Full Judgment Text
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CASE NO.:
Appeal (crl.) 603 of 2008
PETITIONER:
Abdul Ghaffar & Anr. etc
RESPONDENT:
State of Bihar
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 04/04/2008
BENCH:
S.B. SINHA & P.P. NAOLEKAR
JUDGMENT:
J U D G M E N T
NON-REPORTABLE
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO 603 OF 2008
[arising out of Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No.479 of 2007]
P.P. NAOLEKAR,J.
1. Leave granted.
2. On 12.12.2005, an FIR was registered at Turkaulia P.S.,
District East Champaran, Bihar on the basis of a complaint lodged by
Vinay Kumar Sharma. As per the said FIR, at about 1 o’clock in the
afternoon he along with his brothers and nephew Ajay Sharma
reached the land which belongs to his family. After some time, the
accused-appellants, namely, Abdul Gaffar, Abdul Khair, Banaras Rai
with other accused persons named in the FIR along with 150 people
reached the fields where the complainant party was present, with arms
and ammunition. Manan Dewan and Alauddin Dewan ordered their
men to kill the complainant and his family members. On this, Azhar
Sah fired with a country-made pistol, which struck on the head of the
complainant. Then Abdul Gaffar, Abdul Khair and Banaras Rai gave
beatings to Ajay Sharma, nephew of the complainant with an iron rod
and a lathi, which ultimately resulted in his succumbing to the injuries
sustained by him. The FIR further alleged the participation of Abdul
Khair of having caused injury to Loknath Sharma, brother of the
complainant, with an iron rod.
3. As per the appellants, they are the owners of the lands
measuring 75 bighas in village Chilrawan, District East Champaran,
Bihar, as these lands were part of the land settled by Betia Raj with
the ancestors of the appellants and they had mortgaged the property in
the year 1915. After the period of 60 years, under the Bihar Money
Lenders Act, the said lands would revert back to the appellants and
their family members. It is a bone of contention of the appellants that
on the relevant date they were in possession of the property and it was
the complainant party which had tried to take forcible possession over
the land and that is how the incident took place in which five
members of the appellants’ family were shot dead and several others,
namely, Alauddin, Mohd. Siraj, Banaras Rai, Zainuddin Sah, Abdul
Ghaffar and Narayan Roy were badly injured by use of firearms. The
appellants contend that they had informed the police on 12.12.2005
itself that the Sharma brothers including the District Judge who is one
of the brothers had planned to take over possession of the property
and had threatened to kill the appellants like birds.
4. It is contended by the learned counsel for the appellants
that the appellants have been falsely implicated as the other party was
the attackers and in the process of their attack five persons died and a
number of other persons were seriously injured.
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5. On a plain reading of the FIR which was lodged on the
same day, i.e. on 12.12.2005, it is apparent that the accused-appellants
were named as the persons who had caused serious injuries to Ajay
Sharma, nephew of the complainant, who later on succumbed to
injuries. When the appellants have been named in the FIR which was
lodged immediately after the incident, at this stage we do not find any
infirmity in the impugned order of the High Court and that of the
Sessions Court whereunder the accused-appellants were not released
on bail.
6. For the aforesaid reasons, we do not find any merit in the
appeal. It is, accordingly, dismissed.