KANHU CHARAN PATRA Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two revision petitions are directed against the judgement of the learned Second Addl. Sessions Judge, Ganjam, Berhampur whereby he has confirmed the judgement of the trial court convicting the petitioners under Sections 457/34 I.P.C. and 354/34 I.P.C. and sentencing them to each undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and to pay fine of Rs. 500/-, in default, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a further period of six months under Section 457/34 and to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year under Section 354/34 IPC, with a direction that the sentences shall run concurrently.

(2.) Shortly stated, the prosecution case is that on 2-7-1989 at about 11.30 P.M. while Radha Charan Patnaik (P.W. 10) was returning to his rented house from the market, he found on a junction near his house some persons to have been injured. He rushed to his house and returned to the junction with some face powder and neosprin ointment. Not being satisfied with such medicine, the petitioners who were there in the junction assaulted P.W. 10 mercilessly and threw him to a road side drain. Having heard the hue and cry raised by P.W. 10, his family members came to their outer varandah which was covered by wooden jeffry but did not dare to come to the rescue of P.W. 10 because of the golmal going on there. Thereafter, the accused persons broke open the jeffry with the weapons of offence they were holding and went inside the house which consisted of three rooms one behind the other. Out of fear of assaults, the wife (P.W. 3) and the two daughters (P.Ws. 7 and 8) of P.W. 10 went inside the house and bolted the entrance door from inside. It is alleged that the accused persons broke open the door and went to the second room to find P.W. 3 there. Out of fear, P.Ws. 7 and 8 who are young girls entered inside the third room. P.W. 3 told the accused persons to take away her life if they liked but not to harass her daughters. In the meanwhile, both the sons of P.W. 10 namely, Sushil Kumar Patnaik (P.W. 1) and Sunil Kumar Patnaik (P.W. 4) returned to the house after closing their betal shop situated nearby and found all the accused persons to be there inside the house. At that time, accused Santosh alias Napali Patnaik and Gopal Krushna Panda went inside the third rooms and selected the two girls (P.Ws. 7 and 8). Somehow or other P.Ws. 7 and 8 made good their escape by scaling over the wall of their back side bari and took shelter in the house of one Suadhin Patra (not examined) situated in another Oshi. P.W. 1 rushed to the nearby Gauri Sahi and implored some people to come to his rescue. Some persons of Gauri Sahi rushed to the spot along with him and at their sight the accused persons took to their heels. P.W. 10 was rescued from the drain and he gave out that the culprits had taken away his wrist-watch from his hand and Rs. 500/- from his shirt pocket. First information report to the above fact (Ext. 1) having been lodged by P.W. 1 in the same night at 1.30 A.M., the police rushed to the spot, seized the broken doors, sent the injured i.e. P.Ws. 3 and 10 for medical examination, arrested the accused persons, sent some of the accused persons for medical examination and after completion of investigation submitted charge-sheet. The case having been committed, not only the four petitioners but also one Nirakar Mohanty faced trial in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate-cum-Assistant Sessions Judge, Berhampur. As already indicated earlier, the petitioners were convicted and sentenced and although accused Nirakar Mohanty was convicted under Sections 457/34 and 354/34 I.P.C., he was released on Probation of Offenders Act. The said accused Nirakar Mohanty has not filed any revision although his appeal against the order of conviction and sentence was dismissed by the appellate court.

(3.) Accused Santosh alias Nepali Patnaik took the plea of alibi saying that at the time of the alleged occurrence he was witnessing a movie and the other accused persons took the plea of denial. One witness namely, Pradeep Patra (D.W. 1) was examined in support of the defence plea.