Singh with Chain and pelted stone on Bhuvendra Singh due to which both of them also received injuries. Besides this, Trilok Singh has also received injuries- on his leg in the incident and the coaccused persons have also assaulted Pushkar Singh on his back with Chain due to which he has received injuries. Thereafter these above-said volunteers snatched the dagger and chain from the accused per­sons. After this, the accused persons fur­ther broken the shop of betel, sweet and tea of the Ram Lila Committee causing a damage of Rs.500/-. The accused per­sons and the coaccused also threatened the volunteers to their life. With the above-said averments, Jeet Singh, Chairman of the Ram Lila Committee, lodged the F.I.R. of the incident before the Patwari, Circle Narayan Bagarh, District Chamoli on 8.6.1989 at 08:00 A:M. That F.I.R. is Ext.Ka-6. (In Rural Hilly Areas of State of Uttarakhand, the Patwaris and certain Revenue Officials are being vested with police powers vide U.P. Govt. Notification No. 494/VIII-418-16 dated 7.3.1916). On the basis of this F.I.R., Chik F.I.R. was prepared i.e. Ext.Ka-8. The necessary entries were also made in the G.D., copy of which is Ext.Ka-9. Injured Khilap Singh was medically examined by the Medical Officer, Dr. S.S. Pal (P.W.1)on 8.6.1987 at 11:05 A:M and the injury report was prepared, which is Ext.Ka-1. Supplemen­tary report of Khilap Singh was also pre­pared by Dr. S.S. Pal (P.W.1), which is Ext.Ka-2. Other injured persons, namely, Luthi Singh, Bhupendra Singh and Trilok Singh were also medically examined by the same doctor on 8.6.1987 at 11:18 A:M, 11:30 A:M and 11:45 A:M, respec­tively. Injury reports of Luthi Singh, Bhupendra Singh and Trilok Singh are Ext.Ka-3, Ext.Ka-4 and Ext.Ka-5 respec­tively. The accused/appellants Shyam lal, Ram lal and the co-accused Birendra lal were also medically examined by Dr. S.S. Pal (P.W.1) on 8.6.1987 at 10:15 A:M, 9:20 A:M and 10:00 A:M respectively. On 11.6.1987, Smt. Swari Devi was also medically examined by the same doctor at 04:50 A:M. The injury reports of Shyam lal, Birendra lal, Ram lal and Smt. Swari Devi are Ext.Kha-1, Ext.Kha-2, Ext.Kha-3 and Ext.Kha-4, respectively. During the course of investigation, the Investigating Officer (Patwari) inspected the place of occurrence and prepared the site-plan which is Ext.Ka-10. The I.O. recov­ered the pieces of chain from the place of occurrence and prepared the FARD, which is Ext.Ka-11. Bloodstained clothes viz. shirt, under shirt and underwear worn by the injured Khilap Singh at the time of incident was also recovered by the I.O. and the FARD was prepared, which is Ext.Ka-12. Dagger which was said to be used in the said crime was also took into possession by the I.O. and the FARD was prepared i.e. Ext.Ka-13. During the course of investigation, the I.O. recorded the statement of the witnesses and after com­pleting the investigation, he filed the charge sheet against the accused/appel­lants Ram lal and Shyam lal and the other co-accused persons, namely, Mohan lal, Birendra Led, Smt. Swari Devi and Bachhu Tamta (acquitted by the trial court). That charge sheet is Ext.Ka-7.
(3.) LEARNED Chief Judicial Magistrate, Chamoli committed the case to the Court of Sessions on 10.10.1990 after giving necessary copies to the appellants/accused and the other co-accused persons (acquit­ted by the trial court) as provided under section 207 Cr.P.C.;