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2011 DIGILAW 1383 (PAT)

Arun Gope v. State Of Bihar

2011-07-11

ANJANA PRAKASH

body2011
JUDGEMENT Anjana Prakash, J. 1. The Appellant No. 1 has been convicted under Sections 324 and 148 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for one year under each count whereas the rest o the Appellants have been convicted under Sections 323 and 147 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for six months under each count by a judgment dated 29.9.1997 passed by the Additional District & Sessions Judge-VII, Patna, in Sessions Trial No. 1000 of 1992. 2. The case of the prosecution according to PW-1 Arjun Kumar is that on 2.3.1992 at about 10.20 P.M. he was having dinner at his residence, the accused persons came to his house and started abusing him and took him away and assaulted with butt of pistol. After the assault, the accused persons fled away. 3. During trial, the prosecution examined six witnesses out of whom PW-1 is the Informant injured whereas PW-2 Shyam Babu Rai and PW-3 Rajendra Singh have been declared hostile. PW-4 Ramjatan Singh is a hear-say witness whereas PW-5 Saraswati Devi is the mother of the Informant and also an eye witness. PW-6 is the Doctor who examined the injuries on the Informant (PW-1) 4. The defence of the Appellants was a total denial and false implication. They suggested that in fact, the Informant Arjun Kumar had been injured on account of having been caught while committing theft of crops. 5. From the analysis of the evidence, I find that apart from the evidence of PW-1 and PW-5 who belong to the same family, there is not a single witness to corroborate the prosecution case. Thus in my opinion it would be unsafe to rely on the prosecution case since admittedly the assault took place in an open area and there was no explanation as to why no independent witness was examined. 6. In view of such, the Appeal is allowed. The order of conviction and sentence passed against the Appellants in Sessions Trial No. 1000 of 1992 by the Additional District & Sessions Judge VII, Patna, is hereby set aside. 7. The Appellant is discharged from the liability of his bail bond.