Concurrent findings and common object liability upheld for planned armed attack under Section 149 IPC.

Concurrent findings accepting credible eye-witness testimony and the appellants' presence at the scene were not interfered with in special leave jurisdiction, as no manifest illegality, perversity, or serious legal error was shown. Liability under Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code was also sustained because common object may be inferred from the facts of a planned armed attack by a large mob, and individual overt acts need not be separately proved where offences were committed in prosecution of that common object. The convictions recorded by the courts below were therefore affirmed and the appeals failed.

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Issues: (i) Whether the concurrent findings accepting the eye-witness testimony and the appellants' presence at the scene called for interference under Article 136 of the Constitution of India. (ii) Whether the appellants were liable for the offences committed by the assembly under Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code despite the argument that no common object was proved.

Issue (i): Whether the concurrent findings accepting the eye-witness testimony and the appellants' presence at the scene called for interference under Article 136 of the Constitution of India.

Analysis: The evidence of the eye-witnesses was accepted by both the trial court and the High Court after careful scrutiny. Their relationship with the deceased did not by itself make their evidence unreliable, as they were natural witnesses present at the house when the occurrence took place. In an appeal by special leave, interference with concurrent findings of fact is warranted only where there is manifest illegality, perversity, or a serious error of law or procedure.

Conclusion: The concurrent findings on presence and credibility of the eye-witnesses were upheld and no interference was called for.

Issue (ii): Whether the appellants were liable for the offences committed by the assembly under Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code despite the argument that no common object was proved.

Analysis: Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code fastens liability on a member of an unlawful assembly for offences committed in prosecution of the common object, or for offences known to be likely to be committed in prosecution of that object. The Court held that common object may be inferred from the facts, including a planned attack at night by a large armed mob using guns and petrol bombs. On those facts, the assembly had the common object of murder and arson, and the appellants could not escape liability merely because no separate overt act was attributed to each of them.

Conclusion: The appellants were rightly held guilty with the aid of Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code.

Final Conclusion: The convictions recorded by the courts below were affirmed, and the appeals failed.

Ratio Decidendi: In an appeal by special leave, concurrent findings of fact based on credible eye-witness evidence are not disturbed unless they are perverse or vitiated by legal error, and in a planned armed attack the common object of an unlawful assembly may be inferred so as to attract Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code even without proof of an individual overt act.

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