IMPORTANT POINT
In case of sudden quarrel without premeditation section 302 IPC will not be attracted, instead, section 304 Part II would be the proper provision to apply.

JUDGMENT

Mohan M. Shantanagoudar, J.

Leave granted.

2. These appeals arise out of the judgment and order dated 17.10.2014 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Patna in Criminal Appeal (DB) No. 59 of 1992, Criminal Appeal (DB) No. 60/1992 and Criminal Appeal (DB) No. 111/1992, whereby a Division Bench of the High Court, while dismissing the appeals preferred by the accused - the private respondents herein, altered the conviction of the accused Wakil Rai, Ramayan Rai, Raj Ballam Rai, Ashok Rai and Sheo Kumar Rai from Section 302/149 IPC to one under Section 304 Part-II IPC and that of accused - Parsuram Rai from Section 302 IPC to Section 304 Part-II IPC. The High Court reduced the sentence of all the convicted accused from life imprisonment to the period already undergone by them, which is approximately two years. However, the High Court did not interfere with the judgment and order of conviction and sentence passed by the trial Court for the offences punishable under sections 342 and 324 of IPC.

3. The case of the prosecution is that, all the accused, in a group armed with weapons like Sword, Bhala etc. and committed the murder of deceased - Mohan Rai at about 7.30 a.m. on 29.07.1988. There appeared to be a dispute relating to agricultural land between the accused and the family of the deceased and the dispute arose in the matter of transplanting paddy seedlings on the date of the incident. PW7 (Hira Lal Rai) lodged the first information report.

4. In order to prove his case, the prosecution examined 14 witnesses. Among them, PW1(Uday Kumar Rai), PW2(Deonath Rai) and PW4-A(Ramnath Rai) are the sons of the deceased - Mohan Rai. PW5(Munaki Devi) is the wife of the deceased. PW7(Hira Lal Rai), who lodged the first information report, is the brother of the deceased. PW8(Rukmani Devi) is the wife of the informant. PW4(Kripal Rai) is also near relative of the deceased. It has come into evidence that it is a very small village having about 10 to 15 houses only. It is also not in dispute that these witnesses were the residents of the very village. The evidence of all the eye witnesses, more particularly injured PW2(Deonath Rai), PW4-A(Ramnath Rai) and PW5(Munaki Devi) is consistent, cogent and reliable. Both the courts below have rightly relied upon the versions of the eye witnesses, coupled with other material on record, and convicted the accused.

5. As mentioned supra, though the trial Court convicted all the accused for the offence punishable under Sections 302/149 and 302 of the IPC, the High Court modified the conviction to one under Section 304 Part-II, IPC. Being aggrieved by the impugned judgment of the High Court, the appellant has filed these appeals for restoration of the judgment of the trial Court.

6. While issuing notice in these appeals on 07.01.2016, this Court confined the scope of these appeals to the question of sentence only. In other words, this Court has confirmed the judgment and order of the High Court convicting the accused for the offence punishable under Section 304 Part-II, IPC.

7. The evidence on record also discloses that PW2, PW4-A and PW5 were also assaulted and they also sustained certain simple injuries. One of the accused, namely, Wakil Rai also sustained four injuries, out of which injuries nos. 1 and 2 suffered by him were grievous in nature. Be that as it may, as mentioned supra, these appeals are confined for considering the question of sentence only.

8. The evidence of the Doctor - Dr. Anil Kumar Sinha, who conducted the post-mortem on the dead body of deceased Mohan Rai and the post-mortem report (Ext.4) disclose the following injuries on the body of the deceased - Mohan Rai:

"1. Incised wound on the right shoulder and in front of the chest with very profound bleeding of the size 11" x 2" and cutting the bone up to the cavity depth. The right clavicle of the first and second rib and the rib of the right lungs were found incised. The large artillery and blood vessels and the nerves were found to be i