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Madhya Pradesh High Court
Yaseen Kha vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh on 15 January, 2026
NEUTRAL CITATION NO. 2026:MPHC-JBP:4269
1 CRA-5922-2019
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH
AT JABALPUR
BEFORE
HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE RAJENDRA KUMAR VANI
ON THE 15th OF JANUARY, 2026
CRIMINAL APPEAL No. 5922 of 2019
YASEEN KHA AND OTHERS
Versus
THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH AND OTHERS
Appearance:
Shri M. Shafiqullah - Advocate for appellants - Absent.
Shri Himanshu Soni - Panel Lawyer for State.
ORDER
As none has appeared on behalf of the appellants, Ms. Hemlata
Kshatriya, Advocate is appointed as amicus curiae to assist this Court.
2. This appeal has been filed by the appellants under Section 374(2) of the
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 being aggrieved by the judgment of
conviction and order of sentence dated 05.07.2019 passed by the learned
Special Judge, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of
Atrocities), Sehore, District Sehore (M.P.) in Special Case No.101/2015
whereby the present appellants (hereinafter referred to as the accused
persons) have been convicted under Sections 148 and 326/149 of IPC and
sentenced to undergo one year RI and fine of Rs.500/- each and three years
RI and fine of Rs.2,500/- each respectively with default stipulations.
3. The prosecution case in brief is that on 06.08.2015, a report was lodged
by complainant/Rajesh alleging that there was a quarrel took place between
the son of Gyan Singh and the appellant Sharif after that both of them went
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to their home and after some time, the present appellants came to the house
of Gyan Singh armed with Tomy, Farsi and Wooded sticks and started
quarreling with them and assaulted Rajesh, Parmanand, Gyan Singh, Dev
Bai, Kailash, Chetan and Rakesh by which they sustained injuries on their
persons. On the basis of said report the offence got registered against the
present appellants under Sections 147, 148, 149, 294, 452, 323, 326, 307 and
506 of IPC and Section 149, 307 and 307/149, 323 of IPC and Sections 3(1)
(x) and 3(2)(v) of the SC/ST Act, at Police Station Icchawar, District Sehore,
in pursuance of which, the investigation was started.
4. After completion of investigation, a charge-sheet was filed in the
competent Court, which, on its turn, committed the case to the Court of
Sessions and from where it was received by the trial Court for trial.
5. The learned trial Judge on going through the evidence available in the
charge-sheet framed charges against the accused persons for the offences
punishable under Sections 148, 294, 450/149, 307 or 307/149, 323 or
323/149, 506 Part-II of IPC and Sections 3(1)(x) and 3(2)(v) of the
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989,
which they denied and claimed for the trial.
6. In order to bring home the charges, the prosecution examined as many
as 17 witnesses, namely, Parmanand (PW-1), Gyan Singh (PW-2), Dev Bai
(PW-3), Dr. Sudhir Shrivastava (PW-4), Inspector S.L. Borasi (PW-5), Dr.
V.K. Chaturvedi (PW-6), Dr. Puneet (PW-7), Dr. Nimish Rai (PW-8),
Rajesh (PW-9), Dr. P.K. Shrivastava (PW-10), Kailash (PW-11), Chetan
Singh (PW-12), Rakesh (PW-13), Dariyab Singh (PW-14), Arvind (PW-15),
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Vikram Singh (PW-16) and Juban Singh (PW-17) and placed Ex.P-1 to P-45
whereas in defence, the accused persons have examined Dr. B.K. Chaturvedi
(DW-1) as defence witness and placed Ex.D-1 to D-9 the documents on
record.
7. The learned trial Judge after appreciating and marshalling the evidence
vide impugned judgment has convicted the accused persons for the
commission of offence punishable under Sections 148 and 326/149 of IPC
and passed the order of sentence as mentioned in paragraph-1 of this
judgment. In this manner, the present appeal has been filed by the accused
persons.
8. Ms. Hemlata Kshatriya, learned counsel appearing as amicus curiae for
the accused persons has submitted that she did not press this appeal on merit.
She press this appeal on the point of sentence only. The incident in question
is of the year 2015. The accused Yaseen Khan was 50 years old at the time
of the incident. The remaining accused persons were youngsters. It is also
submitted that in a heat of passion, the dispute arose between the parties and
injuries have been caused out of anger. As per the certificate issued under
Section 428 of the Cr.P.C., the accused persons remained in custody for 56
days each. They have been facing the ordeal of trial for a long period.
Having regard to the tender age of the accused persons except Yaseen Khan
at the time of the incident, the absence of any criminal antecedents, the
prolonged pendency of the proceedings since 2015 spanning about 10 years
and their cooperative conduct during trial and also the appeal, it is prayed that
the sentence be reduced to the period already undergone, with a suitable
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enhancement of the fine amount.
9. Learned counsel for the State has supported the impugned judgment;
however, he has no objection to the appeal being decided on the question of
sentence.
10. Heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.
11. Upon consideration of the submissions advanced by learned counsel
for both the parties and on perusal of the record, this Court finds that the
learned trial Court has properly appreciated the evidence available on record
and has rightly convicted the accused persons under Sections 148 and
326/149 of IPC. Accordingly, the conviction of the accused persons under
Sections 148 and 326/149 of IPC needs no interference.
12. As regards sentence, taking into account the facts and circumstances of
the case, particularly the age of the accused persons at the time of the
incident in the year 2015, their cooperative conduct during trial, the fact that
they are the first-time offenders and the submissions made by learned
counsel for the accused persons, this Court is of the view that the ends of
justice would be met if the substantive jail sentence is reduced to the period
already undergone, while suitably enhancing the fine amount. Accordingly,
while affirming the conviction of accused persons under Sections 148 and
326/149, the sentence of imprisonment is reduced to the period already
undergone by them which is 56 days each. The fine is enhanced from
Rs.500/- each to Rs.2,000/- each for the offence under Section 148 IPC and
from Rs.2,500/- each to Rs.10,000/- each for the offence under Section
326/149 IPC. The total fine thus comes to Rs.12,000/- each. The enhanced
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fine amount shall be deposited by accused persons within a period of two
months from today, failing which they shall undergo the sentence as
originally awarded by the learned trial Court. Any fine amount already
deposited shall be adjusted towards the enhanced fine. The entire amount of
fine so deposited shall be paid to the victim as compensation under Section
395 of the BNSS, 2023.
13. The present appellants/accused persons are on bail, their bail bond shall
stand discharged.
14. The order of the trial Court pertaining to disposal of the property is
hereby affirmed.
15. Let record of the trial Court along with a copy of this order be sent
back to the concerned trial Court for information and necessary compliance.
16. With the aforesaid, the appeal stands disposed of.
(RAJENDRA KUMAR VANI)
JUDGE
ac/-
