LexMAHMOOD AND ORS. versus THE STATE OF BIHAR
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A
MAHMOOD AND ORS.
v.
THE STATE OF BIHAR
FEBRUARY lo, 2000
B
[G.T. NA.1\J"AVATI AND YK SABHARWAL, JJ.]
Indian Penal Code, 1860-Sections 396 and 412--') Persons accused
for committing dacoity-Trial Court acquitted 4 accwed as testimony of eye
witnesses found unreliable and untrnstworthy--{Jpheld by the High Court-On
C appeal by 3 of the S convicted persons Held, Tnal Court rightly noticed pos-
sibility of false implication-Testimony nut convincing and trustwor-
thy-Benefit of doubt given and conviction set aside.
A dacoity w-c1s committed in the house of the informant, P.W. 4 who
escaped and was the occurrence from the house of P.W. 3 in the neighbour-
D hood. P.W. 1 and P.W. 2 are his brothers who also witnessed the incident
along with P.W. 5 and other villagers.
9 persons were charged with offences under Sections 396 and 412
IPC and 4 were acquitted by the Trial Court and the High Court as they
were neither identified nor named in the statements made by the eye
E witnesses, although they were residents of the same village 3 persons
appealed before this Court challenging their conviction.
The appellants contended that they cannot be convicted on the
evidence of P.W. 1 to P.W. 4 particularly in the absence of any other
F independent and corroborating evidence.
Allowing the appeal, this Court
HELD : 1. All the 9 accused were involved in one incident and were
charged which the offence of dacoity and murder. The Trial Court noticed
G that possibility of false implication of the accused cannot be ruled out. The
testimony of P.W. 1 to P.W. 4 in respect of the acquitted accused has been
rightly held to be not convincing and trustworthy in the absence of any
other independent and corroborating evidence. [901-G-H]
2. P.W. 1, 1'.W. 2 and P.W. 4 are brothers, P.W. 3 is the person from
H whose house P.W. 4, the informant, saw the occurrence but he could name
898
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MAHMOUD v. STATE '.SABHARWAL, J.J
899
only oBe accused and P.W. 5 stated what was told to, him by P.W. 4. It is A
not safe to base the conviction of the appellants on the testimony of P .Ws.
1 to 5. It is not possible to uphold the conviction and the appellants are
given the benefit of doubt. [902-B-C; E]
Prem Singh v. State of Punjab, [1976] 1 SCC 805, relied on.
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JL'RlSDICTlON: Criminal Appeal No.
659 of 1993.
From the Judgment and Order dated 22.5.92 of the Patna High Court
in Crl.A.79 of 1987.
R.S. Sharma, Ranjan Dwivedi and Firoze Ahmed for the Appellants.
B.B. Singh for the Respondent.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
SABHARWAL, J. Nine accused were charged for offence under
Section 396 IPC. Three of them, namely, Jamil, Mokid Alam and Mah-
mood were further charged for offence under Section 412 IPC as well.
Briefly the case of the prosecution is :
A dacoity was committed in the House of informant Bhupendra
Mohan Singh, situated in Phulwari village, on 9th June, 1985 at about 7 :
B
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15 p.m. 10 to 15 dacoits raided his house. This dacoits took away his
licensed gun from tli.e hunst: besides ut!.iet drtide'i. They ransacked the
house of his brother also which is situated in the same 'Angan' and also
assaulted the wife of his brother. The informant somehow slipped out of F
his house and concealed himself in the house of his neighbour, Dinesh
Chandra Singh and from there he saw the entire occurrence. On learning
about the dacoity, the villagers rusht:d at the place of occurrence and some
of them set fire to a heap of straw. There was Chowkidar Morchand who
also came armed with bow and arrow. Some of the dacoits fired on the
villagers. Morchand Lal was also shot at and died at the spot. Another G
villager Sabo Lal was also injured by the firing. In the light of the lantern
as well as torchlights flashed by the dacoits themselves, the informant
identified Mohd. Dara, Mokid Alam, Mahmood, Post Card, Salim,
Mokimuddin and Alint among the dacoits. They also took away Rs. 12,000
besides ornaments, transistors, clothes, etc. S.C. Yadav Assistant Sub-In-
H
900
SUPREME COl:RT RHORTS
[2000) 1 S.C.R.
A Spector, rushed to the place of occurrence and recorded the statement of
Bhupendra Mohan Singh at about 8 : 15 p.m. on the basis of which case
was registered against seven named accused and their unidentified as-
sociates.
The prosecution examined 12 witnesses. The informant Bhupendra
B Mohan Singh is PW 4. PW 1 and PW 2 are his brothers. PW 3 is Dinesh
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