IMPORTANT POINTS
(1) Motive loses all its importance in a case where direct evidence of eyewitnesses is available, because even if there may be a very strong motive for the accused persons to commit a particular crime, they cannot be convicted if the evidence of eyewitnesses is not convincing.
(2) The conditions precedent which are requisite to be satisfied to attract Section 34 of IPC are that he act must have been doe by more than one person and said persons must have shared a common intention either by omission or commission in effectuating the crime A separate act by each of the accused is not necessary.

Judgment :-

Dipak Misra, J.

The present appeal is directed against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 30.8.2007 passed in Criminal Appeal No. 106 of 2005 by the Gauhati High Court affirming the verdict of conviction of the learned Sessions Judge, Karimganj in Sessions Case No. 135 of 2004 whereby the learned trial Judge had convicted the appellants under Section 302 in aid of Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (for short “IPC”) along with another and sentenced each of them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.5000/- each, in default to pay the fine, to suffer further imprisonment for one year.

2. The case related to the murder of a forty year old man by the name of Matilal Das in the morning of 29.9.2003 by hacking him at various parts of the body in a brutal manner with deadly weapons and the injuries sustained by him were quite serious in nature. On the date of occurrence, about 8.30 a.m., deceased Matilal Das was proceeding towards his home from his shop and at that time, the accused persons, namely, Rajan Das, Sadhan Das, Madan Das, Birendra Das, Jara Das, Bapan Das, Lakshmi Rani alias Latashi Rani and Smt. Jyotsna Das, all being armed with deadly weapons like bhojali, dao, etc. accosted him in front of the house of Birendra and immediately Rajan Das dealt a blow on the head of Matilal from behind by bhojali. After the assault, the deceased raised alarm and fell down on the road. Thereafter, all the accused persons hacked him as a result of which he sustained number of injuries and breathed his last on the spot. Hearing the scream of Matilal, Nripendra Das and Sanjan Das came to the spot and, at that juncture, Sadhan Das tried to attack Sanjan Das, but he managed to flee away from the spot. However, he inflicted a dao blow on Nripendra Das which caused an injury on the finger of his left hand. Thereafter, accused Birendra and others dragged the dead body of Matilal to Birendra’s courtyard and there they continued to hack the body resulting in severing of certain limbs. Sanjan Das, son of the deceased Matilal, lodged an FIR with the Officer-in-Charge of Kaliganj Watch Post which was entered vide G.D. Entry No. 424 dated 29.9.2003 about 10.00 a.m. It was forwarded to the Officer-in- Charge, Karimganj Police Station to register a case and, accordingly, case No. 314/2003 was registered for the offences punishable under Sections 147, 148, 149, 341, 324, 307 and 302 IPC. After the criminal law was set in motion, the Investigating Officer conducted the inquest of the dead body of the deceased Matilal and sent it for post mortem, seized the bhojali which was about 15 inch in length and a dao of 2 feet in length, both stained with blood, in the presence of the witnesses vide Exts. 4 and 6. The injured Nripendra Das was sent to Karimganj Hospital for examination of injuries and treatment. After recording the statements of the witnesses under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.PC), a charge-sheet was placed against the accused persons and the said charge-sheet showed Sadhan Das, Jara Das and Jyotsna Rani as absconders. The learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Karimganj committed the case to the Court of Session except that of accused Rajan Das, Madan Das and Bapan Das who were found to be juvenile on the basis of medical report and, accordingly, were sent to the juvenile court at Silcher. After committal, the learned Sessions Judge, considering the matter in entirety, framed charges against Birendra Das, Latasil Das and Jara Das under Section 302 read with 34 IPC.

3. The accused persons pleaded innocence and false implication and claimed to be tried.

4. At the trial, the Prosecution, in order to bring home the charge, examined 11 witnesses, namely, Sanjan Das, PW-1, son of the deceased Matilal, Nripendra Das, PW-2, a relation of the deceased, Dr. Rabindra Nath Das, PW-3, who conducted the autopsy on the dead body of the deceased, Dr. Pradip Dey, PW-4, who examined PW2, Na