Prahlad Mahto & Ors vs State Of Jharkhand

Prahlad Mahto & Ors. ....Appellants

Versus

State of Jharkhand ...Respondent

ORDER

We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and

gone through the impugned judgments. We see that the High

Court and trial court had found that the seven appellants were

involved in the incident. The learned counsel for the appellants

has, however, argued that specific roles had been ascribed to

Basudeo Mahto, Safi Mahto and Kato Mahto in the FIR as also

in the statement of the three eye witnesses, but the post-

mortem report and the injury report of the deceased and the

injured witnesses respectively did not show the presence of any

injuries at the instance of Sri Mahato, Basudeo Mahato and

Kato Mahato, although they were as per the prosecution case

armed with lathies. It is true that it is often difficult to arrive at

a true assessment as to what has happened but in a case of Crl. Appeal No.1078/2006 deep rooted group 2

rivalry and animosity between the rival parties and in the face of

the fact that a large number of accused have been involved, the

possibility of false implication cannot be entirely ruled out.

Moreover, in the facts of this case, we find that whereas accused

Prahlad Mahto, Naresh Mahto and Sudhir Mahto have been

attributed specific injuries, the others have been given general

roles that they too had caused injuries. There is thus

possibility that some of the accused could have been booked

falsely.

We, accordingly, dismiss the appeal of Prahlad Mahto,

Naresh Mahto and Sudhir Mahto, but allow the appeal of Sri

Mahto, Basudeo Mahto and Kato Mahto and order their

acquittal. They shall be released forthwith, if not wanted in any

other case. Their bail bonds shall stand discharged accordingly.

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......J. (HARJIT SINGH BEDI)

...........................

....J. (J.M. PANCHAL) NEW DELHI, AUGUST 27, 2010.