D.G.R.PATNAIK,J. - (1.) THIS appeal has been filed by the appellants against the judgment and order of conviction and sentence passed by the Addl. Sessions Judge, Jamshedpur, in Sessions Trial No. 87 of 1991 whereby the appellants have been convicted under Sections 304/149 IPC and sentenced to undergo five years imprisonment and further appellants No. 4 and 5 have been convicted also under .Section 323 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for three months.
(2.) THE case against the appellants was registered on the basis of a written report of the informant/deceased Gopal Chandra Mahto lodged on 21.9.1983 at 11.30 a.m. at the Jadugora Police Station. The case of the prosecution is that on 21.9.1983 in the morning at about 11.30 a.m., while the informant was obtaining water to his field by digging a drain across the land, the appellants arrived there and diverted the flow of water towards their field by obstructing the drain. The informant and the members of his family objected to such an act of the appellants and in retaliation the appellants, who had arrived there, armed with tangis and iron rods, started assaulting the informant and his men. The informant sustained injury on his parietal region. The matter was reported to the Police Station, Jadugora on 21.9.1983 and on the same day the injured was referred to the Rakha Mines Hospital where he was admitted for medical treatment of his injuries. However, in course of treatment, the informant died at the hospital on 14.10.1983, where -after the offence under Section 302 IPC was added to the offences for which the case was originally registered. The case of the appellants in defence was that it was the informant who had assaulted them causing injuries to one of the appellants Bolai Mahato who had instituted a counter case against the informant party.
(3.) AT the trial, as many as 12 witnesses were examined. PWS 1, 2; 3 and 4 are brothers of the deceased and they have claimed themselves to be eye witnesses to the occurrence. PWS 5, 6 and i are co -villagers and they have claimed to have seen the later part of the alleged occurrence. PWS 8 and 9 also happen to be co -villagers and their evidence is based on hearsay. PW 12 is the Doctor who has proved the injury report which was prepared at the time of examining the injured/deceased after he was admitted to the hospital. PW 10 is the doctor who has proved the post mortem report and has expressed his opinion regarding the cause of death of the deceased by concurring with the opinion of the doctor who had originally conducted the post mortem examination.;