JUDGMENT

H.L. DATTU, CJI.

1. Leave granted in all the Special Leave Petitions.

2. These appeals are directed against the common judgment and order passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in the two connected appeals-Capital Cases Nos. 5003 and 5245 of 2010 along with Capital Reference No. 8 of 2010, dated 26.04.2013. By the impugned judgment and order, the High Court has confirmed the judgment of conviction, dated 14.07.2010 and order of sentence, dated 15.07.2010, passed by the learned Sessions Judge in Sessions Trial No. 293 of 2008, whereby and whereunder the learned Sessions Judge has convicted the appellants-accused for offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short, “the IPC”) and sentenced them to death.

3. At the outset, it would be pertinent to notice that learned amicus curiae, Shri Dushyant Parashar, appearing for the two appellants-accused has limited his submissions only to the question of sentence. Therefore, the scope of these appeals stand restricted to the determination of appropriate sentence for the offence committed by the appellants-accused.

Facts:

4. The prosecution case in a nutshell is: on the intervening night