JUDGMENT

K.T.THOMAS, J.

(1) IN a situation which pitched upto the brim of a communal riot, one person died of a stab injury on the chest. It appears that he was the only person who sustained fatal injury in the occurrence, and the situation did not fortunately escalate into a carnage. Eight persons were charge-sheeted by the police in regard to the murder of one Abdul Sattar which happened at about 11.00 p.m. on 19.8.1986 in front of the house of the accused. The trial court acquitted seven of them but convicted appellant-Moti Singh alone for the offence under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to imprisonment for life. A division bench of the High Court of Bombay (Aurangabad bench) confirmed the conviction and sentence and dismissed the appeal filed by the appellant. He, therefore, filed this appeal by special leave.

(2) ACCUSED nos. 1 to 5 are siblings and the other accused are closely associated with them. About one and a half hour prior to the occurrence in this case, a minor incident took place in which appellant and his brother Ram Singh has assaulted one Jowharkhan (PW3) in the vicinity of the statue of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar s