Judgment :-

Harjit Singh Bedi, J.

The prosecution story, given by PW-1 Shaji, who is the brother of the deceased, Sathyan is as under:-

At about 1:45 p.m. on the 24th March, 1994, Shaji (PW-1) was to travel by bus on the route from Thalassery to Vataparra via Ayitharapuzha and Kuthuparamba. He got into the bus at Ayitharapara. As he entered the bus, he found his brother Sathyan also traveling by the same bus and as there was a vacant seat besides him, he too sat down on the seat. 10 or 15 other passengers including Prakasan (PW-2), Shyamala (PW-3) and the accused Sasi and Dasan were also in the bus. At about 1:55 p.m. the bus reached Ayitharapuzha but before PW-1 and the deceased could get down from the bus, Sasi and Dasan shouted out that they would be murdered and on saying so they pushed PW-1 and Sathyan out on to the road. Three other persons then ran towards the bus from Babu's shop which was alongside the road. Ambu and Perutheri-accused handed over a sword each to Sasi and Dasan whereupon Sasi inflicted injuries on the hands of Shaji. Ashokan-accused who was armed with an axe caused injuries on the face and head of Sathyan whereas accused Babu armed with a long knife caused injuries on the left hand of Sathyan and Dasan inflicted a stab injury with a sword on the stomach of Sathyan. The other accused also inflicted some injuries on the deceased as well as on PW-1. As per PW-1's statement, he had recognized all the seven accused who had inflicted injuries on him and his brother. A police jeep soon arrived at the spot and PW-1 and Sathyan were taken to Kuthuparamba Hospital but as they were in critical condition, they were removed in a car and brought to the Thalassery Government Hospital where both of them were examined by the Doctor and while PW1 was admitted therein Sathyan was referred to Kozhikode Medical College where he soon died. At about 5:30 p.m., the police arrived in the Thalassery Hospital and recorded the statement of PW-1 leading to the recording of the FIR referring to seven assailants but naming only four, and suggesting that the murder was the outcome of political rivalry as the accused belonged to the Bhartiya Janta Party whereas the deceased and PW-1 were workers of the Congress Party. In the FIR it was also noted that the incident had been seen by Prakasan (PW-2) and Manoharan (PW-4). Sathyan's dead body was also subjected to a post-mortem, and PW-7 the doctor, found 58 injuries thereon, most of them incised and cutting wounds, some of them of huge dimensions. PW-1 was also examined for the injuries by the doctor PW-8, and three incised wounds were found on him as well. On the completion of the investigation, the accused were charged for offences punishable under Sections 147, 148, 307, 324 and 302 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code.

2. The Trial Court held that though PW-1 was an injured witness, yet he could not be believed as in the FIR he had named only four accused i.e. Sasi, Dasan, Ashokan and Babu, although, he had referred to three others and had in a supplementary statement to the circle inspector named these three as well and that he had also admitted to the deep political animosity between the two groups, which cast a doubt on his story. The court also held that the police had admittedly carried PW-1 and his fatally injured brother in the police jeep to the hospital, but as the police officer had made no attempt at recording the statement of PW-1, at that stage, the prosecution story was, apparently, an after-thought and could not be relied upon. The Court also observed that the manner in which the injuries had been caused by all the accused, could not be believed as the eye-witnesses were discrepant on this material aspect. The Trial Court went through the evidence of PW-2, Prakasan and found that he had not been able to explain his presence in the bus at the relevant time despite the fact that his presence had been specifically indicated in the FIR. The court then examined the e