Judgment:

DAS GUPTA, J: On June 4, 1960, eight boys, (1) Munna son of Manohar Lal; (2) Ram Prakash son of Ram Baboo; (3) Laxmi son of Vidya Ram; (4) Pooran son of Gulab Chand; (5) Kedar son of Ram Kumar; (6) Mohan son of Banke Lal; (7) Suresh son of Chandra Shekhar and (8) Jagdish son of Mitthan Lal, all of Dholpur City went to the temple of Mangal Bharti for a picnic. None of them returned home. On the morning of June 6, all these boys were found dead near a well in Gundaria forest. Each of the bodies bore numerous injuries, which according to the evidence of the doctor, who held the post mortem examination, caused the deaths. Seven of the bodies were found naked; only the dead body of Munna had clothes on. The hands of each were tied from behind with ribbons of their trousers and their mouths were found gagged. Watches and rings, bottons and currency notes, which some of these boys had with them had disappeared.

(2) The four appellants, viz., Nand Kumar, Brij Kishore alias Kalua, Lakhan and Murari along with one Jagdish were all convicted for the murder of these eight boys under S. 302 of the Indian Penal Code and were all sentenced to death. All of them were also convicted by the