The single judge bench of the Jharkhand High Court held that under Section 222 Cr.P.C. when a person is charged with an offense consisting of several particulars a combination of some only of which constitutes a complete minor offense which shall be sufficient to convict the accused for major offense and not for each of particular offense.
Brief facts
The factual matrix of the case is that it was alleged in the FIR that while taking water from the public hand Pump, an altercation took place between the informant and the accused persons. Thereafter, the FIR was registered under Sections 147, 148, 149, 323, 324, 337 and 307 of the Indian Penal Code. Then, the chargesheet was filed under Sections 147, 148, 323, 324, 149 and 337 of the Indian Penal Code. The trial court convicted all four accused persons, which resulted in the present appeal before the court.
Contentions of the Appellant
The Appellant contended that the present case was of free fight, therefore, Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code has no application. It was furthermore submitted that the allegation of assault was not supported by the medical evidence.
Contentions of the State
The State contended that the FIR was registered immediately after an incident without any inordinate delay. It was furthermore submitted that all the witnesses were consistent in their statements about the assault by the accused persons.
Observations of the court
The Hon’ble Court observed that the evidence of the witnesses has been corroborated by the evidence presented in court, as four individuals were determined to have suffered from minor injuries in the aforementioned incident. Every injured witness who took a deposition provided a convincing narrative of how the incident happened. Given the available evidence, the prosecution's case cannot be dismissed in its entirety merely because there is some exaggeration regarding the weapons of offense used.
It was furthermore observed that it was contended by the Appellant that it was a case of free fight, therefore, Section 149 cannot be invoked. However, this will not impact the ultimate decision to find all of the accused guilty because each appellant and accused individual is directly and specifically implicated.
It was noted that the trial court convicted the accused for both major and minor offences. According to Section 222 CrPC, if a person is charged with committing an offense consisting of several particulars a combination of some only of which constitutes a complete minor offense which shall be sufficient to convict the accused for a major offense and not for each of particular offense.
Based on these considerations, the court was of the opinion that the conviction under Sections 147 and 148 of the Indian Penal Code was uncalled for as the conviction under Section 148 of the Indian Penal Code would have been sufficient. Similarly, in view of conviction under Section 324 of the Indian Penal Code conviction under Section 323 of the Indian Penal Code was not required. Therefore, the court set aside the conviction under Sections 147, 323 and 337.
The decision of the court
With the above direction, the court dismissed the appeal.
Case title: Pradeep Kumar Dhawan Vs The State of Jharkhand
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Gautam Kumar Choudhary
Case No.: Cr. Appeal (S.J.) No. 700 of 2012
Advocate for the Appellant: Ms. Niharika Mazumdar, Amicus Curiae
Advocate for the State: Mr. Sunil Kr. Dubey, APP
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