Jagdish vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh
2023 Latest Caselaw 22614 MP

Madhya Pradesh High Court

Jagdish vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh on 28 December, 2023

                                                             1
                            IN     THE      HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH
                                                  AT INDORE
                                                       BEFORE
                                        HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE GAJENDRA SINGH
                                              ON THE 28 th OF DECEMBER, 2023
                                             CRIMINAL APPEAL No. 1539 of 2017

                           BETWEEN:-
                           JAGDISH S/O DEVAJI, AGED ABOUT 52 YEARS, GADI
                           LAXMIBAI MARG TEH SONKATCH DEWAS (MADHYA
                           PRADESH)

                                                                                          .....APPELLANT
                           (BY SHRI ANURAG VYAS, COUNSEL THROUGH LEGAL AID)

                           AND
                           THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH STATION HOUSE
                           OFFICER THROUGH PS SONKATCHHA DEWAS
                           (MADHYA PRADESH)

                                                                                       .....RESPONDENTS
                           (BY SHRI ANAND BHATT, GOVT. ADVOCATE )

                                 Th is appeal coming on for hearing this day, t h e court passed the
                           following:
                                                           JUDGEMENT

This Criminal appeal has been filed under section 374 (2) of the Cr.P.C.

being aggrieved by judgement dated 21.08.2017 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Sonkatch, District Dewas in S.T. No.143/2016 whereby the appellant/accused had been convicted under section 323 of the IPC and sentence to undergo 1 year R.I. with fine of Rs.5,000/- with default stipulation of 1 month of additional R.I.

2. Prosecution case in short is that, on 20.02.2016 at around 7:15 p.m. appellant/accused Jagdish abused the complainant Rameshchandra with filthy

language and with intent to kill him assaulted with a stick. Complainant got

injuries on head and started bleeding. On the basis of aforesaid, case has been registered against the appellant/accused.

3 . The trial Court acquitted the appellant/accused persons from the charge of section 307, 294 of the IPC and convicted the appellant/accused under 323 of the IPC. Challenging the conviction and sentence, this criminal appeal has been preferred on the ground that the trial court has ignored the discrepancy in the statement of the witnesses and committed error in passing the impugned judgment.

4. Counsel for the respondent/State has supported the conviction and sentence.

5. Heard Shri Anurag Vyas, advocate appointed through Legal Aid and perused the record.

6. Relying on the testimony of Rameshchandra (P.W.-1), Kuntabai (P.W.-2), Gajendra (P.W.-3), Medical Officer K.H. Gupta (P.W.-7) trial Court concluded in paragraph 31 of the judgment that appellant/accused has voluntarily caused injuries to Rameshchandra (P.W.-1). Trial Court has appreciated the discrepancy in the statement of Rameshchandra (P.W.-1) in paragraph 11 of the judgment and recorded cogent reasons for relying the testimony of Rameshchandra (P.W.-1).

7. On re-appreciation of testimony of Rameshchandra (P.W.-1), Kuntabai (P.W.-2), Gajendra (P.W.-3), Medical Officer K.H. Gupta (P.W.-7) conviction of the appellants/accused under section 323 of the IPC does not call for interference. Hence, the conviction of the appellant/accused under section 323 of the IPC is affirmed.

8. There is no criminal antecedents of the appellant/accused. He is facing

the trial from 2016. Looking to the nature of the incident & having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case and the character of appellant/accused as first offender, it is expedient to release him on probation of good conduct under section 4 of the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958.

8 . The appeal is partly allowed and the finding of the trial court regarding the sentence is modified and instead of sentencing the appellant/accused at once it is directed that appellant/accused be released on bail entering into bond with surety of Rs.20,000/-(Rupees Twenty Thousand Only) to the satisfaction of the trial court within a period of 90 days to appear and receive sentence when called upon by the trial Court during a period of 3 years and in the meantime to keep the peace and be of good behavior.

9. Under Section 5 of Probation Of Offenders Act, 1958 the appellant/accused shall also pay Rs.10,000/-(Rupees Ten Thousand Only) to the complainant Rameshchandra S/o Devaji R/o- Dakh Bangla Road, Sonkatch, District Dewas as compensation for the injury suffered for the commission of offence. The appellant/accused shall deposit the compensation amount within 90 days failing which the said amount shall be recovered from appellant/accused in accordance with law. The amount of fine deposited by the appellant/accused before the trial court shall be adjusted towards in amount of compensation.

10. With the aforesaid, the criminal appeal is disposed off.

(GAJENDRA SINGH) V. JUDGE ajit