1 2025:CGHC:14347 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR CRA No. 756 of 2023 Basant Singh S/o Dashrath Singh Aged About 40 Years R/o Village Garudol Patelpara, P.S. Manendragarh, District Koriya Chhattisgarh. ... Appellant versus State of Chhattisgarh Through Police Station Manendragarh, District Koriya Chhattisgarh. ... Respondent For Appellant : Mr. Shalvik Tiwari, Advocate. For Respondent : Mr. Bharat Gulbani, Panel Lawyer. Hon'ble Shri Ramesh Sinha , Chief Justice Order on Board 25 . 03 .202 5 1. The case is listed for hearing on IA No. 3/2025, which is an application for suspension of sentence and releasing the appellant on personal bond. 2. The aforesaid application (IA No. 3/2025) came up before Hon’ble Shri Sanjay K. Agrawal, Judge, who had earlier allowed the application for suspension of sentence and grant of bail under Section 430 of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short, the BNSS), being I.A. No.02/2023, vide order dated RAHUL DEWANGAN Digitally signed by RAHUL DEWANGAN 2 18.02.2025. However, the appellant could not be released on bail as he was unable to furnish sureties, prompting him to file the present application (IA No. 3/2025) for release on personal bond. Thereafter, the said application, i.e. I.A. No.03/2025 was listed before Shri Sanjay K. Agrawal, Judge on 18.03.2025 who directed that the said application be listed before the appropriate Bench having the roster. As such, this case has been listed today before this Court. 3. Considering the fact that the applicant has been convicted for the offence under Section 307 of Indian Penal code and out of the sentence of 5 years, he has already served out 03 years and 08 months in jail, and with the consent of learned counsel for the parties, as well as taking into account the period of detention undergone by the appellant, the appeal is heard finally. Accordingly, I.A. No.03 stands disposed of. 4. This criminal appeal is directed against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 31.01.2023 passed by learned First Additional Sessions Judge, Manendragarh, District Koriya (C.G.), in Session Trial No. 107/2021 whereby the the appellant has been convicted and sentenced in the following manner: Sentence Conviction Under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code. Rigorous Imprisonment for 5 years with fine amount of Rs. 1000/-, in default of payment of fine further RI for 01 month. 3 5. Judgment of conviction is challenged on the ground that without there being any clinching and reliable evidence against the appellant, the trial Court has convicted and sentenced the appellant as aforementioned and thereby committed an illegality. 6. Case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on 29.05.2021, the complainant, Laxman Singh (PW-3), lodged information at Manendragarh police station, stating that on 28.05.2021, his sister- in-law’s son, Basant Singh (PW-5), brought his granddaughter, Asha (PW-9), to his house in the afternoon and left her there. Laxman Singh was sleeping in the porch, while his son, Virendra Singh, was sleeping in the middle room. In the courtyard porch, Sonkunwar (PW-4), Durga, Sonmati (PW-11), and Asha were also sleeping. Basant Singh returned at night and slept in Virendra Singh’s room. At around 3 a.m., Asha and Sonmati started shouting and informed that Basant Singh had struck Virendra Singh on the head with an axe, causing blood to flow from his head. A cloth was tied around his head, but by then, he had become unconscious. Basant Singh fled from the scene. With the intent to kill, Basant Singh had inflicted an injury on Virendra Singh’s head with an axe. On the basis of this information, Crime No. 171/2021 was registered at Manendragarh police station under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Basant Singh. 7. An application for the medical examination of the injured Virendra Singh was submitted to the Central Hospital, Manendragarh. A site map (Ex.P-4) of the incident was prepared based on the information provided by Laxman Singh. During the investigation, on 4 29.05.2021, the statement of the accused Basant Singh was recorded at Manendragarh police station, and the axe used in the incident was recovered. Blood-stained and plain soil was collected from the scene. On 29.05.2021, a blood-stained sheet was seized from Laxman Singh at Central Hospital, Amakherwa, Manendragarh. The accused, Basant Singh, was arrested, and an arrest memo (Ex.P-9) was prepared. The seized items were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Ambikapur, for chemical analysis. Statements of witnesses were recorded during the investigation. Upon completion of the investigation, a charge-sheet was presented before the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Manendragarh, on 03.08.2021. 8. In order to prove the guilt of the appellant/accused, the prosecution examined as many as 11 witnesses and exhibited the documents (Exs.P-1 to P-17 and Exs. D-1 to D-4). The statement of the appellant under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, was also recorded in which he denied the material appearing against him and stated that he is innocent and he has been falsely implicated in the case. 9. After appreciation of evidence available on record, the learned trial Court has convicted the accused/appellant and sentenced him as mentioned in para 1 of the judgment. Hence, this appeal. 10. Learned counsel for the appellant submits that the judgment of conviction and order of sentence passed by learned trial Court is illegal, incorrect and perverse as per prosecution story and material 5 available on record. He further argued that though the appellant is alleged to have caused injuries to the victim with a tangi, the victim sustained a single injury on his scalp and the left parietal region, which was stated to be grievous in nature, with a fracture found on the scalp bone. The doctor conducting the MLC adviced an X-ray, but the X-ray report on record does not conclusively show any internal damage to the scalp. He also submits that learned trial Court has failed to appreciate the evidence of the prosecution witnesses in accordance with law and arrived at a wrong conclusion, hence the appellant has been wrongly convicted under the offence as indicated above. The learned trial Court committed an error and wrongly found the appellant guilty for the offence punishable under Section 307 of the IPC. He contended that learned Trial Court ought to have seen contradiction and omission in the statement of prosecution witnesses. On the question of sentence, learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the applicant has already undergone 03 years and 08 months of imprisonment and has paid the fine amount of Rs. 500. In default of payment of the fine, he was to undergo 01 month of further rigorous imprisonment. Therefore, it is prayed that his sentence may be reduced to the period already undergone. He further submits that the appellant is in jail since 29.05.2021, is around 40 years old, and in the interest of justice, his sentence may be reduced to the period already undergone. 6 11. On the other hand, learned State Counsel supported the judgment passed by the learned trial Court, in which no interference is called for. 12. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the judgment impugned as also record of the trial Court. 13. In support of its case, the prosecution has relied upon the statements of key witnesses, including Asha, Dr. Sanjay Kumar Singh and Sonmati. 14. The statement of PW-9, Asha, is that the accused, Basant Singh, is her father. The injured, Virendra Singh, is her uncle. At the time of the incident, her mother had gone to her maternal grandmother’s house, and she had gone to sleep at her grandfather Laxman Singh’s house. She was sleeping at her grandfather’s house when she learned during the night that her father, Basant Singh, had assaulted her uncle, Virendra. Her uncle Virendra had sustained a head injury, and blood was oozing from the wound. Her father was brought back by her uncles after being caught. 15. The statement of PW-10, Dr. Sanjay Kumar Singh, is that on 29.05.2021, at around 5:00 AM, the injured, Basant Singh, son of Laxman Singh, aged 31 years, resident of Garudol, Police Station Manendragarh, was brought to Central Hospital Amakherwa, Manendragarh for treatment. He examined the injured. The primary treatment of the injured was done by Dr. Amrendra Tripathi, and Dr. Sanjay Kumar Singh was called as a specialist. At the time of examination, the injured was in an unconscious state and did not 7 respond when spoken to. However, upon applying painful stimuli, he opened his eyes. Upon examination, a large lacerated wound was found on the left parieto-temporal region of the head, measuring 4 x 1.2 x 1.4 inches, with the skull bone visible inside. There was also a lacerated wound on the right hand, measuring 4 x 1.2 inches. The X-ray revealed a fracture in the parieto-temporal region. The injuries inflicted on the victim were of grievous nature. The medical examination report is marked as Ex.P-16. 16. The statement of PW-11, Sonmati Singh, is that the accused, Basant Singh, is her maternal aunt’s son, and the injured, Virendra Singh, is her younger brother. During the summer of the previous year, she had come to her maternal home in village Garudol. On the night of the incident, she was sleeping in the porch, while her younger brother Virendra was sleeping in another room. At around 3:00 AM, she woke up after hearing a coughing sound and saw Basant Singh moving around inside the house. She told her mother to wake up her father because Basant Singh was moving around suspiciously. The accused’s daughter, Asha, was also sleeping in the house. Her mother woke Asha and asked her to wake her grandfather. When Asha went outside to wake her grandfather, she suddenly screamed loudly. Hearing the scream, Sonmati rushed outside and saw Basant Singh standing there, and Virendra Singh had an axe lodged in his head, which Asha had removed. Sonmati hit Basant Singh 2-4 times with a stick, after which he ran away. The family members later caught Basant Singh. Virendra Singh was bleeding profusely from the head and had become unconscious. 8 They took Virendra Singh to the government hospital in Manendragarh, but due to the absence of a doctor, he was admitted to the Central Hospital in Amakherwa. 17. From perusal of the records, it transpires that the trial Court after considering the material available on record and evidence of the prosecution witnesses, has convicted the appellant for offence under Section 307 of the IPC and sentenced to undergo RI for 5 years and fine of of Rs.500/-, in default of payment of fine to further undergo RI for 01 month. Considering the material available on record and the evidence adduced by the prosecution, I am of the considered view that the trial Court has not committed any illegality or infirmity in convicting the appellant for offence under Section 307 of the IPC. 18. So far as the sentence imposed upon the appellant for the offence under Section 307 of the IPC is concerned, considering the fact that at present, appellant is aged about 43 years and incident took place in a heat of passion and on sudden provocation without any predetermination, nature of injuries and further considering the fact that the appellant has already served out jail sentence of about more than 3 years 8 months and has already deposited the fine amount of Rs. 1,000/- imposed upon him by the trial Court, therefore, the sentence already undergone by him may sufÏce to meet the ends of justice, as such, this Court is of the opinion that ends of justice would be served if the sentence awarded to the appellant is reduced to the period already undergone by him. 9 19. In the result, the appeal is partly allowed. Conviction of appellant under Section 307 of the IPC is hereby afÏrmed. Sentence imposed upon the appellant under aforementioned Section is hereby modified and reduced to the period already undergone by him. He be released forthwith unless wanted in any other case. 20. It is stated at the Bar that the appellant is in jail. He shall serve out the sentence as modified by this Court. 21. The Registry is directed to transmit the certified copy of this judgment along with the record to the trial Court concerned for necessary information and compliance. Sd/- (Ramesh Sinha) Chief Justice Rahul Dewangan