State of Andhra Pradesh v. Gowthu Ranghunayakulu and Ors.

Judgment

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal No. 12 of 1978 From the Judgment and Order dated 19.4.1976 of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Referred Trial No. 2 of 1976. K. Ram Kumar for the Appellant. G. Narasimhulu and S.K. Mehta for the Respondents. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by B.C. RAY, J. This appeal by special leave is against the judgment and order dated 19.4.1976 made by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in the Referred Trial No. 2 cif 1976 and Criminal Appeal Nos. 159, 168 and 169 of I l 976 acquitting all the 7 accused who were convicted and sentenced by the Sessions Court, West Godawari Division at Eluru, Andhra Pradesh in Sessions Case No. 71 of 1975.

The prosecution case in short is that on 23rd July, 1974 at 7.30 a.m. the accused persons forming themselves into an unlawful assembly in the house of the lst accused and arming themselves with spears, sticks and crow-bars attacked the deceased while he was returning from the canal carrying water in what is locally known as "Kavadi". When the deceased reached the house of the l st accused, ali the ten accused came fmn behind and the 2nd accused gave a blow with a stick on the back of the head of the deceased as a consequence of which he fell down on his back .. Then the lst accused speared the deceased on his face and legs, the 5th accused poked the deceased on his right wrist with a crow-bar and the 6th accused speared the deceased on his legs and hands. The ANDHRA PRADESH v. G. RANGHUNAYAKULU [RAY, J.] rest of the accused then beated the deceased with sticks.indiscriminately. The A deceased cried "Bobu".

This was heard by his wife (P.W.5) from her house which is situated about 150 yards. She immediately ran to the scene of occurence and saw accused 1 to 8 and two others entering into the house of the !st accused. P.W. 5 then sent intimation to her brother P.W. 2 ~ho was working as labourer in a sugar factory through P.W. 8. RW. 2 and others took the deceased to Bhimadole Police Station in a cart which is about 4 kms. away B from their house and lodged the F.I.R., Ex. P-1 wherein all the names of accused Nos. Al to A4 and A6 to A8 as well a• the nature of injuries inflicted on the person of the deceased were mentioned. This FIR was registered at 9.30 a.m. and a case u/s 326 l.P.C. was registered. Subsequently, the deceased was found dead on examination by the D"octor, P.W. 12 at the Govern~ent Hospital, Eluru. The F.I.R. was then altered to one u/s 302 I.P.C. The C Inspector of Police made inquest of the dead body and the inquest report has been marked as Ex. P5.

All the IO accused were cliarged u/s 1471.P.C. The accused Al; A4, A5 and A6 who were armed with deadly weapons were also charged u/s 148 I.P.C. and accused Al to AIO were charged uf.s 302 read with section 149 I.P.C. They were all committed to the Court of Sessions. The Sessions Judge after coruiidering the entire evidence and also hearing .the counsel for the prosecution as well as the defence found that accused Al to A3 and A5 to A8 were guilty of the offence u/s 147 I.P.C. and alsou/s302 read ,with section 149 l.P.C. Al, A5 and. A6 were also held guilty u/s 1481.P.C. The accused A4, A9 and AIO were however acquitted of the offence u/s 1471.P.C. Accused A4 was also not found guilty ofoffence u/s 1481.P.C. The accused Al, A5 and A6 who were convicted u/s 302 read with section 149 I.P.C. were sentenced to death and they were directed to be hanged by their necks till their death subject to confirmation by the High Court.

A3, A7 and A8 were convicted u/s 302 read with section 149 1.P.C. and they were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. A2 was also convicted u/ s 302 read with section 149 1.P. C. and he was sentenced to death and directed to be hanged by his neck till death.subject to confirmation by the High Court. The accused Al to A3 and A5 to A8 who were convicted u/s 147 I.P.C. were sentenced. to undergo rigorous imprisonment for o.ne year. Al, A5 and A6 were convicted u/s 148 l.P.C. and they were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for two years. All the above sentences were to run concurrently. Against this judgment and order 3 criminal· appeals being Criminal Appeal Nos. 159/ 1976, 168/ 1976 and ~69/ 1976 were filed. These criminal appeals along with R.T. No. 2of1976 were heard by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad and the learned Judge by his order dated 5th May, 1976 acquitted all the accused of both the charges of rioting and murder levelled H [1987)

I S.C.R. against them and set aside the convictions and sentences allowing all the appeals and rejecting the reference. It is against this judgment and order the instant appeal on special leave was filed before this court by the State. This court granted special leave to appeal by its order dated 11.1.1978 and also ordered issue of bailable warrants against each of the accused persons in the sum of Rs. 10,000 with one surety to the satisfaction of Additional Sessions Judge, Eluru. l We have heard the learned .coumel for both the parties .and we are constrained to hold that the judgment passed by the High Court acquitting all the dccused is not a proper judgment h accordance with the provisions of Section 354 of the Code of Criminal Prooxlure 197.3- The learned Judge has not at all considered and marshalled the evidences examined on behalf of the prosecution particularly the evidences of PWs 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7 who were eye witnesses to the gruesome murder committed in the morning at about 7.30 a.m.

The names of all the 7 accused appeared in the F.l.R. lodged by PW-2 in the Police Station at 9.30a.m., Ex. Pl and fa. P.23 and P.24 dated 23.7.1974. The learned Judge did not formulate properly the points for decision and did not marshal the evidences on record and did not come to specific finding on each of the points for determination by recording specific reasons for arriving at the decision. It is really unfortunate that the learned Judge approached the case from wrong angle and without properly formulating the points for decision and without any proper appraisal of the evidences adduced by the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused persons and also without adverting to the reasonings of the Sessions Judge, has pe1functorily come to the finding thatthe prosecution has failed to prove beyond c1.oubt the case against the accused even though there are eye-witnesses P.Ws. 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7 to the occurence.

In our considered opinion, this judgment is not in accordance with the mandatory requirements as laid down in Section 354 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. We therefore, set aside the judgment and order ofacquittal passed by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh and remit the case back to the High Court, Andhra Pradesh for deciding the case in accordance ·With law on a proper appraisal and marshalling of the evidences on record as early as possible. The order of interim stay is vacated and bail bonds are cancelled. The records be sent to the High Court forthwith. Th., High Court will be free to consider whether the accused will be enlarged c n bail. A.P.J.