TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2002 (8) TMI 895
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....tted an offence punishable under section 148 of the Indian Penal Code and within my cognizance; Charge No. 2 :- That you A-1 to A-16 at about the same time, date and place and in the course of same transaction as mentioned above; charged the deceased R. Venkateswarlu son of China Bapaiah, 35, years, V.A.O. of Tondapi village while he was coming on the motor cycle and when he reached the spot, all of you emerged from the bushes on either side of the road and that A10, A12, A8 and A16 hurled bombs and when the deceased fell down all of you surrounded him and that A-1, A-9 and A-10 of you axed on his head and that A-1 and A-2 of you cut the throat of the deceased with axe and long knife and that A-4, A-6 and A-7 of you stabbed him with spears on abdomen and lower portion and that A-5 stabbed him with spear on abdomen and that A-3 axed him near right ear, A-8 stabbed with spear on his neck;' A-10 axed on the fore-head of him A.-11, A-12 and A-13 with spears and A-14 and A-16 with axes attacked the deceased indiscriminately and A-15 with knife stabbed on his neck resulting in his death instantaneously and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 302 read with 1....
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....98) under Section 302 I.P.C. (simpliciter). The present appeal has been preferred by accused No. 1 (Nallabothu Venkaiah), the appellant before us. No acquittal appeals have been preferred by the State. 6. Before we advert to the points urged we may, at this stage, point out that the High Court has acquitted accused Nos. 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10 on the ground that P.Ws. 1-3, who were the eye-witnesses to the occurrence were inimically disposed to the accused persons and their evidence was unreliable. The High Court also disbelieved the evidence of P.W.1 as he falsely deposed that his scooter bear the registration No. APG 2253. While acquitting the aforesaid accused, the High Court discarded the evidence of P.Ws. 1, 2 and 3 - eye-witnesses by rendering the following reasons: "The investigation further discloses that the vehicle bearing registration number APG 2253 is a tractor, which was owned by the Commissioner of Guntur Municipality and under these circumstances, we hold that whatever evidence is given by P.W.1 is not in fairness. He went to make involvement as many accused as he can do. The evidence of P.W.1 discloses that there has been party faction in the village. He h....
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....cides. After purchasing pesticides, he came to the center, where P.W.2 was also standing and both of them started on his scooter to go to the village. When both of them were going on the scooter, they saw the deceased and P.W.3 - Muppalla Ramaiah at a medical shop. When they were proceeding, P.W.3 and the deceased also followed them. He stated that after passing Pakalapadu Major canal, they suddenly heard the sounds of explosion of bombs. Then P.W.2, pillion rider on the scooter of P.W.1, informed him that the bombs had been hurled against the deceased and asked him to stop the scooter. Then he stopped the scooter and saw P.W.3 - Muppalla Ramaiah jumping from the motor cycle of the deceased and running towards northern side fields, P.W.3 was the pillion rider on the motor cycle of the deceased. He further stated that at that time, the deceased - Rayidi Venkateswarlu was driving the motor cycle slowly. Then accused Nos. 8, 10, 12 and 16 hurled bombs. Accused Nos. 1 to 3 came opposite from southern side armed with axes and hacked on the head of the deceased. Then the deceased fell down. Accused No. 1 hacked the deceased on his neck. A.10 hacked on the head of the deceased with an axe....
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.... village. 10. Dr. G. Vijaya Saradhi, Civil Assistant Surgeon, Government Hospital, Sattenapalli, P.W.9, conducted Post Mortem Examination of the deceased and found the following injuries: "1. An incised wound with clean cut edges and tapering both ends of 6 x 0.5 cms. x bone deep over the back of the right side of the occiput. 2. An incised wound of 5 x 0.5 cms. x bone deep over right occipital region. Anterior to injury No. 1. Edges are well defined and contused. 3. An incised wound 7 x 0.5 cms. x bone deep over right parietal area extending to right temporal with tapered edges well defined and clean cut. 4. A cut laceration 3 x 0.5 cms. of right ear pinna radiating to neck. 5. An incised wound 4 x 1.5 cms x bone deep over the middle of fore-head edges inverted and contused. 6. A cut incised 5 x 1.5 cms. x bone deep above the left-eye-brow, the edges dragged and contused. 7. A cut incised wound (chopped) of 3 x 1.5 cms. irregular and bone deep fractured the mandible over right side crushing the structures underneath the root of the tongue with distortion of the face. 8. A cut laceration 2.5 x 0.5 cms. below....
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.... there is a faction in the village between the parties for the reasons that the deceased - Rayidi Venkateswarlu, who was President of the village, was selected as Sarpanch and later on 26.2.1992, he resigned from the Presidentship. Then, A.1, who was the Vice-President, assumed charge as President of the Village and since the deceased was popular in the village and became the Village Administrative Officer, the appellant was facing difficulties in getting quorum in the village. P.Ws. 1, 2 and 3 also admitted that there were criminal cases involving both the parties. In such a situation, the trial Judge held that it will be difficult to get unbiased and independent witnesses and, therefore, the eye-witness account of P.Ws. 1 to 3 cannot be thrown out on account of they being interested witnesses, if otherwise there is no infirmity in the depositions of P.Ws. 1 to 3 and their statements are reliable and creditworthy. We accept the view taken by the Trial Court as correct appreciation of the evidence of PWs 1 to 3, in the facts and circumstances of the case. 12. The contention of the counsel for the accused that the evidence of P.W.1 cannot be accepted as he gave false evidence wit....
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....e evidence of P.Ws. 1-3 as truthful and reliable. 15. It must be borne in mind that criminal justice system must be alive to the expectation of the people. The principle that no innocent man should be punished is equally applicable that no guilty man should be allowed to go unpunished. Wrong acquittal of the accused will send a wrong signal to the society. Wrong acquittal has its chain reactions, the law breakers would continue to break the law with impunity, people then would lose confidence in criminal justice system and would tend to settle their score on the street by exercising muscle power and if such situation is allowed to happen, woe would be the Rule of Law. What is apparent from the aforesaid discussion is that the acquittal of the accused recorded by the High Court was clearly contrary to the evidence on record and on the basis of mis-appreciation of eye witnesses account. It is unfortunate that acquittal appeals are not before us. 16. Two questions of law are raised before us. Firstly, whether the appellant could be convicted under Section 302 I.P.C. (simpliciter) without aid of Section 149 I.P.C. in the absence of substantive charge under Section 302 I.P.C.? Sec....
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....lants stands established on the record. The question, therefore, arise what offence did the four appellants commit?" 19. In Atmaram Zingaraji v. State of Maharashtra, 1997 CriLJ 4406 nine persons were arraigned as accused before the trial court under Section 149/302/326 IPC. No other person, named or unnamed, alleged to have participated in the crime. All the other 8 accused were acquitted by the High Court. However, the appellant was convicted under Section 302 IPC with the aid of Section 149. On appeal, this Court held: "In either of the above situations therefore the sole convict can be convicted under section 302 IPC (simpliciter) only on proof of the fact that his individual act caused the death of the victim. To put it differently, he would be liable for his own act only. In the instant case, the evidence on record does not prove that the injuries inflicted by the appellant alone caused the death; on the contrary the evidence of the eyewitnesses and the evidence of the doctor who held the post-mortem examination indicate that the deceased sustained injuries by other weapons also and his death was the outcome of all the injuries. The appellant, therefore, would be ....
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....cused 3 to 7 they could not say that the prosecution evidence was unreliable. On these findings, in our opinion, no scope was left for introducing into the case the theory of the benefit of doubt. We think that accused 3 to 7 were wrongfully acquitted. Though their acquittal stands, that circumstance cannot affect the conviction of the appellants under section 302 read with section 149, I.P.C." 23. In Achhey Lal v. State of U.P. AIR 1978 SC 1233 as many as 15 named persons had taken part in the assault on the deceased. 14 accused had been acquitted by the High Court but the conviction and sentences awarded to the appellant by the Sessions Judge were upheld. This Court held that there is no finding by the High Court that after acquittal of the accused the unlawful assembly consisted of five persons or more, known or unknown, identified or unidentified, the provisions of Sections 149 and 147 cannot be invoked for convicting the sole accused as no individual act was assigned to him. 24. Analytical reading of catena of decisions of this Court, the following broad proposition of law clearly emerges; (a) the conviction under Section 302 simpliciter without aid of Section 149 is per....