IMPORTANT POINT
High Court clearly erred in acquitting the accused persons for offences under Sections 148 and 302/149 IPC on the basis of flimsy and baseless grounds, some of which were contrary to record.

Headnote:Indian Penal Code, 1860-Sections 148 and 302 r/w 149-24 persons charged but Sessions Court convicted A1 to A5 and A7 for murdering one individual on the evidence of eye-witnesses PW1 to PW4 who attributed overt acts to them-The names of these accused found mentioned in FIR Ex.P6-High Court acquitted them on ground of delayed FIR, eye-witnesses interested, discrepancy in medical and oral evidence as to injuries on deceased, no light at place of occurrence -Appeals by complainant and State to Supreme Court-Supreme Court finding all the four reasons assigned by High Court for acquittal were unfounded (See Paras 6 to 9)-Acquittal set aside and conviction and sentence recorded by Sessions Court restored-Appeal allowed.
       Held : In the present case, some of the glaring facts noted below are beyond controversy or doubt:
        1. The entire village was divided on political lines into two factions. The deceased was the leader of one of the political faction.
        2. There have been previous quarrels between the rival factions and the deceased was earlier beaten up by the persons belonging to the opposite faction.
        3. The occurrence took place in open field and in the presence of so many persons, several of whom were the aggressors.
        4. It is a case of brutal murder of an individual. The deceased received as many as 27 injuries as mentioned in the post-mortem report. Some of the injuries were caused by sharp edged weapons.
        5. Keeping in view the fact that the Police Station is 5 kms. away from the place of occurrence and the incident took place at the dead of night at about 12 o clock, the FIR was lodged promptly and investigation started promptly, almost the entire village was watching the drama which was being staged on that fateful night. The presence of the eye-witnesses who belong to the same village at the time of occurrence was, therefore, natural.
        6. When the crime was committed in the open and so many persons were present, it could not said that the eye-witnesses were telling lies. The account of the incident given by the eye-witnesses, as many as four in number, is consistent and tallies with each other. Even to the extent of mention of availability of tube light at the scene of occurrence, all the witnesses are consistent. This shows that evidence of eye-witnesses is natural and credible.
       Keeping all these aspects in view and on a careful consideration of the entire evidence on record, we are of the considered view that the High Court clearly erred in acquitting the accused persons on the basis of flimsy and baseless grounds, some of which were contrary to the record. On the other hand, we find that the learned Sessions Judge gave a well considered judgment convicting the six accused. No fault can be found with the judgment of the learned Sessions Judge. Therefore, we set aside the impugned judgment of High Court and restore that of the First Additional Judge, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. The appeals are allowed. The accused persons shall be taken into custody forthwith to serve the remaining sentence as per the sentences awarded to each of them by the Sessions Court. (Paras 10, 11 & 12)

JUDGMENT

Arun Kumar, J.-These two appeals arise from the judgment dated 9th April, 1992 of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh acquitting all the accused persons. In this Court Criminal Appeal No.655 of 1995 had been filed by the complainant while Criminal Appeal No.659 of 1995 was filed by the State challenging the order of acquittal passed by the High Court. As per facts on record 24 persons were charged and tried by the First Additional Sessions Judge, Guntur, State of Andhra Pradesh. Seven charges were framed. Accused A1 to A5 and A7 were charged under Sections 148 and 302 read with 149 of the Indian Penal Code while other accused were charged under Sections 323 and 324 of the said Code. The charge under Section 302 was for the murder of Kota Subbarao while the charges under Sections 323 and 324 were directed against some of the other accused persons. The learned Additional Sessions Judge convicted accused A1 to A5 and A7 for offences under Sections 148, 302 read with Section 149 IPC and sentenced each of them to three months rigorous imprisonment under Section 148 IPC and to undergo life imprisonment for offences under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC. For the charges framed under Section 323 and 324, all the accused were acquitted. Aggrieved by the convictions and sentences passed against them, the convicted accused preferred an appeal before the High Court while the State preferred an appeal against acquittals so far as the other accused persons were concerned.

2. The prosecution case is that admittedly there are two factions in the village Manchala District Guntur. One faction belongs to the Congress-I party while the other faction belongs to the Telugu Desam party. The deceased was a leader of the Congress-I party while the accused persons belonged to the TDP. About four months prior to the Assembly Elections held in November, 1989, the deceased was beaten by A.2 and others. On the date of the Assembly Elections also, son of P.W.3 and other associates belonging to the party of the deceased were beaten. On the night of 20th April, 1990, a drama was being staged in the village in which both the political factions were participating. About 500 to 600 people had assembled to watch the drama. The deceased was also among them. The drama started at about 10.00 p.m. After sometime there was some commotion. P.W.2 was beaten by A1 and A23. On the intervention of some leaders peace was restored and the drama was resumed. Shortly after midnight when the drama was still going on, the deceased left for his house. The 24 accused who were armed with weapons including battle axes, spears, iron rods, sticks and soda bottles, chased the deceased. When they reached near the house of Chandu Paramaiah, A1 and A2 gave axe blows on the head of the deceased. A3 also dealt a blow with a battle axe on the head of the deceased. When the deceased entered the house of Paramaiah, A2 followed him and pulled him out of the house. A4, A5 and A7 also dealt blows with an axe on the head of the deceased. When the deceased fell down, all the accused beat him indiscriminately. P.Ws. 2 to 4 and N. Pitchayya intervened, A6, A9, A16, A20, A21 and A23 beat him with sticks. P.W.1, who was watching this drama, came out to answer a call of nature. When he reached the house of Ch. Venkata Narayana, he noticed all the accused persons attacking the deceased. After the attack, the accused left the scene of offence leaving the victim dead. A15 and A7 went to the police station which is about 5 Kms. Away and gave Ex. P. 24 report to the Sub-Inspector of Police at about 12.45 a.m. on 21st April, 1990. P.W.7 registered the case against six named persons and others. He went for investigations to the village at about 3.00 a.m. P.W.1 who is bother-in-law of the deceased is said to have handed over a prepared report as per Ex. P.6 to P.W.7 mentioning names of A1 to A11 and others saying that these accused persons had attacked the deceased with sticks, iron rods and soda bot

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2002 Supreme(SC) 1209

IMPORTANT POINTHigh Court clearly erred in acquitting the accused persons for offences under Sections 148 and 302/149 IPC on the basis of flimsy and baseless grounds, some of which were contrary to record.

IMPORTANT POINT
High Court clearly erred in acquitting the accused persons for offences under Sections 148 and 302/149 IPC on the basis of flimsy and baseless grounds, some of which were contrary to record.