JUDGMENT

Dr. Mukundakam Sharma, J. —

1.By this judgment and order, we propose to dispose of the two appeals filed by the fourteen accused persons who have been convicted and sentenced by the 2nd Ad-hoc Additional Sessions Judge, Ahmednagar by judgment and order dated 10.09.2004 which has been upheld by the High Court of Bombay, Aurangabad Bench.

2.Originally, there were altogether 38 accused persons, out of which two were juveniles. Consequently, the trial Court of the 2nd Ad-hoc Additional Sessions Judge, Ahmednagar tried 36 accused persons and by judgment and order dated 10.09.2004 convicted 35 accused persons of the offences under various sections of the Indian Penal Code [for short ‘IPC’] including the offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC and the remaining one accused person was acquitted.

3.Being aggrieved by the aforesaid judgment and order of conviction and sentence passed by the trial Court, all the 35 accused persons filed an appeal being Criminal Appeal No. 617 of 2004 before the High Court of Bombay, Aurangabad Bench. By its judgment and order dated 14.03.2006, the High Court acquitted 21 out of the 35 convicted accused persons while upholding the o