LexBUDHAN SINGH AND ORS. versus STATE OF BIHAR
Open in Lexace · Ask the AI about this caseJudgment (excerpt)
BUDHAN SINGH AND ORS. A :,•' v.· . •;·· STA TE OF BIHAR APRIL 25, 2006 [S.B. SINHA AND P.P. NAOLEKAR, JJ.] B Penal Code, 1860: Section 201. Disappearance of evidence of offence-Causing of-False information to"screen ojfenderc..__(Jiving of-When the informant, along with his co-villagers, C was returning from a Mela the accused met them whereuponPW-2 asked the accused as regards their identit~Altercations and abuses thereafter followed-The accused threatened to shoot the informant and his companions where.after they ran.towards their village and raised an alarm-On hearing ·s~ch an alarm, the deceased, b'rother of the informant and several other D villagers rushed whereupon the accused allegedly ordered to fire shots which hit the deceased-The .accused.persons thereafter fled away-When the deceased was being bROught on a cot to the village the accused persons snatched away the.deceased along with the cot at the point of firearms-The dead body of the deceased was recovered from an open field situated about 750 yards away from the place wherefrom he had allegedly been taken away E forcibly-Trial court convicted the accused only under S. 201-High Court affirmed the conviction-Correctness of-Held: The manner in which the ii~~~~~ih~e taken pa;t in ihe c~mfnission of the crime, there cannot be any doubt that they had the requisite kno\ftedge about the commission of the .offencf}-:-.The. ingredients ofS. 201 are.,. therefore, satisfied-Conviction upheld F According to the prosecution, when the informant, along with his co- .villagers, was returning from a Mela the accused met them whereupon PW- 2 asked the accused as regards their identity. Altercations and abuses thereafter followed. The accused threatened to shoot the informant and his 'companions whereafter they ran towards their village and raised an alarm. G ·On hearing such an alarm, the deceased, brother of the informant and several other villagers rushed whereupon the accused allegedly ordered to fire shots which hit the deceased. The accused persons thereafter fled away. ·When the deceased was being brought on a cot to the village the accused persons 'snatched away the deceased ~long with the cot at the point offirearms. The .. : .· . . .. . . . . . . 261 H 262 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2006] SUPP. I S.C.R. A dead body of the deceased was recovered from an open field situated abou~ 750 yards away from the place wherefrom he had allegedly been taken away forcibly. The tria! court convicted the appellants-accused only under Section 201 of the Penal Code, 1860. The High Court affirmed the conviction. Hence the B appeal The following question arose before the Court:- Whether the accused persons had the requisite knowledge of the commission of the offence or they had a reason to believe that an offence had C been committed? D Allowing the appeal in part, the Court HELD: I. The ingredients of Section 201 of the Penal Code, 1860 are as under:- (I) that an offence has beea committed; (2) that the accused knew or had reason to believe the commission of such offence; E (3) that with such knowledge •ir belief he - (a) caused any evidence of the commission of that offence to disappear, or (b) gave any information respecting that offence which he then knew or F believed to be false; (4) that he did as aforesaid, with the intention of screening the offender from legal punishments; (5} if the charge be of an aggravated form, as in the present case, it G must be pro~ed further that the offence in respect of which the accused did as in (3} and (4) was punishable with death or with imprisonment for life or imprisonment extending to ten years. [262-C-F] H 2. It is not in dispute that the deceased had been injured. Whether he was dead at that point cf time or not is of not much importance inasmuch as BUDHANSINGHv. STATEOFBIHAR[SINHA,J.] 263 when the second incident took place an offence had already been committed. A (268-G-H] 3. Both the trial court as also the High Court arrived at a finding of fact that such an offence had been committed. The commission of the offence relates to snatching away of the deceased along with the cot at the point of firearms. (269-AI B 4. From the conspectus of events and the manner in which the appellants are said to have taken part in the commission of the crime, there cannot be any doubt that they had the requisite knowledge about the commission of an offence. The very fact
Excerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.