Content Provider | Supreme Court of India |
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e-ISSN | 30484839 |
Language | English |
Access Restriction | NDLI |
Subject Keyword | dacoity criminal |
Content Type | Text |
Resource Type | Law Judgement |
Jurisdiction | India |
Case Type | Appeal |
Court | Supreme Court of India |
Disposal Nature | Appeal Allowed |
Headnote | Penal Code, 1860-Section 396- Dacoity--Conviction- Appreciation of evidence-Four sets of prosecution witnesses-Evidence of three sets not reliable-Reliability of the fourth set- Conviction basing on the evidence of P.Ws. 2 and 11- Legality of-Identity of accused not established-Effect of The appellants, the victims of the dacoity and other prosecution witnesses were residents of the village, where the crime took place in the house of P.W.11. The accused were closely related. P.W. 11's cousin and uncle were P.W.3 and the deceased, respectively, and P.W.2 was also a close relative of P.W.11. There was a simmering discontent between the family of P.W.11 and the family of the accused, Sukhari Singh. The accused-Sukhari Singh claimed that a pond was bestowed on him by the erstwhile Zamindar before the coming into force of the Zamindari Abolition Act. As the tank was under the control of the accused, he prevented the cattle of the villagers from drinking water from it .3/4 days prior to the occurrence of dacoity, the Panchayat of the village suggested to the accused-Sukhari Singh to surrender the tank in the name of a Shiva temple. The accused suggested to the Panchayat the place constructed and occupied by the complainant party, (the deceased and his relatives) for tying their cattle on the unsettled lands at the bank of the pond also should be likewise given to the Shiva temple. The Panchayat was not aggreeable to the counter suggestion of the accused. It was the case of the prosecution that the dacoity was mastermind and made at the house of the complainant with a sole purpose to avenge. On the night intervening 5th-6th April, 1970, the P.W.11, the first informant and his cousin, P.W.JĀ·and his uncle, the deceased were sleeping on the cots lay spread in the outer courtyard of their house. P.W. 11 was awaken by some noise as if some persons were coming. He stood up and switched on his five-cell torch and saw 20-25 dacoits armed with lathis, bhallas, garasas, and guns coming towards his house. On his focussing the torch they stopped. Then the dacoits also switched on their torches. P.W.11 recognised in the torch light the accused inclusive of 5 appellants. Accused Sukhari Singh shouted, "kill-kill." Accused- Munni Singh fired with his gun at P.W.11 but the gun fire did not hit him. While P.W. 11 was running, one of the dacoits hit him with a stick with an iron ring. There was some oozing of blood but it was not profuse. He ran for about 30 steps to get to his wheat field, which was about 2 to 3 feet below the level of his courtyard. From there he saw the remaining part of the occurrence. P.W.11's uncle was shot by the accused Munni Singh and he fell down. Other dacoits who were near him started hitting him with spears.One of the dacoits held a ladder in his hand, through which he climbed up to the roof of the inner house, from where he jumped into the female apartment and opened the outer door. Then the dacoits entered the house and started looting and plundering. Two dacoits scolded his cousin P.W.3 to keep lying down on his cot. In the occurrence, P.W.3, received no injury. The dacoits were active for about 15 to 20 minutes. On hearing the noise and commotion of the villagers, the dacoits decamped with the looted goods. Some of the villagers followed them to some distance but the dacoits kept firing on them. With the result that some of them were injured. P.W.11's Uncle and other injured persons were removed to be taken to the hospital, but P.W.'s uncle died on the way. Then P.W.11 proceeded to the Police Station, taking the dead body of his uncle with him, and lodged F.I.R. P.W.12 went to the spot and saw the evidence of dacoity in the form of things lying scattered and some of the articles left behind by the dacoits. He had the injured persons examined medically. He arrested the accused persons. Finally investigation was completed by another officer and the accused persons were put up for trial. The matter went to trial under the old Code of Criminal Procedure before the First Additonal Sessions Judge against the 6 named persons and one other. There were commitment proceedings before a Magistrate in which evidence was recorded. At the commitment stage, 10 persons were put to face the enquiry, out of which three accused died. There remained 6 of the original accused named in the F .l.R. and one more, not so named, to face trial. The trial court convicted all the 7 accused under Section 396, IPC and imposed on them a sentence of life imprisonment. On appeal, the High Court acquitted two of them, namely Ram Narain Singh, the one unnamed in the F.I.R. and one Charittar Ahir, one of the so named and maintained the convictions of other accused. This appeal by special leave was by the other accused challenging the judgment of the High Court. |
Judge | Honble Mr. Justice M.M. Punchhi |
Neutral Citation | 1992 INSC 114 |
Petitioner | Munni Singh And Ors. |
Respondent | State Of Bihar |
SCR | [1992] 2 S.C.R. 605 |
Judgement Date | 1992-04-21 |
Case Number | 572 |
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