Judgment

Ranjan Gogoi, J.

Criminal Appeal No.207 of 2011

1. Out of the 8 appellants who have filed this appeal challenging their conviction, inter alia, under Section 325 IPC as made by the High Court by the impugned judgment and order dated 21.05.2010, the appellant Nos.2 and 6 (Shakeel and Haneef) have died during the pendency of the present appeal. We will, therefore, be concerned with the case of the remaining appellants before us.

2. The learned trial court had convicted the appellants under different provisions of the Indian Penal Code including Section 308 thereof and sentenced the accused appellants to undergo RI for a period of 4 years under the aforesaid section of the Code. In appeal, the High Court while maintaining the conviction and sentence awarded for the lesser offences altered the conviction under Section 308/149 IPC to Section 325/149 IPC. The sentence of four years RI was also reduced to a period of one year. It is against the aforesaid order of the High Court that the appellants have filed the present appeal.

3. We have heard Shri Siddhartha Dave learned counsel for the appellants and Shri Ratnakar Dash, learned senior counsel for the respondent.

4. Learned counsel f