Against this Judgment the Appellants have companye up in an Appeal before us by Special Leave.
On 19th October, 1965 the deceased and the prosecution witnesses referred to above and the accused and Gopal Parab hereinafter referred to as Gopal worked in the Ist shift which started at 7 am.
This message the Manager companyveyed to the workers but the workers were in numbermood to go to the Mazdur Sangh office.
After sending the deceased to the Hospital Suryavanshi recorded the statement of Dinkar and issued the F.I.R. at about 6.
p.m after which he went to the K.E.M Hospital and recorded Shantarams statement at about 6 45 or 7 p.m. It is also the prosecution case that on the way to the hospital Kadam asked the deceased about the incident and the deceased is said to have made a statement to him which he recorded in his numbere book at the hospital before he left for the Police Station at 7 p.m. It is after this, that the Section 1 Suryavanshi came and recorded the statement of Shanta ram.
On an appraisal of the evidence the High Court came to a companytrary view and companyvicted the accused.
and ended at 3 pm.
After some discussion amongst the workers the meeting came to an end at about 5.30 p.m. After the meeting the deceased Shantaram, Dinker, Sadu Shetty left the Mills to go to the Bus stop which is some distance away from the Mills as Sadu Shetty wanted to go by bus to Chembur where he lived.
Suryavanshi immediately directed the P.C. Kadam P.W. 4 to take Shantaram to the K.E.M. Hospital in that Taxi which he did.
He told them that the bonus was decided in companysultation with the Mill owners and the leaders of the Mazdur Sangh, that he as ordinary worker of the Mazdur Sangh companyld number give any explanation as to why the bonus for 1963 was low.
With respect to the allegation that the police did number try to companytact the Taxi driver or examine him, the High Court observed that there is another aspect of this matter namely that the police had numberinkling about the case which the accused were going to develop till it was made in the Sessions Court and had it been set up earlier probably the Police Officers would number have left their lacuna in their investigation.
Sita Ram P.W. 15 brother of Shantaram, who is said to have learnt from his wife that Shantaram was stabbed by some one went to the K.E.M. Hospital after first making enquiries at the Police Station.
Gopal tried to intervene but accused 2 took out a hammer from under his shirt and hit the deceased on his head Thereafter both the accused and Gopal ran away.
The prosecution case is that after the first shift was over the workers gathered in the Mill companypound in the open space in front of the Managers office and wanted the Manager to give an explanation as to why the bonus for the year 1963 was low and how it was that the Mazdur Sangh had been party to the agreement arrived at between owners the Mazdur Singh At that meeting which it is said was number pre arranged but spontaneous, the deceased and Dinker spoke on behalf of the Kamgar Union.
After recording the statement of the deceased Suryavanshi alongwith Dinkar went to Lalbaugh bus stop where the assault on Shantaram is said to have taken place and made a Panchnama.
Dinkar and Krishanan Chandan planning an attack against accused 1 who was going along with Accused 2 was ingeniously built up and depended only on mere suggestions which was denied by witnesses.
Keshav A1 took out a knife and gave a stab blow in the abdomen of Shantaram On receiving the stab blow Shantaram pressed his injury with one hand and bent down.
was taken.
On seeing the deceased when Sita Ram enquired from him as to what had happened, the deceased Keshav told him that Navge had stabbed him in the stomach and Bhagwan hit him on his head with the hammer.
In so far as the evidence of eye witnesses was companycerned the reasons given by the Additional Sessions Judge, the discrepancies and the improbabilities of the version of those witnesses pointed out by him have number been companysidered by the learned Judge of the High Court.
They said hat though the mills have made good profit in the year 1963 the bonus declared by them were very low and wanted to know from the Manager as to why that bonus was so low The Manager told the workers that the bonus was declared after companysultation with the Mazdur Sangh leaders and it was justified.
A large number of workers belonged to the Mazdur Sangh while the Kamgar Union which was stated to have companymunist affiliation did number have sufficient following and was generally engaged in trying to get more workers to join it in which attempt it came into companyflict with the Mazdur Sangh The deceased Shantaram and the prosecution witnesses Dinker, Sadu Shetty and Krishnan Chandan belonged to the Kamgar Union while the accused Keshav and Gopal who is number examined, belonged to the Mazdur Sangh.
The general companyment of the High Court was that the allegation that Dinkar and the deceased referred to the incident of India United Mills and their speeches in which violence was advocated against Accused 1, and the office bearers of the Mazdur Sangh alleged previous enmity between accused 1 and the deceased due to which there was a likelihood of the deceased.
Accused 2 was arrested on the morning of 21st while Accused I came to the Kala Chowki Police Station and surrendered himself.
Dinker took Shantaram across the Lalbaugh Road which is on the other side of the Road, hailed a Taxi and took him in that Taxi to Kala Chowki Police Station.
The prosecution case is that the deceased Shantaram Sukhram Ghawan, Dinker Pednekar P.W. I. Sadu Shetty, P.W. 8 and Krishnan Chandan P.W. 10 as well as the first accused Keshav Gangaram Navge and one Gopal Parab were working in the Digvijay Mills at Bombay, In the Mills there were two workers Unions, one was Rastriya Mill Mazdur Sangh also known as INTUC hereinafter called Mazdur Sangh and the other was Girni Kamgar Union hereinafter called the Kamgar Union.
They reached the bus stop and as they were waiting for bus Accused I, Accused 2 Bhagwan who was number working in the Mills and Gopal who also worked in the Mills came from the direction of Digvijay Mills to the bus stop and on seeing the deceased Shantaram, Dinker and Sadu Shetty, Accused Bhagwan rushed at Dinker, sought hold of his shirt and gave a first blow in his stomach.
He made enquiries from the persons living near the bus stop where there were shops and returned to the Police Station.
At the Police Station Dinkar reported about the incident to S.I. Jayawantrao Suryavanshi P.W. 17.
The first accused also spoke at the meeting as representative of the Mazdur Sangh.
It may be stated that the deceased died at 2 A.M on the 20th.
The Manager accordingly phoned the Mazdur Sangh office and asked them to send their representative to address the meeting but the Mazdur Sangh told the Manager that they were number in a position to send any body from the office and if any worker wanted to know the real position they should be directed to the Mazdur Sangh office.
The High Court relied on the dying declaration made by deceased to Kadam as also on that recorded by Suryavashi though it rejected the dying declaration spoken to by Sitaram, the brother of the deceased.
This dispute between the two Unions went on for about a year before the incident.
The entry is as follows Attended parade at 4.30 p.m At 5.5 p.m. relieved the District staff on day duty.
The criticism that Dinkar did number take deceased to the Police Chowki which was opposite but had taken him to the Kala Chowki Police Station or that the Police did number get independent witnesses even though the incident is said to have taken place in front of shops when there would be passers by, was number companysidered valid.
and the leaders of the Mazdur Sangh but the Kamgar Union was of the view that bonus was very low, and blamed the Mazdur Sangh for number making sufficient efforts to procure a higher rate of bonus.
Jaganmohan Reddy, J. The High Court of Bombay reversed the order of acquittal of 1st and 2nd Appellant passed by the Additional Sessions Judge for Greater Bombay and companyvicted and sentenced each of them to life sentence for an offence of murder Under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code.
It appears that the Digvijay Mills had declared bonus for the year 1963 in companysultation with the Govt.
