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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.