Judgment

Shah, J.-Leave granted

2. At the time of admission of this matter, the Court had issued notice limited to the question of sentence only. Hence the question involved in this appeal is whether death sentence imposed requires to be confirmed on the ground that it is the rarest of the rare cases? Whether sentence of imprisonment for life would be inadequate? This is a case in which persistent disputes over a small house in a village between two neighbours and inaction by the authority (despite repeated prayers), led to this case of gruesome murders of seven persons, some totally innocent.

3. Before dealing with the contentions raised by the learned Counsel for the appellant, we would first refer to a few facts. It is a prose­cution version that on 28th January, 1990. Chater Singh (P.W. 4) along with his wife deceased Smt. Daya Kaur was sleeping at his house and his brother Satbir, his wife Smt. Kamlesh and mother Smt. Khazani (deceased) were sleeping at the house of Satbir while inside the house of Satbir, Satbir and two male progeny of Chater Singh, Amar Kumar and Mohinder and one male progeny Surender of Hawa Singh (P.W. 5) were sleeping. Around 4.00 a.m., Chater Singh saw torc