The main legal point established in the judgment is the importance of corroborative evidence and the benefit of doubt in cases where discrepancies exist in the evidence.

JUDGMENT

Altamas Kabir,J.

1.This appeal by way of special leave granted on 4th February, 2005, is directed against the judgment and sentence passed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court on 31st October, 2003, affirming the judgment of the second Additional Sessions Judge, Shivpuri, (M.P.) in Session Trial No. 133 of 1987 convicting the appellants under Sections 148, 302/149 and 323/149 of the Indian Penal Code and sentencing them for two years R.I. under Section 148 and for life imprisonment under Section 302/149 and for one year R.I. under Section 323/149 Indian Penal Code.

2.Of the 12 accused persons, who had originally been charge-sheeted, Shyamlal s/o Munna was found not guilty of the charges against him and he was, therefore, acquitted. Apart from Shyamlal s/o Munna, one other accused, Jairam, was found to be a juvenile during the course of trial and his case was accordingly separated and sent to the Juvenile Court for disposal.

3.Consequently, only 10 of the 12 accused persons filed Criminal Appeal No. 30 of 1989 before the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which affirmed the judgment of conviction and sentence passed by the learned Sessions Judge. All the said 10 accused are also the appellants in this appeal.

4.The case made out by the prosecution is that on 4th June, 1986, all the appellants who were armed with lethal weapons such as axe, lathi and Lohangi gathered at Village Burhanpur under Bamorkalan Police Station and formed an unlawful assembly and after entering the house of one Babulal, committed his murder and caused injury to his wife, Raina Bai.

5.The facts leading to the aforesaid incident is that appellant Malkhan is alleged to have cut down two Khair trees from the field of deceased Babulal. Babulal thereupon asked Malkhan to return the trees and Malkhan is said to have promised to return the trees cut by him to Babulal. On 4th June, 1987 at about 7 in the morning, Malkhan went to Babulal s house and told him to take back the trees which had been cut down by Malkhan. Once Babulal reached Malkhan s house, he was assaulted by all the appellants. The incident was witnessed by Raina Bai (P.W.1), Raj Kumari Bai (P.W.4), Gyan Bai (P.W.6), Bhawani Singh (P.W.7), Harkunwar (P.W.8) and Lakhan Singh (P.W.14). 6.It is the further case of the prosecution that when Raina Bai and Gyan Bai tried to intervene, they too suffered injuries. Due to severe assault on Babulal he succumbed to his injuries and during post mortem the doctor found as many as 10 injuries, which in the opinion of doctor was the cause of Babulal s death, which was homicidal in nature.

7.Relying on the evidence of Raina Bai (P.W.1), Raj Kumari Bai (P.W.4) and Gyan Bai (P.W.6), the High Court was of the view that the evidence of the eye-witnesses was relevant and cogent and that the trial court after appreciation of the evidence had convicted the appellants. The High Court also observed that from the evidence the presence of the injured witnesses at the place of occurrence could not be doubted and their evidence inspired confidence. Consequently, the High Court dismissed the appeal.

8.The evidence as adduced by the prosecution indicates that on the day of incident Raj Kumari (P.W.4) was present at the house of her maternal uncle, Tej Raj, at Burhanpur. In the morning at 7 a.m. she had come out of the house to throw cow dung, when she heard a commotion from the side of the house of Shyamlal, Malkhan and Santosh. On hearing the commotion, she went to the spot and saw Malkhan, Santosh, Munna, Ramcharan and other accused, who were present in the Court, assaulting Babulal. She then went and informed Raina Bai (P.W.1) who is her sister-in-law that the accused persons were assaulting Babulal. She and Raina Bai came to the place of occurrence and saw Munna and Malkhan armed with Lohangis, Harnam and Shyamlal son of Balu armed with axes and the remaining accused persons armed with lathis and they were all