Judgment

Nanavati, J.-The appellant has been convicted under Section 396 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to death. He has filed this appeal against the order of sentence only in view of the limited leave grant­ed by this Court.

2. What the prosecution has been able to prove is that during the night between first and second of June, 1989, the appellant along with 30 to 40 other dacoits committed dacoity in the house of deceased Dhanesh­war, that the dacoits killed Dhaneshwar, Surendra, Awadhesh, Kharha and Kanhai and also set on fire some of the articles belonging to the family of the deceased. In all 24 accused were put up for trial out of whom 13 were acquitted by the Trial Court. The other accused were convicted under Section 396 and out of them only appellant Jag­dish was sentenced to death. All others were awarded sentence of life imprisonment. The High Court agreed with the findings recorded by the Trial Court after re-appreciating the evidence and, dismissed the appeals and accepted the death reference. While confirming the death sentence the High Court observed as under :

“In the case before me, it has already been noticed that there are so many as six eye witnesses, inc