Judgment

Arijit Pasayat, J.—Leave granted.

2. Of these two appeals, one is by the State of Gujarat and the other by the victim of the crime. They assail correctness of the judgment rendered by a Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court. By the impugned judgment while upholding the conviction recorded by the trial court the High Court reduced the sentence to the period already undergone; but awarded compensation to the victims.

3. Background facts in a nutshell are as under :

On 30th March, 2002, first information report was lodged alleging that the respondents Pratapji and Jayantubha (hereinafter referred to as accused by their respective names) assaulted the informant Sameer Kumar and the appellant Shailesh Jasvantbhai causing serious injuries. On the basis of the information lodged, investigation was undertaken and the accused persons were tried for alleged commission of offence punishable under Sections 307, 324, 504 read with Section 114 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the ‘IPC’) and section 135 of the Bombay Police Act. The trial court held the accused persons to be guilty and sentenced each to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years with fine of Rs. 3,000/- with defau