Ram Babu And Others vs State on 3 April, 2026

Author: Siddharth

Bench: Siddharth





HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
 
 


Neutral Citation No. - 2026:AHC:71535-DB
 
 Reserved On :- 24.02.2026  Delivered On :- 03.04.2026  
 
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD 
 
CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 616 of 1985   
 
   Ram Babu And Others    
 
  .....Appellant(s)   
 
 Versus  
 
   State    
 
  .....Respondent(s)       
 
   
 
  
 
Counsel for Appellant(s)   
 
:   
 
-----------------, Anjani Kumar Dubey   
 
  
 
Counsel for Respondent(s)   
 
:   
 
State   
 
     
 
    
 
 HON'BLE SIDDHARTH, J.

HON'BLE HARVIR SINGH, J.

(Delivered By Hon'ble Siddharth, J.)

1. Heard Sri Abhishek Kumar Srivastava, learned counsel for the appellants; Sri G.N. Kanaujia, learned A.G.A for the State and perused the material on record.

2. This criminal appeal has been preferred against the judgment and order IIIrd Additional Sessions Judge, Farrukhabad dated 27.02.1985 in Sessions Trial No. 267 of 1983 convicting and sentencing 302/34 IPC to undergo life imprisonment.

3. The prosecution story is that the deceased, Putti Lal, Chhote Lal and Radha Charan, were real brothers. Accused persons are sons of Chhote Lal and the complainant, Survesh Kumar and the witness, Naresh Kumar, are the sons of Radha Charan. Putti Lal was unmarried and the children of Radha Charan were residing with him. The deceased, Putti Lal, had also given his property to Smt. Shanti Devi, mother of the complainant, Survesh Kumar. The accused persons and their father, Chhote Lal, intended to take the property of Putti Lal and in this connection, they asked the deceased several times to give his property to them but the deceased told, that he had already executed sale deed in favour of the mother of the complainant, Survesh Kumar, and he had lost all the rights in the property. It caused annoyance to the accused persons and they developed enmity with the deceased.

4. On 06.03.1983, the deceased, Putti Laal, Survesh Kumar, and Naresh, had gone to scrap the grass in the Har of village Parsa and they were scrapping the grass on the mend of the field of Hanif. At about 11 a.m accused, Ram Babu with sword, Subhash with knife and Vimlendra with a degger (chhari) came there and abused the deceased. They also threatened that he had not transferred the land to him and they would not allow him to live. By saying this, all of them assaulted the deceased with their respective weapons. The deceased fell down, but the accused continued to give blows by the respective weapons. Accused persons caused injuries to the deceased, Putti Lal, who died on the spot. The complainant, Survesh Kumar and his brother, Naresh raised hue and cry and the witnesses, Bhola Nath, Pradhan and Ram Murti arrived there and saw the occurrence. Thereafter, other persons have also arrived and on the challenge of those persons, the accused persons ran away with their weapons towards the village- Patti.

5. The written report of the occurrence, Ext. Ka 1 was lodged by Survesh Kumar at P.S. Tirwa on the same day on 06.03.1983 at 02:00 p.m. On its basis formal chik F.I.R Ext. Ka.12 and G.D. Report Ext. Ka - 13 were prepared. Thereafter, the investigation followed and the Investigating Officer recorded the statements of the witnesses and inspected the place of occurrence and prepared the site plan Ext. Ka 5. The Investigating Officer also prepared the Panchayatnama of the dead body Ext. Ka 3, photo laash Ext. Ka 6, Letters to C.M.O Ext. Ka 7 and to R.I. Ext. Ka 8 and challan laash Ext. Ka 9. The sample of the seal was also prepared and this is Ext. Ka 10. The investigating officer took the blood stained and simple earth from the place of occurrence and prepared the memo Ext. Ka 4. The blood stained clothes and earth were sent to the Chemical Examiner and the Examiner submitted the report Ext. Ka 14.

6. Dr. Suresh Chandra Gupta, Medical Officer, District Hospital, Fatehgrah conducted the post-mortem of the dead body of the deceased, Putti Lal, and found the following ante-mortem injuries on the person of the deceased and prepared the post-mortem report Ex. Ka 2. :-

(i) Incised wound (curved) 2" x 1/4" x brain cavity deep on right forehead 1" above right eye brow oblique direction.

(ii) Incised wound 1/2" x 1/8" x cartilage deep on right ear upper portion.

(iii) Incised wound 2" x 1/4" x bone deep right side on back of the right ear.

(iv) Incised wound (curved) 1-1/4" x 1/4" x bone deep on right side back of head oblique 1-1/2" above from injury no. 3.

(v) Incised wound 2" x 1/4" x bone deep on top of head (occipital) under lying upon cut oblique.

(vi) Incised wound 1/2" x 1/4" x bone deep on the right side of neck.

(vii) Liner abrasion 3" on right side of neck 1" above injury no. 6.

(viii) Incised wound 4" x 1-1/2" x muscle deep on left on the left forearm on lower one third part.

(ix) Incised wound 1-1/4" x 1/4" x muscle deep on the left forearm back upper 1/3rd part.

(x) Incised wound 3" x 1/4" x bone deep on the right palm oblique.

7. According to the doctor, the death was caused due to shock and hemorrhage caused by the injuries. In the opinion of the doctor, the injuries were sufficient to cause the death of the deceased.

8. After due investigation of the case, the charge sheet Ext. Ka 11 against the accused persons under Section 302 IPC was submitted in the court. Thereafter, the case was committed to the court of Sessions for trial on 22.06.1983 by Sri R.K. Sharma, then Chief Judicial Magistrate, Farrukhabad.

9. The accused persons have been charged of the offence under section 302 I.P.C read with section 34 I.P.C. They pleaded not guilty of the offence and alleged to have been implicated due to enmity. Accused, Ram Babu, has pleaded that, there was litigation between his father, Chote Lal and Radha Charan, father of the complainant. His brother, Subhash, contested the election against the prosecution witness, Bhola Nath, so he has been falsely implicated due to enmity. Both the accused, Subhash and Vimlendra, have pleaded that they are real brothers of Ram Babu, so they have been implicated due to enmity. In defence, one summon from the Board of Revenue, Ext. Ka 1 has been filed.

10. In support of the prosecution case in all 5 prosecution witnesses have been examined. P.W.-1, Survesh Kumar, is plaintiff himself and eye-witness of the occurrence and he has proved the written report Ext. Ka 1. P.W.-2, Bhola Nath, is an independent eye-witness of the occurrence and he has also corroborated the version of the complainant. P.W.-3, Constable Brahamanad Dubey, is a formal witness, who took the dead body from the place of occurrence to the hospital for postmortem. However, he has also been cross-examined by the defence counsel. P.W.-4, Dr. Suresh Chandra Gupta, conducted the post-mortem of the dead body and he has proved the post mortem report Ext. Ka 2. P.W.-5, S.I. Prithvi Pal Singh, is Investigating Officer of the case and he has proved the Panchayat Nama, Fard for taking the blood stained and simple soil, site plan of the place of occurrence, letter for post mortem, letters to C.M.O and R.I., Challan laash, sample of seal, charge sheet, F.I.R and G.D report, Ext. Ka 3 to Ka 13 and also simple and blood stained soil. Deceased's Kurta, Sweater, Tehmat and a piece of cloth material Ext. Ka 1 to 6.

10. Learned counsel for the appellants submits that the F.I.R has been belatedly lodged; the motive of crime set up before the court was not proved by leading any documentary evidence. The murder of deceased was not seen by anyone and he was killed in the dark night by someone and his body was later recovered in the field; the appellants have been falsely implicated in this case on the basis of suspicion; P.W.-1 is an interested witness and his testimony before trial court was not reliable; P.W.-2, Bholanath, is also not a reliable witness. He is a chance witness and pradhan of village and his testimony was not reliable. He has prayed that the judgment passed by the trial court be set aside and the present appeal be allowed.

11. Learned A.G.A has vehemently opposed the submissions made by learned counsel for the appellants and submitted that the arguments made by learned counsel for the appellants are not correct and have already been considered by the trial court in detail. Counsel for the appellants has not pointed out any perversity in the findings of the trial court and hence the judgment and order passed by the trial court deserves to be confirmed and this appeal is liable to be dismissed.

12. After hearing the rival submissions and consideration of material on record, we find that the incident in dispute took place at 11 am on 06.03.1983 and F.I.R was lodged on the same day at 14 hours. It has come in evidence, that the distance from police station to District Hospital, Fatehgarh was 78 kms and distance from the place of incident to police station was 11 kms. Therefore, the three hours time taken in lodging of F.I.R is not such a delay, which cannot be explained for traveling to a distance of 11 kms. Means must have been arranged and thereafter P.W.-1 travelled and reached the police station and got the F.I.R lodged. The delay in dispatch of dead body took place, because of lack of means and the police made arrangement of tractor as admitted by P.W.-3 and sent the dead body of deceased for post-mortem.

13. Regarding the motive of crime, it has clearly been proved that deceased, Putti Lal, had two brothers, Chhote Lal and Radha Charan. Radha Charan died about 5 - 6 years prior to the incident in dispute. Wife and children of Radha Charan were residing with Putti lal. Putti Lal had transferred his share of land in favour of Smt. Shanti Devi w/o Radha Charan. This was the cause of annoyance of Chhote Lal, father of accused and also the accused, since they were annoyed with Putti Lal, because he has transferred half share of his land in favour of Smt. Shanti Devi. They pressurized Putti Lal to give his share of land to them, but he said that he has now already executed sale in favour of Smt. Shanti Devi and he cannot do anything. This was the clear motive of crime, which was proved by P.W.-1 before the trial court. P.W.-2, independent witness, also proved the motive of crime regarding the land of Putti Lal against the accused persons in his statement before the court besides proving the incident, as it took place.

14. The argument of the learned counsel for the appellants that P.W.-1 and P.W-2 were interested witness has been dealt by the trial court in sufficient detail and the court has found that their statements inspire confidence of the court and are corroborated from the medical evidence regarding the manner and time of incident. In the cross-examination of P.W.-1 and P.W.-2 nothing was found by the trial court, as well as by this court, which may compel us to disbelieve the prosecution case. The manner of incident was clearly proved before the trial court. The inquest report was prepared on the same day at 04:00 p.m and the time of F.I.R has been mentioned as 2:00 p.m therein. P.W.-5 proved this fact before the trial court. Trial court has rightly reached the conclusion that the motive of crime was the enmity regarding the transfer of land by Putti Lal in favour of Smt. Shanti Devi, widow of his brother, Radha Charan, which was not liked by the appellants, since they wanted Putti Lal to transfer his share of land in their favour. We have not found any error in the judgment passed by the trial court and no much perversity in the findings of trial court has been pointed out by the counsel for the appellants.

15. The appeal lacks merit and is accordingly, dismissed against appellant nos. 2 and 3, namely, Subhash and Vimlendra. Since appeal has already been dismissed as abated against appellant no. 1, Ram Babu.

16. The judgment and order of the trial court has been confirmed qua appellant nos. 2 and 3. The bail bond of accused / appellant nos. 2 and 3 stands cancelled and sureties are discharged. The accused persons / appellants are directed to surrender if not in jail.

17. Let the lower court record by returned to the trial court along with this judgment within period of ten days.

(Harvir Singh,J.) (Siddharth,J.)

April 3, 2026

Rohit