New Delhi, May 20: A case about two brothers being murdered over mangoes has reached its finality after 37 years. The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the conviction of six persons for killing Shambhu Nath Singh and Prabhu Nath Singh in front of their father Baijnath Singh and several other people.
The two were killed in their mango orchard near Saran in Bihar on July 5, 1973, for objecting to plucking of the fruits.
Though it seemed to be an open-and-shut case with the assailants chasing and killing the duo in full public view, it took nearly four decades for the matter to reach conclusion.
The case, which dragged on in Bihar until it reached the SC in 2008, could well be taken up for a study to analyse the causes which plague our justice delivery system. The doctor who conducted the post-mortem died before he could be examined by the trial court. The accused sought to benefit from this. They argued that non-examination of the doctor would affect the prosecution case but their plea was rejected by the SC.
Though the apex court didn’t take much time in disposing of the matter, the judgment by a bench of Justice V.S. Sirpurkar and Justice Mukundakam Sharma did not record the dates when the trial court delivered its verdict and the HC disposed of the appeals in the case.
Though the minimum sentence for murder is life, the bench, while upholding the conviction of the six accused, did not mention the punishment imposed on them by the trial or high court. While one of the 11 accused had died even before facing trial, the SC had allowed the appeal by three of the nine accused who had challenged their conviction. Though the trial court had held all 10 guilty, the HC had acquitted one who claimed to be a minor.
According to Baijnath, 11 people, who had gathered in his orchard, attacked his sons after they protested against plucking of mangoes.
He said one of the accused fired two shots at Shambhu and another pierced a spear on his back after he fell down after running for some distance.
His elder son Prabhu was also shot dead after he ran to rescue his brother, Baijnath said. The accused then dragged the bodies for some distance back to the orchard. He claimed the accused said it was useless to kill an old person like him.
Baijnath’s statement was supported by several people who were witness to the crime. In the FIR lodged after the incident, Baijnath had named all 11 people who had assembled in his orchard near his village in Saran district. The police immediately arrested some persons and recovered the gun and two blood-stained spears which were used to kill the two brothers.
The charge of investigation of the case passed on from one investigating officer to another until the fourth one filed a chargesheet against all 11 accused. The judgment by the apex court did not record the date on which the chargesheet was filed nor when the trial began.
It is not known if Baijnath was alive to see the final outcome of the case on Friday.
—Agencies