Penal Code, 1860 – s.302 r/w s.149 – Murder – Unlawful assembly – On facts, death of three persons and injuries to two by the appellants – Appellants found guilty of forming unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapons, with the common object to commit murder of three and attempt to commit murder of PW 19 – Conviction u/s. 302 read with s. 149 and sentenced to life imprisonment as also convicted for other offences – High Court upheld the order of the trial court – On appeal, held: Both the trial court as well as the High Court accepted the evidence of PW-19, injured eye-witness, whose evidence stands on a higher footing – Weapons were also recovered from the appellants – Considering the circumstances and the entire incident, it cannot be said that the complainant party were the aggressors and that the appellants acted in self defence – The submission that failure of the prosecution to explain the injuries on the person of the appellants fatal to the prosecution case, cannot be accepted – It cannot be held as a matter of law or invariably a rule that whenever the accused sustained an injury in the same occurrence, the prosecution is obliged to explain the injury and on the failure of the prosecution to do so, the prosecution case should be disbelieved – Further, the injuries sustained by the appellants were simple in nature and answers elicited from the doctors that those injuries found on the accused could be self inflicted – Thus, upon appreciation of evidence and on well considered reasonings, the courts below rightly convicted the appellants – Evidence.
Takhaji Hiraji v. Thakore Kubersing Chamansing (2001) 6 SCC 145 – referred to.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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