the appellants obtained from this companyrt special leave to appeal under art.
appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated september 9 1953 of the patna high companyrt in jury reference number i of 1952 arising out of the reference made on february 16 1952 by the assistant sessions judge 2nd companyrt chapra in companynection with sessions trial number 81 of 1951.
the first information report of this occurrence was lodged at gopalganj police station at 8 p.m. the same night.
on march 4 1951 kailash rai was sitting in the palani and at about 3 to 4 p.m. a mob companysisting of about 100 to 125 persons including the appellants all armed with lathes bhallas and pharsas came to the palani and began to demolish the same.
the assistant sessions judge tried to analyse the working of the minds of the jury in arriving at the verdict which they did and though he agreed with the alleged finding of fact reached by the jury in regard to the possession of the palani and the punjaul disagreed with the law as allegedly applied by the jury and therefore disagreed with the majority verdict.
the said reference was heard by a division bench of that high companyrt.
the jury returned a majority verdict of guilty against the appellants.
one kailash rai claimed to be the owner of that plot and also claimed to be in possession of a palani standing in a portion of that plot as also of a punjaul i.e. a haystack in its vicinity.
435 and 436 of the indian penal companye.
they however without anything more accepted the majority verdict and held the appellants guilty of the offences under ss.
the officer in charge of gopalganj police station investigated the case and challaned the appellants charging them with having committed offences under ss.
the companymitting companyrt found a prima facie case made out against the appellants and sent them up for trial by the assistant sessions judge second companyrt chapra who tried them by a jury.
criminal appellate jurisdiction criminal appeal number 104 of 1955.
p. verma for the appellants number.
a decree had been pawed on december 16 1950 in that title suit dismissing the claim of kailash rai.
136 of the companystitution and hence this appeal.
january 30.
an appeal had been filed by kailash rai against that decree and that appeal was pending at the date of the occurrence.
2 and 3.
k. saran and r. c. prasad for the respondent.
the jury returned a majority verdict that both of them were guilty of the offences under those sections.
the facts leading up to this appeal may be shortly stated as follows there was a dispute between the parties as to title to plot number 1100 of village rampur tengrahi.
there had been proceedings under s. 144 of the code of criminal procedure in regard to this area leading up to a title suit being t.s.
435 and 436 of the indian penal code and were tried by the second assistant sessions judge of saran chapra with the aid of a jury.
number 58/8 of 1948 /50 filed by kailash rai against the appellants in regard to the same.
the judgment of the companyrt was delivered by bhagwati j. the appellants number.
2 and 3 who are the surviving appellants after the death of appellant number 1 during the pendency of this appeal were charged with having committed offences under ss.
the learned judges of the high companyrt overruled the contentions which were urged before them in regard to the charge to the jury being defective and further held that the reference was in the circumstances number companypetent.
kailash rai remonstrated and the deceased appellant number 1 ordered that the palai should be set on fire.
the appellant number 2 thereupon set fire to the palani with a match stick and the appellant number 3 set fire to the punjaul.
