1 2026:CGHC:21060-DB NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR CRA No. 742 of 2016 1. Ashutosh Chandrawanshi S/o Mahendre Singh Chandrewanshi Aged About 42 Years 2. Onkar Singh Chandrewanshi S/o Mahendre Singh Chandrewanshi Aged About 28 Years 3. Mahendre Singh Chandrewanshi S/o Late Chandredev Singh Chandrewanshi Aged About 65 Years All the Appellants No. 1 to 3 are R/o Village Patrapali East, PS Chakradharnagar, District Raigarh, Chhattisgarh --- Appellant(s) Versus State Of Chhattisgarh Through P.S. Chakradharnagar, Raigarh, District Raigarh, Chhattisgarh --- Respondent(s) For Appellant(s) : Mr. Tarkeshwar Nande and Mr. Sourabh Sharma, Advocates. For Respondent/State : Mr. Ashish Shukla, Additional Advocate General For Complainant : Mr. Ashish Gupta, Advocate ACQA No. 137 of 2016 Parmanand Pradhan S/o Shri Dilip Pradhan Aged About 32 Years Occupation Agriculturist, R/o Village Patrapali Thana- Chakradharnagar, Civil And Revenue District Raigarh, Chhattisgarh. ---Appellant(s) Versus 1. State Of Chhattisgarh Through District Magistrate Raigarh, District Raigarh, Chhattisgarh. 2. Ashutosh Chandravanshi S/o Shri Mahendra Singh Chandravanshi Aged About 42 Years 2 3. Omkar Singh S/o Shri Mahendra Singh Chandravanshi Aged About 28 Years 4. Mahendra Singh Chandravanshi S/o Late Shri Chandradev Singh Chandravanshi Aged About 65 Years 5. Shivshankar Chouhan S/o Baratram Chouhan Aged About 24 Years All are residence of Village Patrapali East, Thana- Chakradharnagar, Civil And Revenue District Raigarh, Chhattisgarh. --- Respondent(s) For Appellant(s) : Mr. Ashish Gupta, Advocate. For Respondent/ State Mr. Ashish Shukla, Additional Advocate General For Respondent(s)/ Accused : Mr. Sourabh Sharma and Mr. Tarkeshwar Nande, , Advocates CRA No. 715 of 2016 1. Rajkumar Sahu @ Rajju S/o Dev Prasad Aged About 35 Years 2 . Parmanand Pradhan S/o Dilip Pradhan Aged About 29 Years Both R/o Village Patrapali East, Police Station Chakradhar Nagar, Raigarh, District Raigarh Chhattisgarh 3. Ravishankar Chauhan S/o Prem Singh Chauhan Aged About 39 Years 4. Bhola Shankar Chauhan S/o Gulabram Chauhan Aged About 35 Years Both R/o Kotarlia Station, Police Station Chakradhar Nagar, Raigarh, District Raigarh Chhattisgarh 5. Vijay Yadav S/o Hari Arjun Yadav Aged About 28 Years R/o Village Mahapalli, Police Station Chakradhar Nagar, Raigarh, District Raigarh Chhattisgarh 6. Rajiv Lochan Behra S/o Vijay Kumar Aged About 28 Years R/o Village Banora, Police Station Chakradhar Nagar, Raigarh, District Raigarh Chhattisgarh ---Appellant(s) Versus State Of Chhattisgarh Through - Station House OfÏcer, Police Station Chakradhar Nagar, District Raigarh Chhattisgarh , Chhattisgarh --- Respondent(s) For Appellant(s) : Mr. Ashish Gupta, Advocate. For Respondent(s) /State : Mr. Ashish Shukla, Additional Advocate General For Complainant : Mr. Tarkeshwar Nande and Mr. Sourabh Sharma, Advocates. 3 Hon'ble Shri Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice Hon'ble Shri Bibhu Datta Guru, Judge Judgment on Board Per Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice 05/05/2026 1. Since both the appeals arise out of one incident for which two FIRs were lodged, one by each party, and further one of the complainant has also filed acquittal appeal against acquittal of accused persons and enhancement of the sentence, these three appeals are being considered and decided by this common judgment. 2. Cr.A. No. 742/2016 has been filed by the accused/convicts Ashutosh Chandrawanshi, Onkar Singh Chandrewanshi and Mahendre Singh Chandrewanshi being aggrieved by the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 20.05.2016 passed in Sessions Trial No. 190/2013 by the learned Second Additional Sessions Judge, Raigarh, whereby they have convicted and sentenced as under: Conviction under Section Jail Sentence (Rigorous) Fine Default Jail sentence (Rigorous) 326/34 of the Indian Penal Code (for short, the IPC) 3 years Rs. 2000/- 3 months 324/34 of the IPC 1 year Rs. 1000/- 2 moths 323/34 of the IPC 1 month Rs. 500/- 1 month Sentences have been directed to run concurrently. 3. Cr.A. No. 715/2016 has been filed by the accused/convicts Rajkumar Sahu @ Rajju, Parmanand Pradhan, Ravishankar Chauhan, Bhola Shankar Chauhan, Vijay Yadav and Rajiv Lochan Behra, being aggrieved by the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 20.05.2016 passed by the learned Second Additional Sessions Judge, Raigarh, in Sessions Trial No. 130/2014 whereby the appellants have 4 been convicted and sentenced as under: Conviction under Section Jail Sentence (Rigorous) Fine Default Jail sentence (Simple) 147/149 of IPC 6 Months Rs. 500/- 1 month 148/149 of IPC 1 Year Rs. 1000/- 2 months 294 of IPC 6 Months Rs. 500/- 1 month 324/149 IPC 3 Years Rs. 2000/- 2 months Sentences have been directed to run concurrently. 4. Acquittal appeal, being ACQA No. 137/2016 has been filed by the complainant-Parmanand Pradhan challenging the order dated 20.05.2016 passed in Sessions Trial No. 190/2013 by the learned Second Additional Sessions Judge, Raigarh, wherein the accused/convicts namely Ashutosh Chandravanshi, Onkar Singh and Mahendra Singh have been acquitted of the charges under Sections 148, 427, 294, 307 and 506-B of the IPC and accused and Shiv Shankar Chouhan has been acquitted of all the charges, and also seeking enhancement of the sentence to the said accused for the offence under Section 326 of the IPC, to the full term of jail sentence. 5. 5. In Cr.A. No. 715/2016, the accused persons were charged for the offences punishable under Sections 147, 148, 294, 506-B, and 324/149 of the IPC alleging that on 06.08.2013 at about 5:30 p.m. near the Kotarliya Building at the Railway Station, along with co-accused persons, they formed an unlawful assembly with the object of assaulting complainant Mahendra Singh and committed rioting by using force and violence. Further, in prosecution of the common object of the said unlawful assembly, they continued to remain armed with deadly weapons such as sticks and axes and committed rioting. They also abused Mahendra Singh with obscene language, which was offensive to hear and caused annoyance to him and other persons present there, and criminally intimidated Mahendra Singh by threatening to kill him. Further, 5 in prosecution of the common object of the unlawful assembly, along with co-accused persons, they voluntarily caused simple injuries to complainant Mahendra Singh by assaulting him with sharp-edged weapons, sticks, and axes. 6. Briefly stated, the prosecution case is that on 06.08.2013, on the basis of a written complaint submitted by complainant-Mahendra Singh, an FIR bearing Crime No. 334/2013 was registered at Police Station Chakradhar Nagar, Raigarh, stating that on the date of incident at about 5:30 p.m., near the Kotarliya Building behind the Railway Station, the complainant Mahendra Singh was returning from the Railway Station bringing a cow on the occasion of the Hareli festival, when near the Railway Station building on the down side of the Railway Station, the accused persons started abusing him with filthy words and obscene abuses relating to mother and sister. When he objected to the same, the accused persons threatened to kill him, and accused Rajkumar Sahu assaulted him on the head with an axe causing injuries. The other accused persons assisted him in the assault. Hearing the commotion, his grandsons, Mani, Sunny, Rahul, and Shivshankar Chauhan intervened to rescue him. On the basis of the said report of the complainant, the offence was registered and the matter was taken up for investigation. During investigation, injured Mahendra Singh was medically examined. The axe and sticks used in the incident were seized from the accused persons. Statements of witnesses were recorded as per their versions, and the accused persons were arrested. After completion of all necessary formalities, and upon finding prima facie commission of the aforesaid offences by the accused persons, the charge-sheet was presented for trial before the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Raigarh, which was registered as Criminal Case No. 393/2013. Later, it 6 was committed to the Court of Sessions vide order dated 07.07.2014 and the matter was registered as Sessions Trial No. 130/2014. 7. Upon perusal of the present record and the documents annexed therewith, prima facie commission of offences under Sections 147, 148, 294, 506-B, and 324/149 of the IPC by the accused persons was found to be made out. Accordingly, charges under the aforesaid sections were framed and read over and explained to the accused persons, who denied having committed the offences and claimed themselves to be innocent. 8. In order to bring home the offence, the prosecution examined J. Ekka (PW/1), Ashutosh Singh (PW/2), Dr. Anil Kumar (PW/3), Shivshankar Chauhan (PW/4) Ramesh Pradhan (PW/5), Mahendra Singh (PW/6), Onkar Chandravanshi (PW/7), Ganesh Singh (PW/8), Sushil Sarathi (PW/9), and Dulari Devi (PW/10) and J.P.Nishad (PW/11) and exhibited as many as 20 exhibits. 9. The statement of the convict/appellant was recorded under section 313 C.rP.C wherein they have expressed their ignorance about most of the questions, however, some of them were denied as well. In defence, they stated that they want to examine some witnesses but later on, they did not examine any witness in support of their case. However, they exhibited the statements of Onkar Singh, Shivshankar Chouhan, Ganesh Singh and Smt. Dulari, as Exhibits D/1 to D/4. 10. The learned trial Court, after considering the statement of witnesses and evidence available on record, convicted and sentenced the appellants/ accused as detailed in the opening paragraphs of this judgment. 11. In Cr.A. No. 742/2016, the accused persons were charged for the offences under Sections 148, 307/149, 323/149, 324/149, 427, 294, and 7 506-B of the IPC alleging that on 06.08.2013 at about 5:30 p.m., at Kotarliya Railway Station, Patrapali, the accused persons, along with other co-accused persons, formed an unlawful assembly and, in prosecution of the common object of the said assembly to assault Raju alias Rajkumar and others, being armed with deadly weapons such as sticks and swords, committed rioting by assaulting and using force and violence against Rajkumar alias Rajju and others. Further, in prosecution of the said common object and with the intention of causing the death of Rajju alias Rajkumar, they assaulted him with swords in such circumstances and with such knowledge that, had the death of Rajju alias Rajkumar occurred, the accused persons would have been guilty of murder. They also caused simple injuries to other injured persons, namely Parmanand Pradhan by means of a sharp-edged weapon, and to Bholashankar Chauhan, Sunil Chauhan, and Chandan Sarathi by means of hard and blunt objects. Further, they intentionally caused damage to the Hero Honda motorcycle bearing registration No. CG-13-P-6177 belonging to complainant Parmanand by breaking and damaging it, and also intentionally insulted and annoyed Raju alias Rajkumar, Parmanand, Bholashankar, Anil Chauhan, Chandan Sarathi, and others present there by uttering obscene abuses relating to mother and sister at a public place, and criminally intimidated them by threatening to kill them. 12. Briefly stated, the prosecution case is that on the date of incident i.e. 06.08.2013 at about 5:30 p.m. the accused persons, along with another juvenile co-offender, armed with swords and sticks, assaulted complainant-Parmanand Pradhan and Rajkumar @ Rajju while hurling obscene abuses, and caused injuries to them by making a murderous assault and further threatened to kill them. The accused persons also 8 caused damage worth approximately Rs. 30,000/- to complainant Parmanand Pradhan’s motorcycle bearing registration No. CG-13-P- 6177 by beating it with sticks. Information regarding the incident was given by the complainant to Police Station Chakradhar Nagar, on the basis of which the FIR bearing Crime No. 338/2013 was registered at Chakradhar Nagar Police Station on 06.08.2013 at 19:00 hours and the matter was taken up for investigation. During investigation, a damage inspection memorandum of the damaged motorcycle was prepared, the site map of the place of occurrence was drawn, weapons used in the incident were seized on the basis of memorandums of the accused persons, and statements of witnesses were recorded as per their versions. After completion of all necessary formalities and investigation proceedings, and finding prima facie commission of the aforesaid offences by the accused persons, the offences were registered against them. After consideration, the charge-sheet was presented for trial before the Court of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Raigarh, where the case was registered as Criminal Case No. 2708/2013 and it was later on committed to the Court of Sessions vide order dated 12.12.2013, where the case was registered as Sessions Trial No. 190/2013. 13. Thereafter, charges were framed against the accused persons for the offences under Sections 148, 307/149, 323/149, 324/149, 427, 294, and 506-B of the IPC which were read over and explained to them. The accused persons denied the charges and prayed for trial. 14. In order to bring home the offence, the prosecution examined the witnesses namely Parmanand Pradhan (PW/1), Bholashankar Chauhan (PW/2), Dukhuram (PW/3), Sukhlal (PW/4), Dr. R.K. Agrawal (PW/5), Dr. Mrs. J. Ekka (PW/6), Lalit Kumar (PW/7), Vijay Yadav (PW/8), Rajiv 9 Lochan Behra (PW/9), Ravishankar Chauhan (PW/10), Ramesh Pradhan (PW/11), Sunil Chauhan (PW-12), Rajkumar Sahu (PW/13), Pawan Kumar Sahu (PW/14), B.P.Mishra (PW/15), and Chandan Sarathi (PW/16) and also exhibited as many as 28 Exhibits. 15. The statement of the convict/appellant was recorded under section 313 C.rP.C wherein he has expressed his ignorance about most of the questions, however, some of them were denied as well. In defence, they got the Anju Dipika Ekka, Assistant Sub Inspector (M), J.P.Nishad, Assistant Sub Inspector, and Sushanto Banerjee, Inspector, examined as DW/1, DW/2 and DW-3, respectively. 16. The learned trial Court, after considering the statement of witnesses and evidence available on record, convicted and sentenced the appellants/ accused as detailed in the opening paragraphs of this judgment. 17. Mr. Tarkeshwar Nande and Mr. Sourabh Sharma, learned counsel appearing for the appellants {Cr.A. No. 742/2016} submits that the appellants are innocent have been falsely implicated in this case. The prosecution has failed to bring home the ingredients of the charges under Sections 326, 324, 323/34 of the IPC and the evidence brought on record by no stretch of imagination is sufÏcient to sustain conviction of the appellants. Further, the sentence imposed upon the appellants are too harsh. The star witness of the prosecution namely the PW-1, PW-2 and PW-3 have denied that they had ever seen the accused at the time of incident or at the place of incident. Further, the learned trial Court has erred in ignoring that the statement of PW-5 and PW-6, wherein PW-6, Dr. Smt. J. Ekka, in her cross examination has stated that the injuries sustained in thumb are not sensitive whereas the injury sustained in the back side of the head are sensitive and PW-6 has stated that the injured 10 Ramkumar has sustained only thumb injury and Ramkumar never came for any kind of examination. The opinion of Dr. Smt. J. Ekka that the injury sustained by Ramkumar is grievous in nature, is not supported by any medical report or X-ray report. Further, Dr. R.K.Agrawal, PW-5, has deposed that the injuries sustained by Bholashankar and Parmanand are simple in nature and no injury was caused to Sunil Chouwhan. No weapon like Danda or sword has been seized from the appellants, and as such, the conviction and sentence awarded to the appellants are too harsh which deserves to be set aside. 18. On the other hand, Mr. Ashish Gupta, learned counsel appearing for the appellants {Cr.A. No. 715/2016} submits that the learned trial Court, without properly appreciating the evidence of the witnesses in its true perspective, have passed the impugned judgment. There are no cogent and reliable evidence available on record to show that the appellants are guilty of the offences charged. The incident of assault occurred in which both the parties have assaulted each other and both the parties had received injuries and a counter-case has also been registered against the complainant-Mahendra Singh for the offences punishable under Section 307 of the IPC, however, he has been convicted for the offence under Section 326 IPC. As per the deposition of the complainant Mahendra Singh (PW-5), the appellant No. 1 assaulted him by means of axe, but he had received only lacerated wound in his body, therefore, his testimony is not reliable. There are many omissions and contradictions I the deposition of the complainant-Mahendra Singh as also other witnesses. Dr. Anil Kumar (PW-3) deposed that the complainant- Mahendra Singh received lacerated wound in his body and was caused by hard and blunt object but Mahendra Singh had deposed that he was assaulted by means of axe. Hence, the story of the prosecution appears 11 to be doubtful. As such, the appeal deserves to be allowed and the appellants be acquitted of the charges. 19. With respect to acquittal appeal being ACQA No. 137/2016 {against the judgment dated 20.05.2016 in S.T. No. 190/2013}, filed by complainant- Parmanand Pradhan, Mr. Ashish Gupta, learned counsel submits the appellant/complainant-Parmanand Pradhan had filed Cr.M.P. No. 733/2016 challenging the impugned judgment dated 190/2013 by which the accused-Ashutosh Chandravanshi, Onkar Singh and Mahendra Singh have been acquitted of the charges under Section 148, 427, 294, 307 and 506-B and acquittal of accused Shivshanker Chouhan of all the charges, and further to enhance the sentence under Sections 326 IPC in respect of accused-Ashutosh Chandravanshi, Onkar Singh and Mahendra Singh. The said Cr.M.P. was admitted by a learned Single Judge on 25.11.2016 and the acquittal appeal was also admitted. 20. The appellant-Parmanand Pradhan {ACQA No. 137/2016} has filed an application being IA No. 1/2026 on 29.04.2026 for withdrawal of the acquittal appeal on the ground that the appellants in Cr.A. No. 742/2016 and appellants in Cr.A. No. 715/2016 have moved an application for compounding of offences on the ground of compromise, and as such, he is not interested and willing to further prosecute this acquittal appeal. 21. Mr. Ashish Shukla, learned Additional Advocate General appearing for the State/respondents submits the learned trial Court was fully justified in convicting and sentencing the convict/appellants as mentioned in the opening paragraphs. There are ample evidence on record to hold the appellants guilty of the offence. The order passed by the learned trial Court needs no interference and the appeals filed by the convict/ appellants be dismissed. 12 22. Mr. Tarkeshwar Nande and Mr. Sourabh Sharma {Cr.A. No. 742/2016} and Mr. Ashish Gupta {Cr.A. No. 715/2016}, learned counsel for the respective appellants, submit that the appellants in both the cases are resident of same locality and after the incident of scufÒe that took place in the year 2013, now they are living happily and are also visiting each other houses and attend various functions and as such, they have entered into a compromise and there is no dispute existing between them as on date. Hence, they have filed applications {being IA No. 5, 6 and 7 (in Cr.A. No. 715/2016) and IA No. 2, 3 and 4 (in Cr.A. No. 742/2016} under Sections 359(1), 359(2) and 359(5) of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, respectively, and as such, the offences be compounded and they be acquitted of the charges. It is lastly prayed that in case, this Court holds the appellants guilty of the charges, their jail sentence may be reduced to the period already undergone by them. 23. We have heard learned counsel for the parties, considered their rival submissions made herein-above and went through the records with utmost circumspection. 24. The incident of scufÒe between the parties took place in the year 2013. Both the parties claim that the other was the aggressor and the verbal duel turned into a fight between two groups. The first group comprised of the appellants-Ashutosh Chandrawanshi, Onkar Singh Chandrawanshi and Mahendra Singh Chandrawanshi while the second group comprised of Rajkumar Sahu @ Rajju, Parmanand Pradhan, Ravishankar Chauhan, Bhola Shankar Chauhan, Vijay Yadav and Rajiv Lochan Behra. Out of the same incident, both the groups lodged FIR against each other which gave rise to two sessions trial. 13 25. With respect to Cr.A. No. 715/2016, J. Ekka (PW-1) is the Medical OfÏcer who had examined the injured Mahendra Singh, who found lacerated wound on the frontal part of the skull, lacerated wound on the occipital part of the skull, swelling in the lower portion of the middle finger of left hand and the injuries were simple in nature and not fatal to life and were caused by hard and blunt object. He had also answered to the query made by the police with respect to the seized axe upon which he had opined that the said injuries could have been caused by the said axe. Another Medical OfÏcer, Dr. Anil Kumar, who had treated the injured stated that he had treated him from 07.08.2013 to 10.08.2013 and the injured was fully oriented. He had stitch on his head and was having pain in his right forelimb and in the palm. However, there was no fracture on any part of his body. 26. J.P.Nishad (PW-11) is the Investigating OfÏcer who had conducted the investigation. 27. Ashutosh Singh Chandel (PW-2), who is the son of the injured- Mahendra Singh, had stated before the learned trial Court that he knew the accused Rajiv Lochan Behra, Ravishankar Chouhan, Bhola Shankar, Parmanand and also the injured Mahendra Singh. At the time of incident, he used to work with Visa Steel Power Ltd. On the date of incident, one person came to his house and informed him that the accused were hurling abuses to his father and were assaulting him. When he reached the place of incident, he saw Rajkumar Sahu, Parmanand, Lochan Behra and Vijay Yadav, Ravishankar and Bhola Shankar were uttering filthy language to his father and when he intervened, Rajkumar Sahu assaulted his father with an axe which hit the head and thereafter, this witness was also assaulted. 14 28. Onkar Chandrawanshi (PW-7) is also the son of the injured/complainant Mahendra Singh. One day before the date of incident, he had returned from Delhi. He stated that the accused Rajkumar, who is the Up Sarpanch, and his brother Ashutosh were having animosity. His house is situated 200 meters from the Railway Station. On hearing the commotion, he came out of his house. He alongwith his brother, nephew Sunny and Mani, mother and sister-in-law and the maid, all ran towards the place of incident where he saw Rajkumar Sahu, Bholashankar, Rajiv Lochan, Ravishankar, Parmanand, Vijay Yadav and some other persons who were from different villages, were assaulting his father. Rajkumar was carrying an axe, Parmanand a sword and Ravi Shankar Chouhan was carrying a Danda and some others were carrying stones. 29. Ganesh Singh (PW-8) is also one of the son of the complainant- Mahendra Singh. He deposed that he received a phone call at about 6 p.m. from his younger brother who informed him that the accused had assaulted their father. When he reached home, his father was at home and on asking, Mahendra Singh informed that when he was grazing his cow, the accused assaulted him because of old animosity. 30. Dulari Devi (PW-10) is the wife of the complainant Mahendra Singh. She has also deposed in a similar manner as has been deposed by the son s of the complainant/injured-Mahendra Singh. 31. Another witness namely Shivshankar Chouhan (PW-4) has deposed before the learned trial Court that he was acquainted with the accused persons. He was doing his duty in Jamgaon and at the time of incident, he was in the Railway Station. He saw that the accused were hurling abuses to injured Mahendra Singh and thereafter, Rajkumar @ Rajju assaulted the injured with an axe upon which the injured fell on the 15 ground. Thereafter, accused Parmanand was trying to assault the injured with a sword who was restrained by other accused Rajkumar Sahu and tried to intervene upon which his thumb got severed. 32. Mahendra Singh (PW-6) is the injured eye witness and the complainant in this case. He was grazing his cow near the Railway Station on the date of incident. At that time, the accused persons came and started abusing him and his son. The accused were carrying sword, danda, axe and iron rod and the accused were in a state of intoxication and it was the day of Hareli festival. When this witness asked why they were abusing him, the accused persons started assaulting him and the accused Rajkumar assaulted him with an axe. Accused Parmanand was carrying a sword and accused themselves were fighting as to who would kill the complainant. At that time, his son Ashutosh, Onkar and grand son Sunny, Mani and his wife came and took him to the Railway Station where he got the complaint lodged at GRP Raigarh. He was sent to Government Hospital for MLC where he was admitted for three days. Thereafter, he was referred to Raipur for further treatment. 33. With respect to Cr.A. No. 742/2016, here, the complainant is Parmanand Pradhan (PW-1). He deposed before the learned trial Court that he was acquainted with the accused persons. On the date of incident, he alongwith Rajju @ Rajkumar, Vijay, Raju, Chandan Sarthi, Ravishankar, Bholashankar near a restaurant which was closed, and situated near the ticket counter of the Railway Station. There, the son of Ashutosh namely Sunny came and Raju asked to Sunny as to why he was searching the boys of Mahuwapali for assaulting. Raju and Sunny were talking at that time Sunny stated that he is coming from home and thereafter, Ashutosh and Sunny came with sword, Mahendra and Onkar with Lathi. They 16 came running hurling abuses and wielded the sword. Ashutosh assaulted Rajju with the sword on his neck upon which Rajju stopped it with his hand because of which his thumb got severed. This witness alongwith Chandan, Bhola intervened upon which they were also threatened by the accused and scufÒe took place. They were assaulted by Ashutosh, Sunny and Onkar. His motorcycle standing there was broken by Ashutosh and one other person whose name he was not knowing. 34. BholashankarChauhan (PW-2) stated that he knew the accused as well as Rajkumar. On the date of incident, he alongwith Narendra Chauhan, Sunil Chauhan, Ravishankar Chauhan, Rajkumar Chauhan, Parmanand Chauhan, Chandan Sarthi were sitting near the Railway Station. Rajiv Behra was also withthem. At that time, Sunny Chandravanshi came and started talking with Rajiv Lochan Behra. Thereafter, Sunny came from his house alongwith Ashutosh Chandravanshi carrying sword and Mahendra Chandravnshi and and Onkar Chandravanshi were carrying Danda. They started assaulting all of them. When Raju tried to stop the sword blow given by the accused Ashutosh, his thumb got severed. 35. Dukhuram (PW-3) is the witness to Exhibit P/3 and P/4, which are memorandum statement of Ashutosh Chandravanshi and Mahendra Singh Chandravanshi. However, he denied that the said accused had given any statement before the police. However, he admitted that police had seized a Sword from Ashutosh and a Lathi from accused-Mahendra. Sukhlal (PW-4) has also stated that accused Ashutosh and Mahendra did not state anything to the police, though he admitted his signatures on Exhibit P/3 and P/4. He further denied that no seizure was made in his presence vide Exhibit P/5 and P/6. 17 36. Vijay Yadav (PW-8) is the witness who was acquainted with both the appellants and the complainant party. He was also sitting alongwith Rajiv Lochan, Rajkumar, Bhola, Ravi, Parmanand near the Railway Station. At that time, Ashutosh, Sunny and Onkar came with swords and there was a scufÒe between Ashutosh and Rajkumar Sahu. Ashutosh wielded the sword and when Rajkumar tried to stop the blow, his thumb got severed. 37. Rajiv Lochan Behra (PW-9), Ravishankar Chouahan (PW-10), Sunil Chauhan (PW-12), Chandan Sarthi (PW-16) have also deposed in similar fashion, as above. 38. Rajkumar Sahu (PW-13) is the injured eye witness whose thumb got severed because of the sword blow given by the accused-Ashutosh. He also deposed that while he alongwith Parmanand, Bholashankar, Sunil Chauhan, Vijay Yadav, Rajiv Lochan Behra, Chandan Sarthi were sitting near Radhe Hotel, at Kotarliya Railway Station, the accused Sunny Chandravanshi came and some scufÒe took place between Sunny and Rajiv Lochan upon which Sunny asked Rajiv Lochan to stay there and that he would be coming back. Sunny came alongwith Mahendra and Ashutosh armed with sword and Danda hurling abuses and with an intention to kill him, Ashutosh gave a blow with the sword and when he tried to save himself with his hand, his thumb got severed. Ashutosh again gave a sword blow on his neck but he leaned down and saved his life. When his friends came to rescue him, they were also assaulted by the accused persons. When Parmanand brought his motor cycle to take him to the hospital, his motor cycle was damaged by the accused persons with lathi and stones. 18 39. Dr.R.K.Agrawal (PW-5) is the Medical OfÏcer who had examined the injured Parmanand Pradhan (PW-1), Bhola Shankar Chauhan (PW-2) Sunil Chauhan (PW-12) and Rajkumar Sahu (PW-13) and Chandan Sarthi (PW-16). According to his MLC report (Exhibit P/7), Parmanand Pradhan had sustained 6 injuries and according to him, the injuries stated at serial No. 1, 2, 4, and 5 were simple in nature caused by hard and blunt object. Bhola Shankar Chauhan (P W-2) had received four injuries which were simple in nature and caused by hard and blunt object (Exhibit P/8). He had also examined injured Sunil Chauhan (PW- 12) and upon examination he did not find any external injuries vide his report (Exhibit P/9). Injured Chandan Sarthi (PW-16) was also examined by this witness but he did not find any injuries vide his report (Exhibit P/10). 40. The said witness had also given his query report with respect to seized Danda and sword. He did not find any blood stains on the same, however, the injuries sustained by the injured could have been caused by the said weapons. 41. Dr. Smt. J. Ekka (PW-6) is the Medical OfÏcer who had treated the injured Rajkumar Sahu. He was well oriented and on examination, she found that his thumb was severed and was hanging from the palm. The injuries were bone deep. She had also answered to the query made by the police wherein she stated that lack of immediate medical attention could have led to death because of infection and bleeding. 42. Pawan Kumar Sahu (PW-14) is the seizure witness (Exhibit P/15) by which a blood stained shirt of Rajkumar Sahu was seized by the police. 19 43. The incident of scufÒe and assault took place on 06.08.2013 at about 5:0 p.m. in Kotraliya Railway Station, Patrapali, District Raigarh. It is an admitted position that a scufÒe took place between the parties in which both the parties have received injuries. One of the injured namely Rajkumar had sustained a grievous injury as his thumb got severed because of the assault made by Ashutosh Chandravanshi with a sword. There appears to have some animosity between the accused-Ashutosh Chandravanshi and Rajkumar Sahu @ Rajju. The deposition made by the witnesses clearly establishes that on one side, only Mahendra Singh Chandrawanshi had sustained injuries and from the other side, Rajkumar Sahu @ Rajju, Parmanand Pradhan and Bhola Shankar Chauhan had sustained injuries in the said duel. In view of the above discussion, this Court is of the considered opinion that the prosecution has been able to establish its case against the appellants beyond reasonable doubt and the learned trial Court has not committed any error in arriving at the finding with regard to the guild of appellants under the aforementioned Sections of the IPC. We hereby afÏrm the same. 44. So far as quantum of sentence is concerned, since the parties have now entered into an amicable settlement and they being resident of same locality and are now living peacefully, the incident having taken place 13 years ago in the year 2013, no useful purpose would be served to send the appellants behind the bar again, and they have suffered enough as to separate trials continued for about three years, this Court deems it appropriate to reduce the jail sentence awarded to the appellants to the period already undergone by them in respect of the convicts/appellants- Onkar Singh Chandrewanshi and Mahendre Singh Chandrewanshi {in Cr.A. No. 742/2016} for the offences under Sections 326/34, 324/34 and 323/34; and in respect of convicts/appellants-Rajkumar Sahu @ Rajju, 20 Parmanand Pradhan, Ravishankar Chauhan, Bhola Shankar Chauhan, Vijay Yadav and Rajiv Lochan Behra {in Cr.A. No. 715/2016} for the offences under Sections 147/149, 148/149, 294 and 324/149 of the IPC. 45. With respect to appellant-Ashutosh Chandrawanshi {in Cr.A. No. 742/2016}, this Court is of the view that as the said convict/appellant has caused the grievous injury to the injured Rajkumar Sahu @ Rajju, while maintaining his conviction under all the Sections of the IPC, as aforesaid, we deem it appropriate to enhance only the fine amount of Rs.2,000/- to Rs.10,000/- so far as Section 326/34 is concerned, but reduce the jail sentence to the period already undergone by him. The appellant-Ashutosh Chandrawanshi shall deposit the additional amount of Rs. 8000/- (if the fine amount of Rs. 2000/- has already been paid) before the trial Court concerned within a period of one month from today, failing which he shall be liable to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 3 years as awarded by the learned trial Court. The judgment dated 20.05.2016, passed in S.T. No. 190/2013 and S.T. No. 130/2014, by the learned Second Additional Sessions Judge, Raigarh, stand modified to the said extent. 46. Resultantly, Cr.A. No. 742/2016 and Cr.A. No. 715/2016 stand partly allowed and ACQA No. 137/2016 stands dismissed. Consequently, the pending applications, if any, also stand disposed of. 47. All the appellants/convicts are reported to be on bail. They need not surrender, however, keeping in view the provision of Section 437-A of the Cr.P.C. {Section 481 of the BNSS}, their bail bonds shall remain operative for a period of six months from today. 21 48. Registry is directed to transmit the trial Court records along with a copy of this judgment to the trial Court concerned forthwith for necessary information and compliance. Sd/- Sd/- (Bibhu Datta Guru) (Ramesh Sinha) JUDGE CHIEF JUSTICE Amit AMIT KUMAR DUBEY Digitally signed by AMIT KUMAR DUBEY Date: 2026.05.12 11:42:09 +0530