Ramesh Sinha, J. - (1.) The present appeal has been filed by four appellants out of which appellant no. 1 Dhananjai Pandey, appellant no. 2 Shri Krishna and appellant no. 4 Ganga Yadav died during the pendency of appeal and the appeal on their behalf has already been ordered to be abated by this Court vide order dated 20.4.2018 and 16.11.2016 respectively and the present appeal survives with respect to appellant no. 3 Bhrigu Nonia only, hence the Court proceeds to adjudicate the aforesaid appeal with respect to the said appellant, namely, Bhirgu Nonia.
(2.) The present appeal has been preferred against the judgment and order dated 18.2.1983 passed by Sessions Judge, Ballia in S.T. No. 95 of 1982 convicting all the four appellants under section 302/34 I.P.C. and sentencing each of them to undergo imprisonment for life. Appellant no. 1. Dhananjai Pandey (dead) has also been convicted under section 379 I.P.C. and sentenced to undergo R.I. for two years and his sentences were ordered to run concurrently by the trial court.
(3.) The prosecution case as has been set up in the F.I.R. is that on 29.1.1982 at about 5:00 p.m. in the evening, the informant Barmeshwar Singh along with his father Bhagwat Prasad Singh were returning to their home after visiting their agricultural field from the side of Reoti railway station through northern railway track and when they reached the home signal, the informant stopped for urinating and his father proceeded ahead. Thereafter he heard the shriek of his father on which he stood up and saw that the accused Dhananjai Pandey son of Vyas Pandey resident of village Bamnauli, Shri Krishna Ahir son of Har Narayan Ahir resident of Kamlapur, Bhirgu Nonia son of Raja Nonia and Ganga Ahir son of Samhut Ahir resident of Gayghat surrounded his father near the railway track towards North and started assaulting him with Farsa with which the accused persons were armed and on the alarm raised by him, the witnesses Ram Kripal Singh son of Gopal Singh, Shambhu Singh son of Satram Singh and Vijay Bahadur Singh son of Benimadhav Singh, who belong to his village and were also coming from the village by the side of railway track had also arrived and seen the accused assaulting his father. The accused persons after assaulting his father had also snatched away his licensee revolver and fled away towards South. The informant and witnesses had seen the accused armed with Farsa, who assaulted his father and also seen them fleeing after forcibly snatching the revolver of his father. When the informant and witnesses went near the deceased, they saw injuries on the face and forehead of his father which were caused by Farsa on account of which he died. It is further stated by the informant in the F.I.R. that while the accused were assaulting his father they were uttering that they would not leave him alive for doing pairvi in the case in which his elder brother, namely, Sureshwar Singh was murdered in the year 1972 in which the accused of his village, namely, Shri Krishna Ahir, Ganga Ahir, Bhirgu Nonia and others were convicted for life imprisonment by the Session Court, Ballia against which the accused preferred an appeal in the High Court and they were granted bail by the High Court. In the said murder case his father used to do pairvi in the High Court on account of which the accused have murdered his father. The dead body of his father was lying on the place of occurrence on the pebbles (Gitti) adjacent to North railway track between Western Home Signal and Outer Signal of Reoti railway station. Leaving some of the villagers at the place of occurrence for taking care of the dead body of the deceased, the informant went to file a written report for registering the F.I.R. at police Chauki Reoti of police station Sahtawar, District Ballia for necessary action.;