The incident which has given rise to the present criminal proceedings took place on the 29th November, 1961 in village Bilati Khet in the district of Jhansi at about 8 a.m. It is clear that this village is cursed with keen rivalry and enmity between two factions.
Shiroman companycealed himself in the godown while Bahoran companycealed himself in the room in the upper storey where chaff had been stored.
The dead bodies were then dragged towards the east of the house.
On reaching the cattleshed of Harbans, the assailants broke open the outer door of the house and entered into it.
The injured persons Harbans, Ram Prasad, Mansa Ram and Smt.
In the last election of the village Panchayat Laxmi Prasad succeeded as Pradhan of the village and defeated the candidate set up by Gayadin.
All these murders were companymitted, according to the prosecution, by the members of the rival faction amongst whom are included the present appellants before us.
He also directed that the said accused persons should undergo different terms of imprisonment for the remaining offences but for the purpose of the present appeals, it is unnecessary to refer to them.
Post mortem examination was then held on the dead bodies and statements of witnesses were recorded in the companyrse of investigation.
In the field, two big piles of companydung cakes were prepared.
The 12 persons who gave direct evidence against the appellants and their companyaccused persons are Bahoran P.W. 1 Basanti Lal P.W. 2 Rameshwar Dayal W. 3 Prabhu Dayal P.W. 5 Pancham P.W. 6 Swarup Singh P.W. 14 Kasturi P.W. 15 Thakur Das P.W. 16 Shyamlal P.W. 17 Harbans P.W. 18 Dropadi P.W. 19 and Kishori Lal P.W. 20.
It is against this decision of the High Court that the present five appeals have been brought to this Court by special leave, and the number of accused persons who have brought these appeals before us is 16.
The case against these persons was tried by the first Additional Sessions Judge at Jhansi.
Later, five more persons were added to the list of assailants by the companymittal order made on the 14th May, 1962.
That led to the several charges framed against 40 persons and ultimately their trial in the Court of the First Additional Sessions Judge at Jhansi.
The case for the prosecution is sought to be established by the testimony of 12 eye witness.
About that time, Laxmi Prasad and his companypanions reached near the house of Gayadin whereon Laxmi Prasad fired a gun.
On one of the piles the bodies of Gayadin, Brindaban, Radha Saran and Dayaram were placed and on the other Shiroman Singhs body was put.
Bahoran and Shiroman Singh, both sons of Gayadin, escaped through the tiled roof into the cattleshed of Harbans which is situated towards the south east of Gayadins house.
One group was led by Gayadin who and four other members of his family were murdered on the said date.
The five dead bodies were then taken into the field of Bhagwati.
When the dead bodies were thus being dragged, Gori Dulaiya wife of Gayadin rushed after the assailants and implored them number to take the dead bodies away.
After the learned trial Judge pronounced his judgment on the 31st December, 1962, the 35 accused persons who had been companyvicted by him preferred three appeals between them before the Allahabad High Court, whereas the sentences of death imposed on 10 accused persons by the learned trial Judge were submitted to the said High Court for companyfirmation.
On receiving the first information report, the police party rushed to the scene occurrence on cycles and they put off the burning fire and took out the half burnt bodies of the five murdered persons.
That, in brief, is the story of the gruesome murders which have given rise to the present proceedings.
Inside the house the assailants pursued Gayadin on the upper storey and killed him there.
On receiving this alarming information, Gayadin and his friends and relatives thought of proceeding towards the house of Gayadin.
In this report, he gave all the material details in regard to the companymission of the offence and named the 35 persons as the assailants.
In appeal, several companytentions were raised on behalf of the appellants, but they were rejected and in the result, the findings of the trial Court against the appellants were companyfirmed.
In regard to the remaining 28 appellants, the High Court has companyfirmed the orders of companyviction and sentence imposed on them by the trial Court.
When the assailants had left the house of Gayadin dragging the dead bodies with them, Bahoran came out of his hiding place and rushed to the Police Station Krichh and lodged the First Information Report at about 11 Oclock.
One of the assailants, however, struck her with a stick and she was forced to retrace her steps.
In the field he met Laxmi Prasad who attacked him with a lathi.
Before dealing with the points raised in these appeals, it is necessary to set out very briefly the relevant facts on which the prosecution case against the appellants and their companyaccused substantially rests.
They then injured Harbans and managed to discover Shiroman Singh who was promptly killed.
He was then carrying a pharsa.
In fact, the first companymittal order passed on the 31st March, 1962 in the present proceedings referred to 35 assailants.
Kerosene oil was sprinkled on the bodies and fire was set to them.
Bahoran retaliated this attack with his own pharsa and in the scuffle the numbere of Laxmi Prasad was injured and it began to bleed in fact, a part of the numbere was actually cut.
The High Court has critically examined the evidence given by these witnesses and has held that the evidence of Bahoran and Prabhu Dayal may be left out of account as it appeared to the High Court that the said evidence suffered from material infirmities.
Attempts were made to settle this dispute by arbitration, but they failed.
Their main companytention was that a false case had been made against them and it was attempted to be supported by evidence of witnesses who were hostile to them and who had numberregard for truth.
After killing Gayadin, Brindaban, Radha Saran and Dayaram, the assailants mercilessly dragged the bodies of the victims out of the house of Gayadin and began their search for Bahoran and other male inmates of the house.
Infuriated by this injury, Laxmi Prasad went to his house and companylected the whole crowd belonging to this faction.
Criminal proceedings have companytinued between the parties for several years almost without interruption.
These bodies were identified and were sent for post mortem examination.
Bahoran eased himself and returned to his house.
The trial Judge, in substance, rejected the defence plea and accepted the prosecution evidence, except in the case of five accused persons.
The evidence given by the remaining 10 witnesses has, however, been accepted by the High Court as substantially true and companyrect.
The other charges framed against them were under s. 307/149, 201/149 511, 395, 396, 149 449, I.P.C. The learned trial Judge held that numbere of the charges had been proved against five of the accused persons.
All the accused persons denied that they had anything to do with the offences charged.
At that stage, Ram Prasad and Dayaram rushed to the scene and informed them that Laxmi Prasad and his companypanions were all armed with gums, spears, swords, gandasas and lathis and were proceeding to the house of Gayadin determined to kill all the members of Gayadins family.
Soon thereafter he washed his hands and went to the numberth where his father, brothers and other relations were warming themselves by fire.
Gori Dulaiya were sent for medical examination.
For the major offence charged under s. 302/149, he sentenced 10 accused persons to death and 25 others to imprisonment for life.
Bhagwati was carrying a large quantity of cartridges in the folds of his dhoti and was instigating Laxmi Prasad to fire at everyone sitting near the fire to the numberth of the house and to exterminate the family of Gayadin.
This dispute related to two fields one of which belonged to Gayadin and the other to Laxmi Prasad.
On the 29th November in the early morning, Bahoran, one of the sons of Gayadin, had gone out to ease himself.
The assailants then broke open the doors of the house and entered the sehan of Gayadin.
Brindaban, Radha Saran and Dayaram were hiding in different rooms of the house the doors of these rooms were broken open and all the three of them were shot dead.
He also found that the charges under sections 395 396 were number proved against any of them.
The rival group was led by Laxmi Prasad alias Laxmi Narain who is one of the appellants in this Court.
On hearing this, everyone of the group sitting near the fire rushed into the house and closed the doors.
On the 28th November, 1961, a boundary dispute led to an incident between the members of the two groups.
In the result, the reference made to the High Court for companyfirmation of the sentences of death imposed on the 10 accused persons by the trial Court was allowed.
Gajendragadkar, C.J. Forty persons were charged with having companymitted several offences the principal one of which was under section 302 read with s. 149 of the Indian Penal Code.
In regard to the remaining charges, he found that 35 out of 40 accused persons were guilty.
