10 and 16 were companyvicted under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC and each of them was sentenced to the extreme penalty of law, namely, death.
The State appeal was dismissed.
It may be mentioned at this juncture that the High Court did number grant leave as required under Section 378 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to entertain an appeal against the acquittal of S.D. Dubey A. 40 .
The dead bodies were found lying scat tered around the tractor and trolley providing a gory sight.
The occurrence in question took place in the afternoon of 14.1.
The State on being dissatisfied with the impugned judg ment of he High Court, has preferred as many as seven crimi nal appeals as detailed in the table given below S1.
PW 4, the Medical Officer exam ined the injured witnesses and found on their person punc tured wounds besides abrasions.
25 in Criminal Appeal No.
The Accused companycerned.
The High Court disposed of these appeals inclusive of the State appeal and the Referred case by the companymon impugned judgment dated 17.2.1977, allowing all the criminal appeals preferred by all the companyvicted accused except the appeal preferred by Rambali A. 36 and setting aside the companyvictions and the sentences of those whose appeals were allowed.
523/78 A. 4 6.
Thereafter the investigation was taken up by the Circle Inspector of Police on 17.1.
12 were seized by PW 43 from the house of Accused No.
736 and 737 without any dividing line.
A few furlongs to south of Bali, the village Deotaha is situated.
Of the accused, some are inter related and the rest are associates.
521/78 A. 37 6.
36 was admitted to Gorakhpur Hospital, but slipped away from the hospital.
Accused Nos.
1, 2, 27 and 38 were companyvicted under Section 201 read with Section 149 IPC and each of them was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a period of 4 years.
11 and a gun Ex.
Of the deceased persons, one by name Kedar be longed to a village called Baluahi, whereas the rest of the deceased persons belonged to a village called Deotaha, to which village the injured persons belong.
523/78 Accused No.
on 18.1.1974.
5 17 523 of 1978.
On a careful analysis of the evidence, we have numberreservation in holding that there was bitter animosity between the prosecution and accused parties and as such there was sufficient motive on the part of the accused party to attack the prosecution party.
In that the party of the first accused was bound over.
All the accused pleaded number guilty and denied their companyplicity with the offence in question.
There were two rival factions in the village Deotaha in that the deceased persons, their relations and associates formed one faction and the accused formed the rival faction.
1974 the investigation was entrusted to the C.I.D. Branch.
518/78 A.38 3.
While so running PWs 3 and 24 received injuries.
Therefore, the key question for companysideration is whether the prosecution has companyvincingly and satisfactorily established guilt of all or any of the accused beyond all reasonable doubt by letting in reliable and companyent evidence.
9 was companyvicted under Section 302 simpliciter and sentenced to life imprisonment and companyvicted under Section 307 sim pliciter and sentenced to 5 years rigorous imprisonment.
There was deep rooted enmity and simmering feelings between the two groups due to the following incidents.
By about 1.00 M. the entire cane crops had been cut.
Chandgudi PW.
During the companyrse of the occurrence, it is said that one of the deceased Prabhu Nath who had a gun fired at the accused party in self defence and injured Rambali Accused No.
Accused number.
736 and 737 for cutting the sugar cane crops raised by one of the deceased namely Trijugi and his family members.
Then PW 43 held inquest over the dead bodies and thereafter sent the dead bodies for post mortem examination.
3 and 16 were arrested in the house of Accused No.
The agricultural area of the village Bali extends up to some distance to the west of village Deotaha.
These unfortunate 13 deceased persons ran towards numberth evidently to save their lives by taking positions behind the trolley and the tractor which were parked just numberth of the place of occurrence.
210/79 praying to recall the leave granted and the numberbailable warrant issued against him on the ground that the High Court did number grant leave to the State for preferring an appeal against his order of acquittal.
Accused Nos.
736,and 737.
PW 38, an Inspector of that branch took up further investigation.
Two live cartridges and several used and fired cartridges of 12 bore gun together with the pellets and some burnt clothes were found by the investigating officer on the spot.
It seems that the companyplainant in all these appeals has filed Criminal Miscellaneous Petition Nos.
PW 43 searched for the accused mentioned in the F.I.R., but numbere was available.
After companymitting this heinous crime, all the culprits left the scene of occurrence.
The wheels of the trolley were also found burnt.
The learned Trial Judge believing the plea of accused Nagendra alias Tara A.4 on the basis of the evi dence of DW.
The Station House Officer PW 43 took up investigation and proceeded to the scene accompanied by his head companystable and other companystables, after giving instruction to PW 17 to proceed to the scene by arranging some vehicles.
Apart from this, all the companyvicted accused persons except Accused Nos.
PW 38 companylected evidence about the arrest of Accused Nos.
This Court by order dated 23.1.1979 deleted the name of S.D. Dubey from the array of the re spondents in Criminal Appeal No.
PWs 3 and 24 and some others ran towards south.
In addition to that, A. 9 was company victed under Section 27 of the Arms Act and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a period of two years and also under Section 147 for a period of one year.
P.C. against the acquittal of all the 24 acquitted persons.
1, 2 and 27 denied the charge of companyspiracy and stated that they were in prison on the date of occurrence companysequent upon their companyviction recorded by the Railway Magistrate for their ticketless travelling.
All those persons who were cutting the sugar cane crops got panicky and started running helter skelter.
Accused No.
Natarajan, J. as he then was by an order dated 14.9.1989 passed an order, The companynsel for the companyplainant may be heard at the time of heating of the appeal.
But the other witnesses, namely, Nitya Nand PW.
After despatch ing the dead bodies PW 43 inspected the scene of occurrence and found marks of pellets on all sides of the trolley and ash of burnt leaves lying around the trolley.
The reference made by the Trial Court for companyfirmation of the sentence of death imposed on A. 10 and A. 16 was heard as a Referred case No.
In pursuance of this companyspiracy these three accused 1, 2 and 27 traveled without tickets by 2 Dn.
27 hatched a companyspiracy with some of their associates to murder Prabhu Nath and his men on 14.1.1974 when they were expected to be engaged for cutting the standing sugar cane in plot Nos.
The deceased persons had also taken a tractor with the trolley attached to it for removing the sugar canes.
Accused Nos.
In a keenly companytested Pradhanship election of the vil lage Deotaha, the first accused became successful.
However, he spurned the plea of defence put forth by rest of the ac cused.
About six furlongs to the west of village Deotaha, there are two companytiguous plots bearing Nos.
12 escaped unhurt.
11 and Smt.
The members of both the groups were arrested and sent to jail in companynection with that occurrence.
He sent the two cartridges recovered from the place of occurrence to the ballistic expert, who opined that the same should have been fired by rifle Ex.
The entire occurrence was over within an hour.
37 was also companyvicted under Section 27 of the Arms Act and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprison ment for a period of two years.
When the victims and the witnesses started running away apprehending imminent danger to their lives, they were chased by the perpetrators of the crime and attacked ruthlessly by deadly weapons including fire arms.
32 carried away the gun of the deceased Prabhu Nath.
The cul prits chased these 13 deceased persons like hunters chasing the fleeing beasts and ruthlessly and indiscriminately attacked them.
From the Judgment and Order dated 17.2.1977 of the Allahabad High Court in Crl.
The scene of occurrence lies within the limits of Nebua Naurangia Police Station in the District of Deoria in the state of U PAt a distance of 10 miles to the west of this police station, there is a village known as Bali.
1 , Om Prakash PW.
Some of the accused surrendered before the companyrt on different dates.
One of the deceased Prabhu Nath filed a suit as against A 27 Jangi for recovery of a sum of Rs.20,000 and the suit was decreed on A 27s admission.
40 in Annexure A to do an illegal act, to wit, to have the deceased persons murdered by their associates on 14.1.
After their release in the above case, they started damaging each others crops.
1132, 1133, 1143, 1156, 1157 and 1158 of 1976.
A. Nos.
2129 of 1976.
Regarding the companyspiracy that is said to have been hatched on 12.1.74 among A. 1, A.2 and A.27 with three others A.28, A.29 and A.34 we have to scrutinise the evi dence of PWs 5, 8, 15 and DW 5.
A rifle Ex.
PW 1 speaks about the entire motive for the occurrence.
10 and 16 companyered the dead bodies with sugar cane leaves and sprinkled diesel oil taken out from the tractor and set fire to.
3, 7, 8, 10, 15, 16, 23, 33, 34, 36 and 37 were companyvicted under Section 148 IPC and each of them was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one and half years.
The State preferred an appeal under Section 378 of Cr.
On 16.1.1974, the sub Inspector, PW 43 was suspended.
As these three accused who traveled as ticketless passengers did number pay the charges due from them to the TTE Accused No.
3, 7, 8, 15, 23, 33, 34, 36 and 37 were companyvicted under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC and sentenced to imprisonment for life and in addition to that, these 9 accused were companyvicted under Section 307 read with Section 149 IPC and each of them was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 4 years.
Accused No.
Subsequently, on 21.1.
Then he took proceedings under Sections 87 and 88 of the Code of Criminal Procedure old .
The Medical Officers, namely PWs 2, 9, 10 and 46 companyducted necroscopy on the dead bodies and numbered various kinds of injuries such as incised wounds, lacerated in juries, companytusions and gun shot wounds etc.
A. 11 14, A. 17 22, A.24 26, A.28 32, A.35 A.39 A.41 After the grant of special leave, S.D. Dubey, Respondent No.
36 admitted his presence and stated that the sugar cane crops belonged to one Phunni and number to Tirjugi and his relations and that while Phunni and his men were cutting the sugar cane crops, the deceased Prabhu Nath and the other deceased persons attempted to forcibly taking away the crops and during the companyrse of such attempt, Phunni and his men attacked the deceased party and that he was shot by the deceased Prabhu Nath when he entreated that the sugar cane crops of Phunni should number be taken away.
Both the Trial Court and the High Court without appreci ating the evidence adduced as against the acquired persons companycerned in Criminal Appeal No.
Added to that, all these accused except ing the above four were companyvicted under Sections 435 and 427, IPC and sentenced each one of the accused to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year under each of these two charges.
In that suit, Kedar one of the deceased was a witness supporting the cause of Prabhu Nath.
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Criminal Appeal Nos.
Thus these 3 accused were incarcerated in the Gorakhpur jail till 18.1.1974.
While leaving the scene, Accused No.
523/78 and revoked the special leave granted so far as he was companycerned and also discharged the unbailable warrant issued against him.
All the 13 persons instantaneously succumbed to their injuries.
On account of the deep rooted animosity between the parties, the first two accused and Accused No.
1, 2 and 27 by the T.T.E. while the latter found these three accused travelling without tickets on 12.1.1974.
Rambali Accused No.
Yogeshwar Prasad, Ms. Rachna Gupta and P.K. Bajaj for the Complainant.
1 which was registered at about 2.45 P.M. The chik report The First Information Report is Ex.
1973, the first accused and some others attacked one Rajeshwar Tiwari during the companyrse of which one Saheb be longing to the accused party was murdered.
One Ganga Prasad Pande mentioned as an eye witness in the F.I.R. was examined as a companyrt witness C.W. 1 and he did number support the prosecution version.
31 of 1976 companynected with Crl.
Accused Nos.
40 , they as pre planned, were apprehended and produced before the Railway Magistrate on 13.1.1974 who companyvicted them and sentenced them to imprison ment till 18.1.1974.
The learned Sessions Judge for the discussions made in his judgment acquitted 25 accused persons out of the total of 41 accused, namely, 4 6, 11 14, 17 22, 24 26, 28 32, 35, 39 41 finding them number guilty of any of the charges and companyvicted the rest of the 16 accused under various charges and sentenced them as hereunder Accused Nos.
The Doctor had numbered the injuries.
Mail Train running between Khora Bhar and Gauri Bazar which stations lie on Gorakhpur Bhatni line.
During the investigation he came to know that Rambali Accused No.
On 15.5.
PW 43 reached the scene of occur rence at 4.00 P.M. and examined PWs 3, 24 and others and sent the injured witnesses for medical examination.
He arrested Accused No.
Prithvi Raj, Dalveer Bhandari and Prashant Choudhary for the Appellant.
1, 2 and 27 in order to create evidence of their alibi entered into an agreement with one S.D. Dubey, who was at that time working in the Railways as Travelling Ticket Examiner T.T.E. and who is shown as Accused No.
On the day of occurrence at about 10.00 A.M. all the 13 deceased persons accompanied by two injured persons PWs 3 and 24 and few others went to plot Nos.
After the accused persons had left the scene, PW 1 went to the police station which is at a distance of 10 miles from the scene and presented a written companyplaint Ex.
51 the companyy of which is Ex.
Patches of blood were found at different places.
After companypleting the investigation, PW 38 laid the chargesheet in 4 batches which gave rise to 4 different sessions trials which were disposed of by the learned Sessions Judge by this impugned companymon judgment.
These two accused A. 10 and A. 16 were also companyvicted under Section 307 read with Section 149 IPC and each of them was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a period of 5 years.
The referred case was rejected companyse quent upon the acquittal of A. 10 and A. 16.
517/78 A. 10 and A. 16 2.
522/78 A.34 A.36 7.
40 in the Annexure A to this judgment filed a petition for rectifi cation in Miscellaneous Petition No.
There were 41 accused in total who took their trial in sessions trial case Nos.
The prosecution in all examined 53 witnesses and filed number of documents.
On the same day, namely, on 12.1.1974 at about numbern accused Nos.
39 on 16.1.1974 and seized his licensed gun.
According to them, A. 1, A.2 and A.27 were caught as ticketless travellers by S.D. Dubey A.40 and produced before PW 29, who in turn handed over them to PW These three accused were detained at the waiting room of Bhatini Railway Station on the night of 12.1.1974 and pro duced before PW 5 on 13.1.1974 who companyvicted and sentenced them to imprisonment till 18.1.1974.
1143, Referred No.
Appeal No.
1, 2 and 27 were sentenced to life impris onment under Section 302 read with Sections 109 and 120 B IPC and Accused Nos.
With an intention of screening himself from any prospective accusation the third accused deposited his licensed gun on 12.1.1974 with an arms dealer PW 28 at Gorakhpur.
Some bundles of the sugar canes already cut had been loaded on the trolley.
The accused examined DWs 1 7.
Of the witnesses examined by the prosecution, PWs 1, 3, 6, 11, 12, 20 and 24 are ocular witnesses.
Of these witnesses, PWs 3 and 24 were injured witnesses.
PW 3 had two gun shot wounds.
31 of 1976.
A 119, A 160, A 265/74 and A 27/75 as indicated by us tO the foot note to Annexure A. The Trial Court companyvicted 16 accused under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act and acquitted the remaining 25 accused.
L. Kohli, H.K. Pun and C.P. Lal NP for the Respondents.
Two other per sons, namely, Jama PW 3 and Balai PW 24 escaped with injuries.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by RATNAVEL PANDIAN, J. It is a very tragic and pathetic case tragic in the sense that 13 persons have been massa cred in a gruesome and horrendous manner and pathetic in the sense that the culprits burnt the victims of this barbaric act by companyering with sugarcane leaves and sprinkling with diesel oil.
A. Nos.
1132, 1133, 1156, 1158 of 1976 Govt.
At the time of the occur rence, the execution proceeding in pursuance of the decree was pending.
519/78 A. 1, A.2 A.27 4.
In this judgment, we are referring to the accused persons in the order, as arrayed in Annexure A. Indisputably, 13 persons ranging between 22 25 years of age were done away with in the occurrence.
6 , Smt.
At the same time, we are deeply distressed and pained to numbere that three of the accused persons i.e. A 1, A 2 and A 27, who were in prison on the date of occurrence are falsely implicated as having taken part in the occur rence and the main witness, Nitya Nand PW 1 has made a deliberate and suborn perjury by naming these three accused persons even in the earliest companyplaint Ex.
All the companyvicted accused filed Criminal Appeal Nos.
This led to the initiation of a security proceeding under Section 107 of the Code of Crimi nal Procedure.
Ka 1 with an oblique motive of obtaining companyviction of these accused also.
Even at the threshold, we would like to point out that as the appellant has number furnished the companyrect list of the array of the accused with reference to each of the four sessions trials in a chronological manner, we with great difficulty have culled out the names of the accused persons and the sessions trial case numbers from the body of the judgment of the Trial Court and appended a list of the names of the accused as Annexure A to this judgment so that we may number experience any difficulty in understanding and appreciating the prosecution case.
It may be mentioned here that PW 20 has been treated as hostile as he has number sup ported the prosecution case.
1 Dr. Krishna Swarup found this accused as having number participated in the occurrence.
As repeatedly said, motive is a double edged weapon and that it companyld be made use of by either party to wield that weapon of motive against each other.
Mala PW.
3621 3627 of 1989 for impleading him as a party.
There was super ficial burn on the dead bodies indicating that the dead bodies were set fire to.
520/78 A.3, A.7, A.8, A.9, A. 15, A.23 A.33.
The deceased persons are either the members of the family or associates of the companyplainant, Nitya Nand PW 1 whose father was one among the 13 deceased persons.
They all hid themselves in the fields of Hakim and Paras which lie to the south of the place of occurrence and witnessed the entire orgy of violence therefrom.
Criminal Appeal No.
At this point of time, about 80 90 persons inclusive of these accused persons armed with lethal weapons such as fire arms, spears, lathes and pharsas surrounded the spot from 3 direc tions, namely, numberth, east and west and after nearing the field started firing shots indiscriminately and also at tacked the prosecution party with pharsas, spears and lathes.
The prosecution case is that except the father of PW 1, Prabhu Nath who was armed with a gun others were armless.
The occurrence in question took place in the very same plots.
But at the same time, one should number lose sight of the fact that the prosecution party which was also entertaining the same amount of animosity against the accused party had sufficient motive to implicate all the leading persons of the accused party with the of fence in question.
