Allahabad High Court
State Of U.P. vs Shyam Singh And Others on 24 February, 2020
Author: Gautam Chowdhary
Bench: Gautam Chowdhary
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD Court No. - 51 Case :- GOVERNMENT APPEAL No. - 2524 of 1987 Appellant :- State of U.P. Respondent :- Shyam Singh And Others Counsel for Appellant :- 3.G.A. Counsel for Respondent :- Dharmendra Singhal,Harsh Narain,Shashank Shekhar,Sumit Daga,Virendra Kumar Hon'ble Arvind Kumar Mishra-I,J.
Hon'ble Gautam Chowdhary,J.
1. This appeal is directed against as many as ten accused/ respondents on account of fact that the aforesaid accused/ respondents stood trial under section 147, 148, 149, 307, 302 and 323 I.P.C. and under section 25 Arms Act, P.S.- Rampur, District- Saharanpur in Sessions Trial No.307/1984, 61/1985, 62/1985, 63/1985 (State Vs. Shyam Singh and others) whereby the accused/ respondents have been acquitted of the aforesaid charges.
2. We have long reports regarding missing of the lower court record. These records were claimed to have been transmitted to the office of the District Magistrate- Saharanpur. Then it so happened that the same remained untraceable even in the office of Govt. Advocate. A series of reminders have been sent but to no avail. An affidavit has also been sworn by the appellant side that the record of this appeal is also not traceable and its reconstruction has become impossible.
3. Now we may put it that the retrial of the case is also not possible on account of it being a very old case almost 33 years gone by. In such cases transparent and specific guidelines have been laid down in a catena of cases. We may refer to judgment of co-ordinate Bench of this Court in Sukhlal Vs. State of U.P. decided on 30.5.2014 in Crl. Appeal No.466 of 1980 reported in MANU/UP/1508/2014 wherein also in such cases where the record of the lower court was found missing after following the various guidelines as laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court and by the observations, and directions of co-ordinates Benches of this High Court, we have no option but to proceed further and deal the matter in the same way as has been done previously done in such matters where the record was found missing.
3. Heard learned A.G.A. Shri Bhanu Prakash Singh for the appellant and perused the record.
4. In this case the copy of the judgment that has been annexed with the appeal by the government reveals the fact that as many as 10 people were charged under sections 147, 148, 149, 302, 307, 323 I.P.C. Apart from section 25 Arms Act. Written report in this matter was lodged at police station- Rampur on 7.9.1983 wherein the incident was reported to have taken place on 6.9.1983 around 5:00 p.m. It so happened that buggi was being driven on the chak-road when it was intercepted and objected by the aforesaid accused/ respondents that they will not allow to take the buggi through the chak-road. This created dispute on the spot and threat was extended by the accused on the informant side. Now it so happened that the very next day on 7.9.1983 Jaipal, Jagpal etc. had gone to cut grass in their field when the accused/ respondents Shyam Singh, Bhoop Singh, Yashpal and others possessing lathi and spears in their hands appeared in the field of Jaipal around 10:00 a.m. and in prosecution of the common object to cause harm on the informant side beat them with their lathi and spears. On alarm being raised a number of persons arrived on the spot. It so happened that gun was fired while committing the offence which also resulted in the death of Jaipal on the spot.
5. The matter was reported at the police station and after due investigation, charge-sheet was filed and trial commenced against the aforesaid accused/ respondents however, after considering the entirety of the case, the case of the prosecution was found not proved beyond reasonable doubt. Consequently, verdict of acquittal was pronounced in favour of accused/ respondents which resulted in this appeal.
6. We have observed above that we are confronted with the problem of non-availability of lower court record and we cannot proceed on the merits of the case as such.
7. Therefore considering the various guidelines we hereby dismiss this appeal as against the present accused/ respondents.
Order Date :- 24.2.2020 shiv