Ram Das Singh and Others vs State of Bihar

K.T. Thomas and D.P. Mohapatra, JJ.—Leave granted.

In this case, this Appellants stand convicted u/s 436 of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 149, I.P.C. and each of them was sentenced to rigorous imprison-ment for a period of three years. They jointly filed an appeal before the High Court, Patna, which remained in the list for ten years. On 13.11.1997 when the case was taken up for hearing before a learned single Judge, he found that the counsel for the Appellant was not present. So, he kept it aside and took up the matter during the post lunch session. Even then, no body appeared for the Appellants. Hence he proceeded to hear the Government advocate and perused the records and disposed of the matter as per the impugned judgment by which the conviction and sentence were confirmed as against all the Appellants.

The gravamen of the allegation is that these Appellants went to demolish a wall and when that was objected by the owner of the wall, P.W. 2--Ramkeshwar Dusadh an exhortation was made by the first Appellant to set fire to the house. That exhortation was responded by the third accused by setting fire to the house and the whole house was gutted.

Learned Counsel submitted that first Appellant is eighty years old now and even if it is admitted that he made the exhortation, the period, he had already undergone in jail (amount six months) can be treated as sufficient sentence for him. As for the remaining Appellants, he made a plea for reducing the sentence. Instead of going deep into the evidence, he pointed out that the destroyed house was valued only at about Rs. 500, and on the strength of it, pleaded that those Appellants may also be given the benefit of reducing the sentence to the period already undergone.

While we are inclined to show some leniency to the Appellant in the matter of sentence, we are also mindful of the grievance of P.W. 3 whose house though small in the eyes of the Appellants, was gutted down. We, therefore, dispose of this appeal by altering the sentence to the period already undergone by each of the Appellants and also by imposing a fine of Rs. 1,000 on each. In default of payment of fine within two months from today in the trial court, the Appellant shall undergo imprisonment for a further period of six months. On realisation of fine, the trial court shall pay a sum of Rs. 5,000 out of that sum to P.W. 2-Ramkeshwar Dusadh.

The appeal is disposed of accordingly.