Penal Code, 1860 – ss.302, 323, 324, 34 – Murder – Ocular evidence – Animosity between the accused and the victims regarding the ownership of the place of worship – Accused persons-appellants armed with deadly weapons came to the house of the victim-grandfather, questioned them resulting in a scuffle which lead to the death of the victim and injuries to grandchildren – Appellants convicted u/ss.302/34, 323 and 324 rw s.34 for homicide and for injuries sustained by grandchildren and sentenced accordingly – High Court upheld the same – Interference with:
Held: Not called for – Merely because witnesses are related, they cannot be termed to be interested – Ocular witnesses were all grandchildren of the deceased which would not result in eschewing their testimony – All the ocular witnesses were injured which makes their testimony credible and believable – Also nothing suspicious to doubt the veracity of the ocular witnesses – Furthermore, the facts regarding the fight and the overt acts does not make it an offence covered u/s.304 Part II nor fall under any of the Exceptions to s.300 resulting in a finding of culpable homicide not amounting to murder – Medical evidence that the injury could be caused either manually by a hard and blunt object or by an accidental fall, does not detract from the finding u/s.302, especially considering the ocular testimony – Intention is clear from the deadly nature of the weapons carried by the accused, who were the aggressors, who trespassed into the house of the victims and wielded such weapons in a manner causing grievous injuries to the victims, one of whom died – Evidence. [Paras 5, 6, 13, 14]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Nidhi Jain. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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