Ratanpur, District Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh v. State Of Chhattisgarh Through Station House Officer, Police Stati
Case Details
1 2025:CGHC:13746 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR CRA No. 1063 of 2016 1 - Durgashankar @ Durga S/o Rajkumar @ Sarha Yadav Aged About 21 Years. 2 - Goverdhan Yadav S/o Chaitu Yadav Aged About 46 Years. Both are R/o Village-Beltara, Police Station-Ratanpur, District Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh ...Appellant versus State Of Chhattisgarh Through Station House Officer, Police Station-Ratanpur. District -Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, ... Respondent For Appellant : Mr. Kishan Kumar Yadav on behalf of Ms. Indira For Respondent/State : Mr. R.C.S. Deo. P.L. Tripathi, Advocate Hon'ble Shri Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal, J. Order on Board 21/03/2025 1. The present appeal has been filed by the appellants under Section 374(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure Code 1973, against the impugned judgment of conviction and sentenced dated 10.08.2016 passed by learned 4rd Additional Sessions Judge, Bilaspur (C.G.), in 2 Sessions Case No.49 of 2016, whereby the appellants have been convicted and sentenced in the following manner. Offence Sentence Under Section 147 of IPC : R.I. for 2 years and fine of Rs.500/- in default of payment of fine amount further R.I. for 15 days Under Section 148 of IPC R.I. for 3 years and fine of Rs.500/- in default of payment of fine amount further R.I. for 15 days Under Section 186 of IPC R.I. for 3 months and fine of Rs.500/- in default of payment of fine amount further R.I. for 15 days Under Section 353 of IPC R.I. for 2 years and fine of Rs.500/- in default of payment of fine amount further R.I. for 15 days Under Section 332 of IPC R.I. for 3 years and fine of Rs.500/- in default of payment of fine amount further R.I. for 15 days Under Section 323/149 of IPC R.I. for 1 years and fine of Rs.500/- in default of payment of fine amount further R.I. for 15 days Under Section323/149 of IPC R.I. for 1 years and fine of Rs.500/- in default of payment of fine amount further R.I. for 15 days. Under Section 323/149 of IPC R.I. for 1 years and fine of Rs.500/- in default of payment of fine amount further R.I. for 15 days (All the sentences are directed to run concurrently. 2.
Legal Reasoning
The brief facts of the case are that the complainant Theodor Tirkey PW-8 along with other constables namely Dhanesh Sahu PW-14 and Harnarayan Nety, PW-9 were on duty in the ‘Raut Nacha’ folk dance 3 on 04.12.2015 at village Beltara District : Bilaspur. There was a traffic jam in the main road due to the celebration of the said folk dance and when the complainant along with his companions reached on the spot and they saw that the accused persons have stopped the vehicles and demanding money from the drivers of the vehicles and when the complainant and his companion tried to stop them they started abusing and assaulted them by ‘lathi’. By the assault made by the accused persons the complainant Theodor Tirkey, Dhanesh Sahu, Narnarayan Nety have received injuries on their body and then Theodor Tirkey PW-8 lodged a report on the same day at Police Station Ratanpur against 7 named accused persons and the FIR Ex.P/23 has been registered against the 7 named accused persons including the present appellants for the offence under Sections 341, 147, 148, 149, 186, 353, 323, 307 of IPC. The injured persons were sent for their medical examination to Community Health Center, Ratanpur where all the three injured persons have been medically
Legal Reasoning
examined by Dr. A.K. Shrivastava PW-11. On being medically examined the injured Theodor Tirkey, the doctor has found the following injuries on his body:- (I) One lacerated wound over left parietal, back of skull 3x1/2cm clotted blood present and stretch applied. (ii) One contusion mark over the left shoulder 3x1cm. (iii) Two contusion marks over left upper arm and one contusion mark over right upper arm. 4 The injured Theodor Tirkey was referred for further treatment with respect to the injury No.1 and the Injury nos, 2,3 & 4 were found to be simple in nature and his MLC report is Ex.P/7 3. The injured Dhanesh Sahu, also suffered following injuries:- (I) one contusion mark on right hand and thumb with pain 2x1cm. (ii) One lacerated wound over back of skull 2x1x4cm clotted blood present. For injury No.1 the injured was referred to further treatment and injury No. 2 was reported to be simple in nature and his MLC is Ex.P/28. 4. The third injured namely Harnarayan Nety was also received one lacerated wound middle of skull having size 3x1/4x1/4cm clotted blood was present and is reported to simple in nature and his injury report is Ex.P/29. 5. Spot map Ex.P/3 was prepared by the police and Ex.P/13 was prepared by the patwari. The appellant Durgashankar @ Durga was arrested on 05.12.2015 and Goverdhan Yadav was arrested on 04.01.2016 and other accused persons have also been arrested on 05.12.2015. The memorandum statement Ex.P/4 of the appellant Durgashankar @ Durga was recorded and based on his memorandum statement one ‘lathi’ has been seized from him vide seizure memo Ex.P/5. One ‘lathi’ has also been seized from appellant Goverdhan Yadav vide seizure memo Ex.P/12. The lathi seized from the appellant were sent for its query report to the doctor. The doctor 5 has submitted his query report Ex.P/32 with respect to the lathi seized from the appellant Durgashankar @ Durga and Ex.P/31 with respect to the lathi from the appellant Goverdhan Yadav and opined that the injuries received by the injured persons could have been caused by the said lathi. The Lathi seized from the other accused persons has also been sent for its query report to the doctor who gave their query reports Ex.P/33, Ex.P/34, Ex.P/35 & Ex.P/36. The shirt and full pant of the complainant of Theodor Tirkey has also been seized vide seizure memo Ex.P/1, one lathi has also been seized from Dhanesh Sahu, vide seizure memo Ex.P/2. The shirt and full pant from the injured Theodor Tirkey were sent for its chemical examination to State FSL, Raipur from where report Ex.P/40 was received and according to the FSL report, human blood was found on the cloths of the injured Theodor Tirkey. The statement of the witnesses under Section 161 of Cr.P.C. have been recorded and after completion of usual investigation charge-sheet was filed against the 7 accused persons out of which 6 accused persons were major and charge sheet has been filed against them before the learned Judicial Magistrate,1st Class Kota, District - Bilaspur. Whereas, one of the accused persons who was juvenile in conflict with law and charge-sheet has been filed against him before the learned Juvenile Justice Board, for the offence under Section 341, 147, 148, 149, 353, 332 and 307 of IPC. 6. The learned trial Court has framed the charge against the accused persons for the offence under Sections 147, 148, 149, 341, 186, 353, 6 332, 294, 307, 506 part II & 323 (three counts) of IPC. The accused persons denied the charges and claimed trial. 7. In order to prove the charge against the accused persons the prosecution has examined as many as 14 witnesses. The statement of the accused persons under Section 313 of Cr.P.C. has also been recorded in which they denied the circumstances appears against them, plead innocence and they have submitted that they have been falsely implicated in the offence. 8. After appreciation of the oral as well as documentary evidence led by the parties, the learned trial court has acquitted four accused persons namely Vinod Kumar, Amar Yadav, Pramod Yadav, Santosh Yadav from all the offences whereas the present appellant Durgashankar @ Durga & Goverdhan Yadav have been convicted and sentenced as mentioned in the earlier part of the judgment. Hence this appeal. 9. Learned counsel for the appellants would submit that the prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. There are material omission and contradictions in the evidence of prosecution witnesses. Which can not be made basis to convict them in the offence in question. The injured persons themselves were the aggressor and intervened in the ‘Raut Nacha’ folk dance, which was going on the date of incident and then in the intervention of said dance, he received injures but it has not inflicted by the appellants. He would also submit that the identification of the appellants is also doubtful as there is no clinching evidence with respect to the same. In alternative, she would submit that no minimum sentence are provided 7 in the alleged offences the incident is alleged to be occurred during the celebration of dance which normally celebrated by the villagers at that particular time and the manner in which the quarrel ensued it was not intended. From further that the appellants have already remained in jail for more than two months, their undergone period may be considered to be sufficient sentence for the alleged offence. 10. On the other hand, learned counsel for the State opposes and have submitted that but for minor omission or contradictions the evidence of the prosecution witnesses have fully supported the case. The named FIR has been registered against the accused persons and the injured persons have duly identified the accused persons, who have inflicted injures over the injured complainant. The PWs- 8,9 & 14 were injured in the incident and they duly supported the prosecution’s case in their evidence. Therefore, there are ample evidence against the accused persons that they have committed the offence. He would further submit that the learned trial Court has already taken a lenient view and awarded the lesser sentence which need no further leniency in the case and the appeal of the appellants is liable to be dismissed. 11. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the evidence available on record. 12. PW-8 is the person who is injured and lodged FIR against the appellants and he stated in his evidence that on 04.12.2015, he along with Harnarayan Nety and Dhanesh Sahu were on duty to maintain law and order situation at village – Beltara. The peoples were celebrating ‘Raut Nacha’ at that time. At Bilaspur Korba road, there 8 was a traffic jam due to the said celebration of the ‘Raut Nacha’ dance and when they went on the spot, they saw that accused persons were demanding money from the drivers of the vehicles and when they tried to stop them from doing so the accused persons have assaulted them and abused them. By the assault made by the accused persons, they received injures. The incident was witnessed by other persons also. They were being taken to the Ratanpur hospital, where they have been treated by the doctor and thereafter, he lodged FIR which is Ex.P/23. In his examination-in-chief he named the present appellants as a person who demanding money from the drivers of the truck and assaulted them by lathi. In para 8 of the cross-examination also he identified the present appellants Durgashankar @ Durga and Goverdhan Yadav as the assailants and stated that he could not identify the other persons by their names. But for minor omission or contradictions he remained stand on is evidence that he was being injured by the assault made by the accused persons and nothing could be extracted from his evidence by the defence so that his evidence can be disbelieved or the present appellants have also not been identified by him. 13. Similar is the evidence of PW-9 Harnarayan Nety and Dhanesh Sahu, PW-14, all the three injured persons were police constables and they were engaged in their duty to maintain law and order situation during the ‘Raut Nach’ celebration in the village. They have also identified these two appellants that they caused injuries to them and so far as the other accused persons, their identification are doubtful. But they 9 also remain firm in alleging that the present appellants have assaulted them by lathi. 14. PW-11 Dr. A.K. Shrivastava who medically examined the injured persons have duly proved their injury report Ex.P/27, Ex.P/28. Ex.P/29 and proved that the injured persons/complainants have received simple injuries. It is not specifically disputed by the accused persons that the complainants were not the police constables and were not on duty at the time of incident rather from the evidence it comes on record that they were on duty to maintain law and order situation during the ‘Raut Nacha’ celebration and when they tried to stop the illegal act of the accused persons, they were being assaulted by them by which they received injures on their body. Although, the other accused persons were also there who form unlawful assembly, armed that lathi and committed rioting but except the present appellants, the other accused persons have been acquitted by the learned trial Court for the reasons that they could not identified by the injured persons and their involvement in the offence in question are doubtful. But the involvement of the present appellants have duly been proved by the prosecution by leading cogent evidence from the record. From the totality of the evidence there are sufficient material and evidence against the accused persons that they committed the offence and assaulted the injured persons along with others when they tried to stop them from their illegal act of taking money from the drivers of the vehicles. The learned trial Court has also considered the entire facts and circumstances of the case as well as evidence available on 10 record and holding conviction of the appellants for the offence under Sections 147, 148,186,353, 332, & 323/149(on three counts) in which I do not found any perversity or illegality in the impugned judgment passed by the learned trial Court, therefore the conviction of the appellants for the aforesaid offences are hereby maintained. 15. So far as the sentence is concerned, the learned counsel for the appellant would submit that the appellants have not intentionally assaulted the injured persons and the incident occurred during the celebration of ‘Raut Nacha’ dance in the village and in such folk dance, the dancers were in aggressive mood and it normally happens if any one intervened in between them. They are poor formers. The incident is occurred in the year 2015 and they suffered the criminal lis for about 10 years, the present appellants are presently appears to be aged about 30 years and 55 years, they settled in their family life having numerous responsibilities of their family. After the said incident there is no allegation that the appellants were engaged in any other subsequent offence, the alleged offences are not provided any minimum sentence, the appellant No.1 Durgashankar @ Durga remained in jail for about 3 months and 15 days and appellant No.2 Goverdhan Yadav has remained in jail for about 2 months and 29 days and therefore, looking to the nature of the allegations and their social status, there undergone period may be considered to be sufficient sentence. 16. In the matter of Mohammad Giasuddin Vs. State of Andhra Pradesh reported in (1977) 3 SCC 287 Hon’ble Supreme Court has observed that If 11 you are to punish a man retributively, you must injure him. If you are to reform him, you must improve him and, men are not improved by injuries and held in Para 9 as follows: “9. Western jurisprudes and sociologists. from their own angle have struck a like note. Sir Samuel Romilly, critical of the brutal penalties in the then Britain, said in 1817 : “The laws of England are written in blood”. Alfieri has suggested : 'society prepares the crime, the criminal commits it'. George Micodotis, Director of Criminological Research Center, Athens, Greece, maintains that 'crime is the result of the lack of the right kind of education'. If it is thus plain that crime is a pathological aberration. that the criminal can ordinarily be redeemed. that the State has to rehabilitate rather than avenge. The sub-culture that leads to anti-social behaviour has to be countered not by undue cruelty but by reculturisation. Therefore, the focus of interest in penology is the individual, and the goal is salvaging him for society. The infliction of harsh and savage punishment is thus a relic of past and regressive times. The human today views sentencing as a process of reshaping a person who has deteriorated into criminality and the modern community has a primary stake in the rehabilitation of the offender as a means of social defense. We, therefore, consider a therapeutic, rather than an 'in terrorem' outlook, should prevail in our criminal courts. since brutal incarceration of the person merely produces laceration of his mind. In the words of George Bernard Shaw : 'If you are to punish a man retributively, you must injure him. If you are to reform him, you must improve him and, men are not improved by injuries'. We may permit ourselves the liberty to quote from Judge Sir Jeoffrey Streatfield : “If you are going to have anything to do with the criminal Courts, you should see for yourself the conditions under which prisoners serve their sentences.” 17. Considering the submissions made by learned counsel for the parties and further considering the law laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Mohammad Giasuddin (Supra) and also in view of the peculiar facts and circumstance of the present case, I deem it 12 appropriate to reduce the sentence of the appellants for the period already undergone by them. Therefore, by maintaining their conviction for the aforesaid offence, the sentence awarded to the appellants are reduced for the period already undergone by them. The fine sentence with default stipulations would remain intact. 18. The appellants are reported to be on bail, their bail bonds shall continue for the further period of six months as provided under Section 481 of B.N.S.S. 2023. 19. The trial Court record along with a copy of this judgment be sent back to the trial Court concerned for compliance and necessary action. 20. With the aforesaid modification/alteration in sentence, the appeal is partly allowed. Sd/- (Ravindra Kumar Agrawal) JUDGE Vaibhav/Alok ALOK SHARMA Digitally signed by ALOK SHARMA Date: 2025.04.02 18:53:00 +0530