Judgment

CHANDRACHUD, CJI. :- Ten persons were tried by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Ferozepur, for offences under Sec. 302 read with Secs. 120-B and 149 of the Penal Code on the charge that, in pursuance of a conspiracy, they caused the death of five persons and injuries to three others on the night between the 29th and the 30th Sept. 1978 in the village of Kaile. Convicting nine out of these for the offences of conspiracy of murder, the learned Judge sentenced accused Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 to death and accused Nos. 2, 8 and 9 to life imprisonment. Accused No. 10 Harbans Kaur, wife of accused No. 2 Darshan Singh alias Bhasuri, was acquitted. The High Court of Punjab and Haryana confirmed the death sentence imposed upon accused Nos. 1, 3, 5, 6 and 7, but reduced the sentence of accused No. 4 to life imprisonment. Thus, in these appeals by special leave, we have before us five persons who are sentenced to death and two who are sentenced to imprisonment for life.

2. Buta Singh, the son of accused No. 1, was murdered in June 1977. Certain members of the family of those who were murdered in the instant case were tried for the murder of Buta Singh, but they were acquitted in