MANOJ@ BHAU AND ORS.versusSTATE OF MAHARASHTRA

                      MANOJ@ BHAU AND ORS.                                      A
                                  v.
                      ST A TE OF MAHARASHTRA

                              APRIL 8, 1999

               [G.B. PATTANAIK AND M.B. SHAH, JJ.]


       Penal Code 1860-Sections 147,148 and 302 read with Section 149-
Common intention or object-Failure of the prosecution to ascribe specific
role played by some of the accused persons-Effect of-Six accused persons
faced trial for causing multiple injuries to the deceased with the respective C
 weapons in their hands-No specific overt act ascribed to A2 and A3 except
general version that all accused persons surrounded and assaulted the
deceased-Eye witnesses assigning specific role played by the other accused
persons-Held, it would be unsafe to convict A2 and A3 by taking recourse
 to Section 149 !PC as necessary ingredients to attract Section 149 are D
 totally absent-Convictions of remaining accused upheld.

      Constitution of India-Article 136-Re-appreciation of evidence by
this Court-Evidence could be scrutinised to find out whether exaggerations
and embellishments render the entire evidence untrustworthy.
                                                                                E
     Criminal Procedure Code, !973-Section 154~FIR-Held, need not
been encyclopedia of evidence-Basic prosecution case needs to be given in
it.

      The relationship between the deceased and the appellants were strained
due to political rivalry. On the day of occurrence, the deceased and his        F
parents were sitting on the terrace when the appellants along with three
other accused entered the courtyard and challenged the deceased to come
down. When deceased came down, all the accused surrounded the deceased
and assaulted him with gupti, knife, hockey sticks and motor cycle chain on
account of which the deceased sustained injuries and died on the spot. On       G
these facts the trial court convicted all the six accused under Sections 147,
148 and 302 read with_ Section 149 IPC. On appeal the High Court affirmed
the conviction and sentence passed by the trial court. The present appeal
preferred only by three accused persons Al to A3.

      Partly allowing the appeal, this Court                                    H
                                    487
    488                     SUPREME COURT REPORTS                   [1999] 2 S.C.R.

A         HELD: 1.1. In view of the evidence on record the two courts below
    rightly concluded that Al holding a gupti in his hand, dealt several blows
    on the deceased as a result of which he ultimately died. But so far as A 2
    and A 3 are concer;1ed the prosecution case as against them cannot be said
    to have been proved beyond reasonable doubt. Excepting a bald, vague and
B   general statement that all the accused surrounded and assaulted, while
    ascribing a positive role to different accused persons as to how and with what
    weapon they had assaulted the deceased and how many blows had been given,
    so far as A 2 and A 3 are concerned, there is no whisper either by PW l
    or PW 8. In her earliest statement to the police PW 8 had not stated that
    A2 and A 3 were having a stick and motorcycle chain in their hands. In this
C   sfate of affairs it would be unsafe to convict A 2 and A 3 by taking recourse
    to Section 149 IPC as the necessary ingredients to attract the said section
    as against A 2 and A 3 are totally absent. [494-E-G)

          1.2. A 2 and A 3 are acquitted of the charges levelled against them.
    But so far a Al is concerned, he is convic!ed along with the non-appealing
D   accused persons under Sections 302/34 IPC and their sentence of
    imprisonment for life is affirmed. [494-H; 495-A]

          2. Ordinarily this Cour~ does not re-appreciate the evidence when two
    courts have already scanned and believed the same. But the Court can
    scrutinise the evidence of the witnesses to find out whether the so called
E   exaggerations and embellishments really pertain to the basic prosecution
    case so that the entire evidence has to be discarded as being untrustworthy
    or the Court would be justified in embarking upon an enquiry for the
    purpose of separating the chaff from the grain and accept the grain to base
    the conviction. [497-G-H)
F
         3. It is well settled that tile First Information Report need not be an
    encyclopedia of the evidence and what is required to be stated is the basic·
    prosecution case. Judged from that stand point no grievance can he made in
    respect of the First Information Report that was given by PW 1. [492-C]

G           CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 334 of
    1993.

          From the Judgment and Order dated 18/19.12.91 of the Bombay High
    Court in Cr!. A. No. 237 of 1991.

H           U.R. Lalit, Ms. J.S. Wad, Manoj Wad and Ashish. Wad for the Appellants.
   MANOJ@ BHAU v. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA [PATTANAIK, J.] 489

      G.B. Sathe and S.S. Shinde for D.M. Nargolkar for the Respondent.            A
      The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

       PATTANAIK, J. The three appellants, who are accused nos. I, 2 and
3 respectively, along with 3 others who have not preferred any appeal were
tried by the learned Additional Judge, Nagpur in Sessions Case No. 70 of 1990 B
for the offences punishable under 147, 148 and 302 read with Section 149
Indian Penal Code on the allegation that they formed an unlawful assembly
and mercilessly assaulted deceased Raju by means of gupti, knife, hockey
sticks and motor-cycle chain on account of which Raju succumbed to injuries
sustained by him. The learned Sessions Judge on the basis of the prosecution C
evidence convicted all of the under Sections 147, 148 and 302 read with
Section 149 Indian Penal Code and sentenced them to suffer R.l for one year
and to pay a fine of Rs. 100/- and, in default of suffer R.I for one week for
conviction under Section Section 147, and for Section 148 sentenced each one
of them to suffer R.I. for two years and to pay a fine of Rs. I 00/- each and, D
in default to suffer R.I. for one week and imprisom.1ent for life for the conviction
under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC with the further direction that
the sentences would run concurrently. Against the conviction and sentences
two Criminal Appeals were preferred; one by the present appellants which
was registered as Criminal Appeal No. 237 of 1991 and the other by the rest E
3 accused persons which was registered as Criminal Appeal No.227 of 1991
and both the appeals were heard and were disposed of by the common
impugned judgment and the learned Judges of Bombay High Court, Nagpur
Bench, dismissed both the appeals and maintained the conviction and
sentences imposed upon the accused persons. As has been stated earlier, F
only 3 of the appellants have preferred the appeals whereas othr,r 3 accused
persons have not preferred any appeal.

      The prosecution case in nutshell in that the 3 appellants are all brothers
and the other 3 accused persons who have not preferred any appeal are foeir
friends. The appellants have their houses in front of the house of deceased        G
Raju. The appellants belong to one political organisation called 'Chhatrapati
Sena' and deceased Raju also was a member of the said organisation. But
during the election of Legislative Assembly in the year 1989 deceased Raju
carried the propaganda for the candidate belonging to Congress (I) and on
account of this incident the relationship between the accused persons and          H
                                                                                      .. - ...




    490                    SUPREME ·COURT REPORTS                   {1999] 2 S.C.R.

A   deceased Raju was strained. On 18.4.1990 at about 9.00 p.m. while deceased
    and his parents PWs 1 and 8 and one Pitamber were sitting on the terrace
    of their house accused nos. 1 to 6 come out of the house of accused no. 4
    and went to the house of one Shrikhande which is infact right in front of the
    house of deceased Raju. All of them then entered into the courtyard and
B   abused Raju and challenged him to come down to the courtyard. When Raju
    came down, Accused no.4 caught hold of the right hand of deceased and
    dragged him outside the courtyard whereafter all of them together took him
    to the front house of Shrikhande. Accused no. I was holding a Gupti, accused
    no 2 was holding a stick and accused no.3 was holding a motorcycle chain
C   while accused no.4 was having a hockey stick and accused nos. 5 and 6 were
    having knife with them. As per the prosecution case the accused persons
    surrounded deceased Raju and assaulted him by giving blows with the weapons
    in their hands on account of which Raju fell down on the ground but
    notwithstanding the same the accused persons continued inflicting blows on
D   him as a result of which he died on the spot. It is. also the prosecution case .·
    that PWs I and 8 followed Raju and when PW 8 requested the accused
    persons not to assault Raju she was pushed aside. After the accused persons
    left the scene of occurrence the parents of the deceased cried for help when
    people from the village gathered and then father of the deceased, PWl went
    to the Policy Station and lodged a report which was treated as First Information
E   Report- Exhibit 21. The police then registered the case and started investigation
    and after completion of investigation submitted the chargesheet. The case
    was then committed to the Court of Sessions and the accused persons were
    tried, as already stated. The postmortem report Exhibit - 27 and the evidence
    of the doctor who conducted the autopsy over the dead body PW-2 indicate
F   that the deceased had as many as 17 external injuries and injuries nos. 1,2 and
    3 were sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death individually
    or collectively. The injuries were ante-mortem in nature. This conclusion of
    the learned Sessions Judge, as affirmed by the High Court has not been
    assailed before us in this appeal. Out of the three eye witnesses PWs 1, 8
G   and 12 learned Additional Sessions Judge relied upon their testimony and
    came to the conclusion that the prosecution case as against the accused
    persons have been proved beyond reasonable doubt. On appeal the High
    Court, however, disbelieved the evidence of PWI2 on a finding that his
    presence at the scene of occurrence itself was doubtful but the conviction
H   and sentences passed by the learned Sessions Judge was affirmed relying
   MANOJ @BHAU v. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA [PATTANAIK, J.] 491

upon the testimony of the two other eye witnesses namely, PWs I and 8.            A
     Mr. U.R. Lalit, the learned Senior counsel appearing for the appellants
vehemently argued that the two eye witnesses have made so much of
embellishments, exaggeration and padding to their statements recorded under
Section 161 Cr.P.C. that it is difficult for a Court of law to rely on such       B
testimony and the Sessions Judge and the High Court committed serious error
in relying upon such untrustworthy testimony to base the conviction. Mr.
Lalit further contended that very foundation of the prosecution case as
unfolded in the First Information Report given by PWI having failed the
superstructure, as unfolded by the two eye witnesses also must fail and it is
highly unsafe to rely on the testimony of these two eye witnesses only, so        C
far as the alleged assault by the accused persons on the deceased Raju is
concerned in as much as the entire evidence is only chaff and no grain
therein. Mr. Lalit also submitted that on reading of the evidence of PWs I and
8 it would appear that both of them were not present at the scene of occurrence
and therefore, they could not have been relied upon as eye witnesses.
                                                                                  D
       The learned counsel appearing for the respondent-State on the other
hand urged that the alleged embellishment and exaggeration pointed out by
Mr. Lalit, learned senior counsel appearing for the appellants do not relate to
the substratum of the prosecution case, and therefore, the Courts below were
justified in relying upon the testimony of the aforesaid two witnesses in         E
coming to the conclusion that it is the accused persons who assaulted the
deceased with the respective weapons on their hands and this fact is
corroborated by the medical evidence indicating the presence of injuries on
the deceased which could be caused by the weapons which were found to
be in the hands of the accused persons. According to the learned counsel
for the respondent there is no justification in the comment of Mr. Lalit that     F
the presence of these two witnesses have become doubtful. In view of the
respective contentions of the learned counsel appearing for the parties we
think it appropriate to examine the evidence of the two eye witnesses on
whose evidence the conviction of the appellants is based. Ordinarily this
Court does not reappreciate the evidence when two courts have already             G
scanned and believed the same. But on going through the omissions and
exaggerations from their earlier version we thought it fit to scrutinise the
evidence of the aforesaid two witnesses to find out whether the so-called
exaggerations and embellishments really pertain to the basic prosecution case
so that the entire evidence has to be discarded as being untrustworthy or the
court would be justified in embarking upon an enquiry for the purpose of          H
    492                    SUPREfytE COURT REPORTS                    [1999] 2 S.C.R.

A   separating chaff from the grain and accept the grain to base the conviction.
    PWl lodged the report at the Police Station at 9.30 p.m. on 18.4.90 intimating
    about the occurrence that took place at 9.00 p.m. and the distance between
    the Police Station and the place of occurrence is 3 kms. Thus the information
    to the Police has been given with utmost promptitude. In the first Infonnation
    itself the names of the 3 appellants had been given as the members of the
B   unlawful assembly who assaulted the deceased Raju with different weapons
    in their hands. A graphic picture has been indicated as to how the accused
    persons called Raju and after Raju came down dragged him and surrounded
    him and thereafter assaulted him. In course of the argument Mr. Lalit, learned
    senior counsel had urged that the FIR is rather sketchy and vivid account of
C   the incident has not been stated therein. But it is too well settled that the First
    Information Report need not be an encyclopedia of the evidence and what
    is required to be stated is the basic prosecution case. Judged from that stand
    point no grievance can be made in respect of the First Information Report that
    was given by PWl.

D         According to PW I, who is the father of the deceased, the 3 appellants
    accused nos. I ,2 and 3 were residing in front of his house and he knew them
    fully well. While the deceased Raju, PWl and PW8 were sitting on their
    terrace accused persons entered the courtyard of their house and then called
    Raju to come down. When Raju came down from the terrace to the courtyard
E   then all the accused persons surrounded him, dragged him to the place in
    front of the house of Shrikhande and accused no. l was holding gupti in his
    hand while accused nos. 2 and 3 were holding a hockey stick and motorcycle
    chain respectively. According to the witness all the accused persons including
    the 3 who have not preferred any appeal started giving blows on Raju with
    their respective weapons and even after Raju fell down some blows were
F   further given. It is his further evidence that when mother of the deceased
    PW8 intervened ·accused no. I caught hold of her and pushed her aside.
    Though this witness has indicated that accused no. I dealt 4 or 5 blows of
    gupti on the person of Raju but had not stated any specific overt act to have
    been committed by accused nos.2 and 3 apart from the general statemer.t that
G   all accused persons surrounded and assaulted. In other words that accused
    nos.2 and had given blows on the deceased by means of cycle chain and stick
    has not been stated by the witness even in. the chief examination. In the cross
    examination it has been elicited that he had gone on foot to lodge the report
    after he had visited the scene of occurrence and on this statement Mr. Lalit
    wanted to urge that he was not present at the scene of occurrence and
H   reached there later. But ~his is belied by the very next sentence stated by the
   MANOJ @BHAU v. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA [PATTANAIK, J.J 493

  witness. "It is not true that I have not witnessed the incident." The defence    A
·had elicited from this witness certain omissions as indicated in paragraph 13
 of his evidence which is to the effect that he had not stated before the police
 that accused nos. I to 6 had come out of the house of accused no.4 and that
 they had come out and then entered his courtyard and the explanation offered
  was that he was not in a proper frame of mind. The further omission brought
 out from the witness is that he had not stated before the police that accused     B
 nos. I, 4, 5 and 6 abused Raju by mother and sister and also that accused
 no. 4 caught hold of right hand of Raju and dragged him and all the accused
  persons then surrounded him as I was then frightened. He had also not stated
  before the police that accused no.4 had dealt a blow of hockey stick on Raju's
 head. He had also not stated before the police that Lakhmibai PW8 had placed      C
 herself over the body of Raju and told the accused not to assault Raju. It has
 been elicited in his cross-examination that he had not stated before the police
 that accused no.4 had given a threat that if an evidence is given in the Court
 then he will be murdered. It was also brought out that he omitted to say that
 the tube light was burning in front of his house. Considering these omissions
 from the earlier statement as confronted to the witness we are not in a           D
 position to appreciate the contention of Mr. Lalit that his entire evidence
 should be disbelieved, particularly when there has been no material omission
 so far as the role played by accused no, I is concerned, that he had a gupti
 in his hand and assaulted Raju by means of gupti by given 4 or 5 blows. The
 nature of injuries found on deceased Raju and the medical evidence of the         E
 doctor fully corroborates the oral evidence of PW! so far as the role ascribed
 to accused no. I. As has been stated earlier so far as role ascribed to accused
 2 and 3 are concerned the witness has not given any definite overt acts
 excepting making the general version that all accused surrounded and
 assaulted. In this view of the matter though the evidence of this witness does
 not assist the prosecution in bringing home the charge against accused nos.2      F
 and 3 but so far as accused no. I is concerned the prosecution case can be
 said to have been proved beyond reasonable doubt on the basis of the
 evidence of PWJ.

      Coming now to the evidence of PW8, she also apart from stating in her G
evidence in chief that accused no.3 had an iron chain, accused no.2 had a
stick in his hand, while indicating the blows given by each of the accused
persons she stated that accused nos. 2 and 3 had dealt stick blows on the
person of Raju. This actually contl'adicts her evidence that accused no.3 had
an iron chain in his hand. So far as accused no. I is concerned, she corroborates
PW! by stating that accused no.I started giving gupti blows on the deceased H
    494                     SUPREME COURT REPORTS                    [1999] 2 S.C.R.

A Raju. The omissions fiom her earlier statement to the police which had been
  confronted to ·her that she had not stated before the police that she herself
  and her husband and Raju were sitting on the terrace and she had stated
  before the police that her husband had reached there after accused had ran
  aW(;lYi on the basis of the aforesaid material Mr. Lalit had urged that PWl
  cannot be said to be an eye witness to the occurrence. We are unable to
B appreciate this argument in as much as reading the evidence as a whole it
  cannot be said that PWI reached the scene of occurrence only after the entire
  occurrence was over. So far as accused no. I giving gupti blows on the
  deceased there has been no embellishment and no exaggeration made by this
  witness in her earliest statement to the police. But though in the Court she
C had stated that accused no.3 had an iron chain she had not stated so in her
  statement to the police and that was duly confronted to her. Even she had
  not stated that accused no.2 had a stick in his hand and that was also
  confronted to her. Having examined the aforesaid omissions we have no
  hesitation to come to the conclusion that the role ascribed by this witness
  to the accused no. I fully corroborates the evidence of PWl and there is no
D reason why the statement of the aforesaid two witnesses shall not be relied
  upon. Which have been relied upon by two courts of fact. On the aforesaid
  basis we agree with the co.nclusion of the two courts below that accused no. l
  holding a gupti in his <hand, dealt several blows on the deceased Raju as a
  result of which Raju ultimately died. But so far as two other accused, namely,
E accused nos. 2 and 3 are concerned, we are of the considered opinion on
  going through the evidence of aforesaid two eye witnesses PWs I and 8, that
  prosecution case as against the said two appellants cannot be said to have
  been proved beyond reasonable doubt. Excepting bald, vague and general
  statement that all the accused surrounded and assaulted, while ascribing
  positive role to different accused persons and how many blows have been
F given, but so far as accused nos. 2 and 3 are concerned, there has been no
  whisper by either PWI and PW8 and even PW8 in her earliest statement to
  the police had not stated that accused nos. 2 and 3 were having a stick and          ..
  cycle chain in their hands. In this state of affairs it would be unsafe to convict
  appellants nos. 2 and 3 by taking recourse to Section 149 IPC as necessary
G ingredients to attract the said Section as against accused nos. 2 and 3 are
  totally absent. We have not discussed the role played by those accused
  persons who hav·e not preferred any appeal, but suffice it to say that the eye
  witnesses have ascribed positive role to those non-appealing persons as to
  how they have given blows on deceased Raju.

H         In the :iforesaid premises, we acquit accused nos. 2 and 3 of the charges
        MANOJ @BHAU v. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA [PATTANAIK, J.] 495

     levelled against them and direct that they shall be set with liberty forthwith   A
     unless required in any other case. But so far as accused no. I is concerned,
     he is convicted alongwith non-appealing accused persons under Section 302/
     34 IPC and their sentence of imprisonment for life is affirmed. The appeal is
     thus partly allowed.

--   R.K.S.                                                    Appeal dismissed.      B