Judgment :-

Dipak Misra, J.

In these two appeals assail is to the judgment of conviction and order of sentence passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature, Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur, in Criminal Appeal No. 1568 of 1996 whereby the High Court concurred with the judgment of conviction and order of sentence passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Sagar, in Sessions Trial No. 97 of 1995, except in respect of one Gorelal, Appellant No. 2 before the High Court and Accused No. 2 before the trial court, wherein the present appellants along with Gorelal stood convicted for offences under Section 302 read with Section 149 Indian Penal Code and other offences and sentenced to imprisonment for life with fine of Rs.1000/- , in default of payment of fine, to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for three months.

2. The factual score, as depicted, is that on 29.9.1995, deceased Dhruv @ Daulat along with Ashok Kumar, PW-5, Dheeraj, PW-6, Naresh, PW-7, and Leeladhar, PW-12, was returning home about 11.00 p.m. after attending a wrestling event which was organised at “Kher Mata” (temple) in Makronia, a village in the district of Sagar. As Ashok Kumar, PW-5, complained of pain in the stomach, all of them went to the shop of Gorelal for purchasing medicine and when they reached the shop, all the accused persons coming from the house of Chhotelal surrounded deceased Daulat and started assaulting him and despite the beseeching and imploring by the companions the accused persons continued the assault, as a result of which the deceased fell unconscious. As the prosecution story proceeds, he was taken to the hospital and, eventually, succumbed to his injuries. On an FIR being lodged, the criminal law was set in motion and after investigation the appellants were charge-sheeted under Section 3(1)(x) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (for short “the Act”), but, eventually, charges were framed under Sections 147, 148 and 302 read with Section 149 IPC. The accused persons pleaded innocence and false implication and claimed to be tried.

3. The prosecution, in order to establish its case, examined 13 witnesses and exhibited number of documents. The defence chose not to adduce any evidence.

4. The learned trial Judge, appreciating the evidence on record, came to hold that the prosecution had brought home the charges against accused, Mohan, under Sections 148 and 302 IPC and against the remaining accused persons under Sections 147 and 302 IPC read with Section 149 IPC and apart from imposing separate sentences under Section 147 IPC sentenced each of them to suffer imprisonment for life as stated hereinbefore.

5. Being dissatisfied with the judgment of conviction, the appellants along with others preferred a singular criminal appeal. In appeal, apart from raising various contentions on merits, it was submitted that the entire trial was vitiated as it had commenced and concluded without committal of the case to the Court of Session by the competent court inasmuch as the Sessions Court could not have directly taken cognizance of the offence under the Act without the case being committed for trial. To bolster the said contention reliance was placed on Gangula Ashok and Another v. State of Andhra Pradesh [AIR 2000 SC 740], Moly and Another v. State of Kerala [AIR 2004 SC 1890] and Vidyadharan v. State of Kerala [(2004) 1 SCC 215]. The High Court relied on decision in State of M. P. v. Bhooraji & Ors. [AIR 2001 SC 3372] and treated it to be a binding precedent and declined to set aside the conviction or remit the matter for de novo trial. The High Court proceeded to deal with the appeals on merits and came to hold that except accused Gorelal all other accused persons were present on the scene of occurrence and had participated in the assault and, accordingly, maintained the conviction and sentence in respect of other accused persons and acquitted appellant No. 2 before the