HC overturns 40-year-old acquittalorder of trial court in murder case

Lucknow : Calling a 40-year-old order of a trial court ‘completely flawed’, a Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Monday overturned it and convicted two accused in a 1984 murder case.There were four accused in the case who were all acquitted by the trial court citing the benefit of self-defence. Two of the accused died while the appeal was pending.Allowing the appeal of the state govt, a division bench of Justice Rajneesh Kumar and Justice Babita Rani convicted the remaining two accused for culpable homicide (Section 304 Part II IPC) and ordered their custody and production in the court on May 11 for hearing on the point of sentence.The incident occurred on June 15, 1984, in the Maakhi police station area of Unnao district. The deceased, Jamuna Prasad, was constructing a drain on his roof to drain water, when the accused — Tulsi Ram, Laxmi Narayan, Jagat Pal, and Harnam — objected.The dispute escalated to the point where the accused attacked Jamuna Prasad and his brother, Amrit Lal, with sticks and spears. Jamuna Prasad died on the way to the hospital.In 1986, the special sessions judge, Unnao, acquitted all the accused holding that they had caused injuries to the deceased in self-defence as the accused had also sustained injuries which the prosecution was unable to explain.However, the high court rejected this argument, stating that taking someone’s life over a minor dispute such as water disposal does not constitute self-defence. The court found the sessions court’s decision to be ‘completely flawed’.