JUDGMENT

Dr. Arijit Pasayat, J. —

1.Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment of a Division Bench of the Himachal Pradesh High Court directing acquittal of the respondent. The Division Bench had disposed of two appeals, one by the accused and the other by the State, both questioning correctness of the judgment passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge, Mandi. As noted above, while the accused questioned his conviction for offence punishable under Section 302 IPC, the State’s appeal was against the acquittal in respect of offences punishable under Sections 452, 427 and 323 IPC so far as Respondent Ram Krishan is concerned and also questioning acquittal of co-accused Harminder. The High Court by the impugned judgment affirmed the order of acquittal as done by the trial court while also directing acquittal of the respondent.

2.Background facts in a nutshell are as follows:

Laxmi Dutt (PW -1), resident of village Mandap in Tehsil Karsog was running a tailoring shop at the material time in village Maghundi at a distance of about one kilometer from his residential house; Manohar Lal (hereinafter referred to as the ‘deceased’) was his younger brother and was running a shop of general merc