Advocates:
Atiqur Rehman, C.P.LAL, GANPAT RAI, I.M.LAL, M.S.K.Shastri, O.P.RANA, V.S.Sawhney

Facts

Forty persons, including the appellants, were charged with multiple offenses, primarily murder under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC, arising from an incident on 29 November 1961 at around 8 a.m. in village Bilati Khet, Jhansi district, amid longstanding factional rivalry between groups led by Gayadin (victim) and Laxmi Prasad (appellant and Pradhan). A boundary dispute on 28 November escalated when Laxmi Prasad, after being injured by Bahoran (Gayadin's son), gathered an armed crowd (with guns, spears, swords, gandasa, lathis) and attacked Gayadin's house. They killed Gayadin, his sons Brindaban, Radha Saran, Dayaram, and Shiroman Singh by shooting; dragged the bodies to a field, piled them with cowdung cakes, sprinkled kerosene, and set them ablaze. Bahoran lodged FIR naming 35 (later 40) assailants. Trial court convicted 35, sentencing 10 to death and 25 to life imprisonment; acquitted 5. High Court acquitted 7 more, confirmed convictions/sentences for 28 (including death for 10 gun-wielders), applying a test of consistent testimony from at least 4 witnesses out of 12 eyewitnesses (mostly from victims' faction; evidence of 2 rejected). Supreme Court heard appeals by 16 accused. (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!)

Ratio

In murder trials involving death sentences, appellate courts must cautiously scrutinize all arguments, evidence infirmities, and circumstances before confirming conviction or sentence. (!)

Failure to examine certain listed witnesses (e.g., won over or mentally shocked) is not fatal if prosecution acts bona fide, their evidence is not essential for just decision (assessed from prior statements), defense could examine them, and court declines to summon under Section 540 CrPC after deliberation; no prejudice presumed. (!) (!) (!)

Partisan/interested witness testimony (common in factional village murders) cannot be mechanically discarded but must be carefully weighed for discrepancies, genuineness, and probability; mechanical rejection leads to failure of justice. (!)

In unlawful assembly cases with common murderous object, witnesses need not specify each member's overt act (especially in crowd assaults where not all weapons used); conviction sustainable if assembly's formation, arming, and object proved. (!) (!)

In multi-offender/multi-victim cases, convicting based on consistent testimony from 2-4+ witnesses (a "mechanical" numerical test) is reasonable/safe, prioritizing quality but aided by quantity for reliability; acquittal of fewer-supported accused permissible. (!)

Under Section 302/149 IPC, members of unlawful assembly with common object to exterminate victims are equally guilty of murder even without personal killing; death sentence justifiable for armed (e.g., gun-carrying) participants, not mechanically limited to direct killers. (!) (!)

Supreme Court may modify death to life imprisonment for young members (e.g., 18-24 years) likely joining under family elder pressure in factional assemblies. (!)