Gonnu Bhagat vs State of Bihar

Anjana Prakash, J.—The appellant has been convicted by the judgment dated 8.7.1994 passed by the 6th Additional Sessions Judge, East Champaran, Motihari in Sessions Trial No. 142 of 1982/ 1992 of 92, by which he has been convicted u/s 5 of the Explosive Substance Act and sentence to 3 years rigorous imprisonment and also u/s 25 (A) of the Arms Act and sentenced to 3 years rigorous imprisonment and no separate sentence has been passed u/s 26 of the Arms Act.

The prosecution case is that on 25.5.1991 a raid was conducted in the house of the appellant where a bag containing 5 cartridges of rifle and 2 sutari bombs were recovered.

The prosecution examined 8 witnesses out of whom P.W.1 is the informant and P.W. 5 & 6 are seizure list witnesses, P.W.7 is the Investigating Officer and P.W.8 is the witness on the point of sanction. P.W. 1, 2, 3 and 4 are members of the raiding party.

It has been submitted on behalf of the appellant that admittedly bag containing the incriminating articles was not found in conscious possession of the appellant and, therefore, the conviction for possessing the articles is baseless. Further submission is that the seizure witnesses did not support the factum.

On going through the evidence on record, I find that the prosecution has failed to prove beyond all reasonable doubts that the bombs and articles were recovered from the conscious possession of the appellant and therefore, it is difficult to uphold the conviction of the appellant.

In view of such, this appeal is allowed and conviction and sentence of the appellant passed by learned 6th Additional Sessions Judge, East Champaran, Motihari in Sessions Trial No. 142 of 1982/1992 of 92 is hereby set aside and the appellant is discharged from the liabilities of his bail bonds.