LexRAMJIT AND ORS. versus STATE OF U.P.
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A B [2008] 15 S.C.R. 184 RAMJIT AND ORS. v. STATE OF U.P. (Criminal Appeal No. 40 of 2009) JANUARY 12, 2009 [DR. ARIJIT l;>ASAYAT AND ASOK KUMAR GANGULY, JJ.] Penal Code, 1860 - s.304 Part I rlw s. 149 - Death caused C due to armed assault pursuant to sudden quarrel - Bull belonging to accused causing damage to standing crops on fields of complainant - Exchange of hot words and quarrel between the parties - While the quarrel was continuing, one accused went inside the house and within 2-3 minutes came D out with other accused persons armed with various weapons and they all launched assault resulting in death of complainant's father - Conviction of accused-app_ellants ul s. 302 rlw s. 149 - Propriety of - Held: Not proper - Appropriate - conviction would be under s.304 Part I rlw s.149 - Custodia/ E sentence of 10 years. Prosecution case was that on the day of the incident, the bull belonging to appellant no.1 's father trespassed into the fields of the complainant and started grazing and damaging the standing crops, which led to a quarrel F between appellant no.1 and PW1, the complainant's brother. It is alleged that subsequently appellant no.1 went inside his house and came out with the other appellants G armed with lathis, knife, bhala and gandasi and they all started assaulting PW1, on which the complainant's father and another brother (PW3) rushed to save him but they were also assaulted. The father of the complainant sustained serious injuries in the incident ,and died H 184 - RAMJIT AND ORS. v. STATE OF U.P. 185 instantaneously while PWs1 and 3 sustained grievous A injuries. The trial court convicted the appellants under s.302 r/w s.149, s.307 r/w s.149 and s.148 IPC. High Court upheld the conviction. B In appeal to this Court, it was contended on behalf of the appellants that the incident took place due to a sudden quarrel and therefore s.302 IPC had no· application. . Partly allowing the appeal, the Court HELD: In the instant case though the witnesses stated that after initial exchange of hot wor~s and quarrel c the accused persons went inside and came back, it is to 0 be noted that they have fairly accepted that while the .. exchange of hot words, quarrel was continuing and immediately i.e. in less than two and three minutes they came back. That being so, in the peculiar facts of the case, appropriate conviction would be under s.304 Part I read with s.149 IPC. The conviction is accordingly altered. E The other convictions remain unaltered. Custodial sentence of 10 years in respect of offence punishable under s.304 Part I IPC would suffice. The sentences in respect of other offences remain unaltered. All the sentences shall run concurrently. [Paras 6 and 7] (189- F A-CJ CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION.: Criminal Appeal No. 40 of 2009. From the final Judgment and Order dated 29.3.2008 of the G High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Criminal Appeal No. 2927 of 1984. Anurag Pratap, Shekhar Kumar and Surendra Singh for · the Appellants. H 186 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2009] 1 S.C.R. A Ratnagar Das, Pramod Kumar Yadav, S.P. Sharma, B Sandeep Singh and Anuvrat Sharma for the Respondent. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT, J. 1. Leave granted. 2. A Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court dismissed the appeal filed by the appellants who were convicted for offences punishable under Section 302 read with Section 149 and Section 307 read with Section 149 and Section 148 c of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the 'IPC'). E 3. In all five persons had filed the appeal. During pendency of the appeal before the High Court appellant accused Mangaru died and the appeal stood abated so far as he is concerned. The learned 3rd Additional Sessions Judge, Azamgarh, had found the five accused persons guilty in S.T. No.78of1982. The present appeal has been filed by four of the accused persons who were A2, A3, A4 and AS before the trial Court. 4. Prosecution version in a nutshell is as follows: The incident resulting in the death of Sukhai and causing injuries to Sabhajit and Laljit occurred on 26.12.1981 in Village Larpur Saheb Ali situated within the limits of P.S. Didarganj, District Azamgarh. First Information Report was lodged on _ F 26.12.1981 by Ramjit S/o Sukhai Yadav Rio Village Larpur Saheb Ali. The case of prosecution as appearing from the F.l.R. in brief is that the chak of the complainan
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