JUDGEMENT
Bhagwati, J. -
(1.)The incident, out of which this appeal arises, took place at about 9.30 p.m. on 2nd August, 1967 in a village called Charra within the jurisdiction of Barla Police Station. The genesis of the incident was petty dispute which arose between the first appellant, on the one hand and Bhajan Lal, Raghubar Dayal and his brother Shyam Lal on the other. The houses of Bhajan Lal and the first appellant are situate adjoining to each other and each of these houses had a chabutra in front of it. The Chabutra of Bhajan Lal was demolished by the Town Area Committee of Charra for facilitating construction of pacca drain and so also, the chabutras of various other residents of the village but the Chabutras of the first appellant was spared. Bhajan Lal carried a feeling that the first appellant was responsible for the demolition of his Chabutra and he, therefore, started bearing ill will against the first appellant. He was supported by Raghubar Dayal and Shyam Lal who took sides with him in this dispute with the 1st appellant. On 2nd August, 1967 at about 7 p.m. there was exchange of hot words between Shyam Lal and the 1st appellant in connection with this dispute and, according to the prosecution, the 1st appellant is alleged to have said on this occasion that he would properly deal with Shyam Lal as he was a great supporter of Bhajan Lal. The prosecution case was that late in the evening on that day at about 9.30 p.m., while Raghubar Dayal and Shyam Lal were lying in their cots on the Chabutra in front of their house, the appellants and Chandra Prakash, Chiranji Lal, Hazari Lal and Prem Shankar came there and challenged Rabhubar Dayal and Shyam Lal. The latter replied stating that they did not wish to enter into any quarrel with the appellants and their companions and asked them to go away. At that time, the appellants, Chiranji Lal and Hazari Lal were completely unarmed and the only two persons who had weapons with them were Chandra Prakash, who carried a knife and Prem Shankar, who had a danda. The appellants and their companions, according to the prosecution, dragged Raghubar Dayal and started assaulting him with kicks and fists and then Prem Shanker attacked him with his danda. Shyam Lal immediately intervened, but whilst he was trying to separate Raghubar Dayal, Chandra Prakash whipped out a knife from his pocket and gave three or four knife blows to Shyam Lal. On hearing the noise, Raghubar Dayal's brother-in-law Sajjan Kumar and his nephew Laxmi Chand came out of the house with lathis and started assaulting the appellants and their companions. By this time some other neighbours also arrived on the scene and they were Prem Chand, Raj Bahadur, Ram Kisan, Budh Sen and Bhagwan Das. The appellants and their companions thereupon ran away from the scene of the offence. Raghubar Dayal and Shyam Lal being injured were taken to the hospital at Charra and there, Raghubar Dayal got a report written by one Bhagwan Swarup and he took that report to the Police Station at Barla where a first information report was lodged and a case was registered. The injuries received by Shyam Lal were rather serious and he had, therefore, to be removed to the District Hospital at Aligarh but he expired at 6-40 p.m. on 3rd August, 1967. Sub-Inspector Ram Prakash Gupta carried out the investigation and after it was completed, he submitted a charge-sheet against the appellants and Chandra Prakash, Chiranji Lal, Hazari Lal and Prem Shanker.
(2.)The defence of appellants Nos. 1 and 2 and Chandra Prakash was that while the first appellant was in Jawahar Chowk at about 9.30 p.m. on 2nd August, 1967, the 2nd appellant and Chandra Prakash came there for going to their house and at that time Shyam Lal Raghubar Dayal, Laxmi Chand and Sajjan Kumar suddenly appeared and started assaulting them with dandas as a result of which the 3rd appellant also happened to come there and he too was beaten. The 3rd appellant also put forward the same defence and added that when he ran to the help of appellants Nos. 1 and 2 and Chandra Prakash and tried to intervene, Laxmi Chand aimed a knife at him and in exercise of the right of private defence, he snatched away the knife and wielded it and it accidently struck Shyam lal. Chiranji Lal, Hazari Lal and Prem Shankar totally denied their presence at the time of the incident and their defence was that they had been falsely implicated due to enmity.
(3.)Now, there was no dispute between the prosecution and the defence that an incident did take place at about 9.30 p.m. on 2nd August, 1967 and in this incident, on the side of complainant, Shyam Lal received four knife injuries resulting in his death and Raghubar Dayal received six injuries caused by some hard and blunt weapon while, on the side of the accused, appellants Nos. 2 and 3 and Chandra Prakash received some injuries which appeared to have been caused by hard and blunt weapons. The controversy between the parties was as to where the incident took place whether in front of the house of Raghubar Dayal and Shyam Lal or in Jawahar Chowk and in what manner. The learned Additional Sessions Judge on an appreciation of the evidence, came to the conclusion that the prosecution version in regard to the happening of the incident was correct and that the incident took place in front of the house of Raghubar Dayal and Shyam Lal in the manner alleged by the prosecution. The evidence led on behalf of the prosecution was substantially accepted by the learned Additional Sessions Judge and on the strength of that evidence he held that the appellants and Chandra Prakash, Chiranji Lal, Hazari Lal and Prem Shankar were guilty of forming an unlawful assembly and in prosecution of their common object causing simple hurt to Raghubar Dayal and so far as Chandra Prakash was concerned, he found him guilty of committing the murder of Shyam Lal. The learned Additional Sessions Judge in this view, convicted the appellants and Chiranji Lal, Hazari Lal and Prem Shanker under S.147 and Sec. 323 read with Section 149 and sentenced each of them to suffer rigorous imprisonment for six months for the former offence and three months for the latter. They were, however, acquitted of the offence under Section 302 read with Section 149. Chandra Prakash was convicted by the learned Additional Sessions Judge under Section 302 and sentenced to imprisonment for life and he was also, in addition, held guilty under Section 148 and Section 323 read with Section 149 of which he was sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for one year and six months respectively.