JUDGMENT

Arijit Pasayat, J.-Appellant was convicted for offence punishable under Section 364A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the IPC ), and sentenced to life imprisonment by the learned First Additional Sessions Judge, Chitradurga (hereinafter referred to as the trial court ). In appeal Karnataka High Court by the impugned judgment confirmed the conviction and sentence. It is to be noticed that four persons faced trial. Appellant-accused for the sake of convenience is described as A-1 and the co-accused as A2 and A4. They were acquitted by the trial court.

2. Accusations which led to the trial of the accused persons are as follows :

Vijayabhasker, (PW 2) was a student of S.J.M. College, situated on Holalkere Road in Chitradurga, he was studying I year B.Sc., and was staying at Challakere in his Uncle s house. He used to come to Chitradurga to attend the college daily by bus. Jagadish (PW 3) was a classmate of PW 2 and resident of Challakere, both of them usually come together to Chitradurga from Challakere. On 25.11.1997 Vijayabhaskar, (PW 2), Jagadish (PW 3) and their friend Raghavendra, (PW 4) finished their practical classes and came out of the college at about 2-45 p.m