Judgment Meredith, J. 1. This is a reference against the verdict of a jury, made under Sec.307, Cr. P. C., by the learned first Addl. Ses. J., Patna. The reference is in respect of four persons Baldeo Paswan, Tilakdhari Pas-wan, Gajo Mahto & Dwarka Dhanukard is against an unanimous verdict of guilty by the 7 jurors. The learned Judge is of opinion that the verdict is perverse, & that it is necessary to refer the case to the H. C. in the interests of justice. 2. The four persons who are the subject of the reference were tried with, six others for the murder of one Earn Saran Prasad alias Bhandariji of village Badi, police station Giriak, on the night of 23-4-1918. There were a number of charges, some of the accused being charged under Sec.147, Penal Code, some under Sec.148, all under Sec.302 read with Sec.149, all under Sec.302 read with Sec.34 & all under Sec.120B for conspiracy, this last charge being triable with the aid of assessors. The verdict of the jury was unanimous throughout. They held all the accused not guilty under Sec.147, 148 & 302/149 clearly for the reason that they did not consider it established that five or more persons took part in the crime, & they acquitted six of the accused altogether; but they found the four above-mentioned accused guilty of murder under Sec.302 read with Sec.34 & as assessors, they expressed the opinion that these persons were also guilty under Sec.120B. The learned Judge accepted all the verdicts of acquittal. Also, not accepting the verdict of the assessors, he found all the accused not guilty on the conspiracy charge. He, accordingly, referred only the cases of the four persons mentioned, & the question is whether the verdict of the jury finding them guilty of the murder should be accepted. 3. The deceased was sleeping under a tree just outside the verandah of his dalan in village Badi. At about 11-30 P. M. he had his throat cut almost from ear to ear, causing immediate death. Only one other injury was found on his body, a skin-deep incised, wound near the collar-bone. The murder was a remarkable one in many respects. First of all, it was the night of the full moon. Secondly, the deceased Bhandariji was sleeping almost surrounded by other people. Only one other injury was found on his body, a skin-deep incised, wound near the collar-bone. The murder was a remarkable one in many respects. First of all, it was the night of the full moon. Secondly, the deceased Bhandariji was sleeping almost surrounded by other people. At least six people, & possibly eight, were sleeping within a few feet of him. These circumstances disclose most remarkable boldness on the part of murderer or murderers. Secondly, it is not claimed that any one was recognised except Baldeo Paswan. Two persons Ramji Mahton (P. w. 4) & Basudeva Narayan (P. W. 6), who were sleeping within a yard or two of the deceased, claim that they were wakened on hearing a gurgling sound & recognised Baldeo Paswan running, away to the south & east. They told three people, Earn Prasad. Singh (P. W. 1), Prasadi Mahton (P. W. 7) & Gobind Mahton (P. W. 8), what they had seen, but did not inform the rest of those who had assembled, the reason they give being that they were afraid Baldeo Paswan might abscond. At, 3 A. M. Earn Prasad Singh with the dafadar & chaukidar, who have not been examined, set out for the police-station six miles distant, & first information was lodged by Earn Prasad at 6 A. M., it being mentioned therein that Ramji & Basadeva had recognised Baldeo Paswan as one of the assailants. Daring the course of the investigation the Sub-Inspector recovered a falsa from a bush near the scene of occurrence & a gupti or sword-stick was made over to him by Tilakdhar Paswan. He seized these as both appeared to be blood stained. But the report of the imperial Serologist is that though there were traces of blood on both, they were too disintegrated for it to be possible to say if the blood was human. As late as the 1st of May the Sub-Inspector examined one Lachmi Prasad (P. W. 14), who claimed to have been sleeping in the verandah of the dalan & to have witnessed the whole occurrence. This man is a teacher in the lower primary school at Badi, & his story was that he woke up at the sound of footsteps at about midnight, & saw the accused Sadasiva holding the legs of Bhandariji while the accused Baldeo Paswan was holding his head. This man is a teacher in the lower primary school at Badi, & his story was that he woke up at the sound of footsteps at about midnight, & saw the accused Sadasiva holding the legs of Bhandariji while the accused Baldeo Paswan was holding his head. Gajo Mahto, son of Sadasiva, gave a falsa blow on the throat of the deceased, & then the accused Dwarka Dhanuk cut his throat with a gupti. As he was afraid the accused had seen him, he ran off & went to the home of a relative, six or eight miles distant, where he remained until the 30th without speaking to anyone. 4. The Sub-Inspector also succeeded in collecting some, not very satisfactory, evidence that the falsa recovered was the property of Sadasiva. Some of the witnesses sleeping near the deceased also told him a story that some time before the crime the accused Dwarka Dhanuk came to where the deceased was sleeping accompanied by one Kuldip Babaji, awakened the deceased by pressing his legs on the pretext of asking for ganja, & afterwards bad some conversation with him & went away. The suggestion is made that this was a sort of reconnaissance made to discover how soundly the deceased and those round him were sleeping. 5. At a very late stage, the 19th of May, two absconding accused Lachhu Mahto & Ram Saroop Mahto surrendered before a Mag. & made confessions in which they told a story of the crime, corresponding very much in detail with that told by Lachmi (P. W. 14). The learned Judge, after hearing argument about these confessions in the absence of the jurors, came to the conclusion that they were inadmissible as they were adduced by pressure & promises held, out by persons in authority. Accordingly, these confessions were not put to the jury. The two accused who made them have been acquitted. I may say at once that the Crown has not challenged the Judges conduct in excluding these confessions; so the question whether they were rightly excluded does not arise. On the other hand, a point has been made on behalf of the accused that there was a misdirection because the Judge did not specifically warn the jury that they must pay no heed to these confessions. There is nothing in this point. On the other hand, a point has been made on behalf of the accused that there was a misdirection because the Judge did not specifically warn the jury that they must pay no heed to these confessions. There is nothing in this point. Quite obviously, the jury did pay no heed to the confessions since they acquitted those who made them. They certainly could not have used them as against any of the persons they did find guilty because they were not told, & did not know, who had been named in those confessions. The most they could have known as a result of the evidence of the officer who recorded the confessions was that the two accused persons whom they acquitted had made confessions of some sort. 6. The prosecution sought to ascribe a number of separate motives for the murder. It was said that same days before the occurrence a meeting had taken place to elect a village panchayat. Baldeo Paswan & some other villagers had objected to the election of the deceased & of P. W. 1, & there was some quarrel over that, & the deceased was said to have abused Baldeo Paswan. It was further said that he had also censured Baldeo Paswan because his daughter had illicit intimacy with another villager. Various other grounds of grievance on the part of the other accused persons were suggested, & in fact the prosecution case was that the deceased had made himself generally disliked in the village, & as President of the local Advisory Committee he had offended the villagers by the methods he adopted in the distribution of kerosene oil, cloth, sugar, etc. 7. The method of approach to a reference like this has been finally laid down for us by the P. C. in Ramanugraha Singh V/s. Emperor, 73 I. A. 174 : (A. I. R. (33) 1946 P. C. 151). The gist of that decision is that the H. C. is not entitled to come to its own independent decision upon the evidence & adopt it. The verdict of the jury has to be respected unless it is perverse --unless it is one which no reasonable body of men could have arrived at upon the evidence. Sec.307 says that "due weight" is to be given to the opinion of the jury & to the opinion of the Judge. The verdict of the jury has to be respected unless it is perverse --unless it is one which no reasonable body of men could have arrived at upon the evidence. Sec.307 says that "due weight" is to be given to the opinion of the jury & to the opinion of the Judge. Where the opinion of the jury is a possible one upon the evidence, it is only by accepting the view of the jury that the H. C. can give "due weight" to their opinion. Their Lordships do not explain what the section means by saying that due weight must also be attached to the opinion of the Judge; but clearly, on the view taken, the opinion of the Judge cannot enter into the picture at all unless & until the opinion of the jury be first found to be unreasonable. The effect of this decision is to make it very difficult for the Ses. J. to make a reference. He cannot do so merely because he considers the verdict of the jury wrong. He can only do so if he considers it so wrong as to be an impossible one for reasonable men to form upon the evidence. I do not know whether their Lordships intended or contemplated it; but I think the effect of this decision may well be to cause Govt. to modify the law with regard to jury trials in this country, if it does not decide to abolish the system altogether. The unsatisfactory manner in which the system is working is notorious, & all those connected with the administration of criminal justice in the country must know of numerous cases of miscarriage of justice. 8. Let us now apply the criterion laid down by the P. C. to the facts of the present case. (After discussing the evidence, the judgment proceeded :) In the P. C. case already referred to their Lordships recognised that, while the criterion of reasonableness or unreasonableness in the verdict was ordinarily to be applied, the test of reasonableness on the part of the jury might not be conclusive in every case. They said it was possible to suppose a case in which the verdict was justified on the evidence placed before the jury. But, in the light of further evidence placed before the H. C., the verdict is shown to be wrong. They said it was possible to suppose a case in which the verdict was justified on the evidence placed before the jury. But, in the light of further evidence placed before the H. C., the verdict is shown to be wrong. In such a case the ends of justice would require the verdict to be set aside though the jury have not acted unreasonably. And their Lordships emphasized that the requirements of the ends of justice must be the determining factor both for the Ses. J. in making the reference & for the H. C. in disposing of it. There is no further evidence before the H. C. in the present ease. The diary is not evidence. Nevertheless I venture to think that this case comes within the exceptional class contemplated by their Lordships. As I have pointed out, the Ct. is entitled to refer to the diary to aid it, & having done so, the ends of justice require that it should not be ignored. The learned Ses. J. is to be congratulated that he has had the courage to make this reference -even in the case of Baldeo Paswan, where the verdict was not prima facie unreasonable. 9. This case holds two lessons, & they cannot be too strongly emphasised. The ultimate criterion which the Ses. J. has to apply in deciding whether or not to make a reference, is not the objective one of whether the verdict is reasonable or unreasonable, but the subjective one, whether he (to quote the words of the section) "disagrees with the verdict of the jurors.......and is clearly of opinion that it is necessary for the ends of justice." Secondly, it is the duty of the prosecution to place all the relevant evidence before the Ct., & not to aim at a conviction at all costs, be the accused innocent or guilty. This has often been said before : it cannot be said too often. 10. I would accept the reference in the case of Baldeo Paswan also & would, accordingly, set aside the verdict of the jury & acquit him. Ramaswami, J. 11 I agree.