JUDGMENT

Santosh Hegde, J.-The above criminal appeals are preferred by the appellants against the common judgment delivered by the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh in Murder Reference No. 2/99, Crl.A. 130-DB to 132-DB/99 and Criminal Revision No. 443/99.

2. The brief facts necessary for disposal of these cases are as follows :

There was a civil dispute pending between the deceased Virsa Singh and his family on the one hand and Kuljinder Singh on the other in regard to a small plot of land which was abutting the residence of the said parties in the village of Srawan Bodla at Police Station Sadar Malout. In the said dispute, appellant No. 2 and his family were supporting Kuljinder Singh. On 11.10.1996 the civil case pertaining to the said dispute was listed before the concerned court and in the said proceedings the deceased Virsa Singh had obtained an interim order against the said Kuljinder Singh. On the date of the incident at about 3.30 p.m. there was a verbal fight which also led to the parties grappling with each other but that did not culminate in any serious incident due to the timely intervention of some ladies in the families. It is the prosecution case that there