Judgment

GUPTA, J. :- The two respondents were convicted under Sec. 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian penal Code and were sentenced to death for the murder of Nellore Venkata Reddy of village Maddurupalli in Andhra Pradesh by the Sessions Judge. Nellore Division. It was, according to the Sessions Judge, a case of "planned, deliberate and cold-blooded murder." The High Court of Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad hearing the reference for confirmation of the death sentence upheld the conviction of the respondents under Section 302 read with Sec. 34. On the question of sentence the learned Judges of the High Court thought that the sentence of death should be commuted to one for imprisonment for life and they ordered accordingly. What weighed with the learned Judges in awarding the lesser sentence will appear from the following extract from their judgment :

"We now come to the question of sentence. A-1 and A-2 (the respondents) were sentenced to death by the learned Sessions Judge. Both of them professed to be Naxalites. They appear to labour under the sincere belief that orgainsed violence in rural areas directed against rich landlords labelle by them as enemies of the people by them as e