Deciding Authority: The Supreme Court of India
Name of the Judges: N. Santosh Hegde & Doraiswamy Raju
Date of Judgement: 29/01/2002
Facts: The offence with which the accused were charged related to an occurrence at about 8.30 p.m. on 18.8.83 involving the murder of one Ramprasad, a resident of village Basodi, who was residing along with his brothers Sitaram (PW-4), Ghanshyam Singh (PW-9) and cousin Shiv Kumar (PW-8). The case of the prosecution that the accused formed themselves into an unlawful assembly at 5.30 p.m. on the day of occurrence with the common object of murdering Ghanshyam Singh and his brother Ramprasad and in furtherance of the common object of the said unlawful assembly, they committed rioting armed with deadly weapons and murdered Ramprasad, found favour of acceptance of the learned Trial Judge. Old enmity between the deceased and the accused persons over the construction of an outlet for the used water in front of the house of Sitaram was said to be the origin and cause for the enmity and resultant murder. On a careful analysis and consideration of the materials on record, the prosecution was held by the Trial Judge to have proved beyond reasonable doubt that accused persons Rameshwar, Man Singh, Prem @ Prem Narayan, Omprakash, Ballabh, Hukum Singh, Shiv Singh, Kunwar Pal and Uttam Singh have committed the offence under Sections 148, 149, 302, IPC, and two years rigorous imprisonment came to be imposed for the offence under Section 148, IPC, and life imprisonment for offences under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC, both the sentences to run concurrently. The accused, who suffered conviction, jointly filed an appeal before the High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 250 of 1984 and during the pendency of the same, one by name Omprakash died and appeal in respect of him abated. The Division Bench of the High Court also re-appreciated the materials and after an elaborate consideration of the same and the conclusions of the learned Trial Judge, confirmed the findings and the sentence imposed. Thereupon, this appeal came to be filed.
Judgement: The facts of the case on hand sufficiently establish not only previous enmity, but also a premeditated and concerted move to wreck vengeance and the deadly nature of weapons carried by the group of accused, who formed by themselves into an unlawful assembly coupled with the evidence on record that on seeing the deceased Ramprasad, Sitaram (PW-4) and Rajendra Singh (PW-5) the accused Man Singh exhorted co-accused shouting “Maro Salo Ko” and all the accused thereupon bounced upon and assaulted the complainant party prove the common object, beyond reasonable doubt. When Rajendra Singh (PW-5) came forward to save the victim from the blows inflicted by Man Singh, Om Prakash appears to have assaulted him by Farsa on the head and all the accused jointly seem to have assaulted the victim. The medical evidence disclosed altogether eleven wounds on the body of the victim of which injuries 1 to 3 were considered to be dangerous to life. Sitaram (PW-4) and Rajendra Singh (PW-5) examined by the Doctor also were found to have sustained seven and one injuries, respectively on their body. The conduct of the appellants both before and during the course of occurrence in this case sufficiently demonstrated that the accused shared the common object and engaged themselves in furtherance of the same. Consequently, no exception whatsoever could be taken to the findings recorded by the courts below convicting the appellants under Section 302 r/w Section 149, IPC. So far as the sentence is concerned also, the Court does not consider it to be excessive or unwarranted on the facts of the case.
Decision:
The appeal is set aside.
Sudipta Bhowmick, 4th Year, B.A. LL.B, KIIT School of Law.
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