Judgment

S. M. FAZAL ALI, J.:- This appeal by special leave is directed against a judgment of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. The appellant was convicted under Section 302 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to imprisonment for life. He was also convicted of less serious offences under other Sections of the Code and given different sentences to run concurrently, but we are not concerned with the same as they are not challenged before us.

2. The facts of the case have been given in the judgments of the High Court and the Sessions Court and need not be repeated by us here all over again, The unfortunate occurrence was the result of a fight between two factions in the village in which three persons were killed and some of the prosecution witnesses were injured. The appellant is said to have been armed with a Jaila. The short point taken by Mr. Mehta in support of his case is that there is no satisfactory evidence to show that at any stage the appellant was a member of an unlawful assembly the prosecution of the common object of which resulted in the three murders. He relied on the testimony of P. W. 9 Chandru, who was an important eye-witness, being a pers