IMPORTANT POINT
In an appeal under Article 136 of the Constitution, Supreme Court will not interfere with judgment of High Court unless the same is clearly unreasonable or perverse or manifestly illegal or grossly unjust.

JUDGMENT

G.P. Mathur, J.-The State of Karnataka has preferred this appeal by special leave against the judgment and order dated 19.4.1993 of Karnataka High Court by which the appeal preferred by the accused-respondents was allowed and their conviction and sentence as recorded by the Sessions Judge, Raichur by the judgment and order dated 25.11.1991 were set aside. The learned Sessions Judge had convicted them under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC and had sentenced them to imprisonment for life.

2. The case of the prosecution in brief is that accused Amajappa (A-1), Kunte Yankappa (A-2) and Yallappa (A-3) are real brothers and accused Yamanurappa (A-4) is their sister s son. Two persons, namely, Eramma (D-1) and Hanamantappa (D-2) lost their lives in the incident. Eramma was married to A-1 and they were living in a hut in Sagar Camp. Some time before the incident, their relations soured and they started living separately in separate huts. The first wife of Hanamantappa died and then he married PW 7 Mallamma about 3 years prior to the incident, but they could not pull on together and she went back to her parents home. Hanamantappa then developed illicit intimacy with Eramma and both of them started living together in the same hut in Sagar Camp. At about 9.30 p.m. on 11.12.1989, A-1 and A-2 armed with axes and A-3 and A-4 armed with sticks came to the hut where Hanamantappa (D-2) was standing and started assaulting him. Eramma (D-1) raised an alarm on which persons from the neighbourhood came there. Apprehending danger to her life, she tried to run away but the accused chased her and after catching hold assaulted her with axes and sticks, as a result of which she sustained injuries and died. They brought the dead body of Eramma in front of the hut and thereafter ran away. The incident was seen in the light of bulbs on the electric poles. Information was then conveyed to PW 1 Mudakappa, who is father of D-2, who came to the scene of occurrence along with his wife. Thereafter, he went to P.S. Balaganur in the morning and lodged an FIR of the incident at 9.00 a.m. on 12.12.1989, on the basis of which a case was registered as Crime No. 153 of 1989 under Section 302 IPC. PW 19 Shivappa CPI of PS Sinidhnur immediately proceeded for the spot where he reached at 10.45 a.m. and held inquest over the dead bodies. The investigating officer seized samples of plain and blood stained earth from the place of occurrence and also recorded statements of witnesses under Section 161 Cr.P.C. The accused were arrested on 4.1.1990 and at the pointing out of A-1 and A-2, axes were recovered from hay stack and some blood stained clothes were also recovered. After completing investigation, charge-sheet was submitted against all the four accused.

3. After committal of the case, the learned Sessions Judge framed charges under Sections 302 and 201, both read with Section 34 IPC against the accused who pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. In order to establish its case, the prosecution examined 20 witnesses and filed some documentary evidence. The accused in their statement under Section 313 Cr.P.C. denied the case of the prosecution and pleaded their false implication on account of enmity. They, however, did not lead any evidence in their defence. The learned Sessions Judge found the accused guilty of having committed murder of Eramma and accordingly convicted them under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC and sentenced them to imprisonment for life. The accused were however found not guilty of the offence of causing murder of Hanamantappa as well as causing disappearance of the evidence and were accordingly acquitted of the second charge under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC and 201 IPC.

4. In order to establish its case, the prosecution has examined 5 eye-witnesses, namely PW2 Basappa, PW3 Subbarao, PW4 Dyavamma, PW5 Shivamma and PW6 Basavraj, who is son of D-1 from A-1. PW6 however, did not support the prosecution case and turned hostile. P