IMPORTANT POINTS
Question of specific role of an individual member of the unlawful assembly is rendered secondary.
In case of a large assembly and large number of witnesses the test of consistency (‘consistent account of the incident’) should be applied.

JUDGMENT

Dinesh Maheshwari, J.

Introductory with brief outline

1. These three appeals are directed against the common judgment and order dated 12.09.2014, as passed by the High Court of Chhattisgarh at Bilaspur in Criminal Appeal No. 3336/1999 whereby, the High Court has upheld the judgment and order dated 26.11.1999 by the Additional Sessions Judge, Dhamtari, Chhattisgarh in S.T. No. 114/1999, convicting and sentencing the accused-appellants for multiple offences, including those punishable under Sections 147, 148, 302/149 and 325 of the Indian Penal Code (‘IPC’).

2. In a brief outline of the material aspects, it could be noticed that in the present case, the appellants, seven in number, being Accused Nos.1,2,5,7,8,12 and 13 [Accused Nos. 2 and 12 are the appellants in Criminal Appeal No. 1813 of 2017; Accused Nos. 1, 8 and 13 are the appellants in Criminal Appeal No. 1814 of 2017; and Accused Nos. 5 and 7 are the appellants in Criminal Appeal No. 1815 of 2017. Hereinafter, the respective appellants and other co- accused persons are also referred to as A-1, A-2 et al.] were tried together with several other co-accused persons for the offences relating to the two incidents which took place in village Kodebod, police station Kurud, district Dhamtari (M.P. – now Chhattisgarh) on 15.10.1998: one at about 4.30-5.00 p.m., in which, the Prosecution Witness No. 1 Dhanwaram [Hereinafter the Prosecution Witnesses are also referred to as PW-1, PW-2 et al.] sustained grievous injuries; and another at about 5.30 p.m., which led to the death of one Govind Singh. Out of the 18 accused persons tried in this matter, 8 were acquitted by the Trial Court, essentially after finding that the charges against them were not proved beyond reasonable doubt. However, Bharosaram(A-1), Duleshwar(A-2), Chintaram(A-4), and Vivekanand(A-9) were convicted for the offence under Section 325 IPC for causing grievous hurt to PW-1 Dhanwaram. Moreover, Bharosaram(A-1), Duleshwar(A-2), Chintaram(A-4), Bhanjan Singh(A-5), Khemraj(A-6), Keshav Prasad(A-7), Khemuram (A-8), Nand Kumar (A-12) and Lakhan(A-13) were convicted for the offences under Sections 147,148, 302 and 302/149 IPC for forming unlawful assembly, rioting with deadly weapons and in furtherance of common object, causing death of Govind Singh by inflicting several injuries. The convicted accused persons were awarded varying sentences, including that of life imprisonment for the offence under Section 302/149 IPC. Except Vivekanand (A-9) [Vivekanand (A-9) was convicted only for the offence under Section 325 IPC and, as he was found to be minor on the date of incident, was awarded lesser sentence of one year and three months.], other 9 accused persons preferred an appeal to the High Court against their conviction and sentence. A revision petition was also filed by the complainant against acquittal of the remaining accused persons. The High Court, however, found no ground to interfere and hence dismissed the appeal as also the revision petition and thereby, affirmed the decision of the Trial Court. As against the decision of the High Court, Bharosaram(A-1), Duleshwar(A-2), Bhanjan Singh(A-5), Keshav Prasad(A-7), Khemuram(A-8), Nand Kumar(A-12) and Lakhan(A-13) have preferred these appeals. However, no such appeal is preferred on behalf of the other convicted co-accused namely, Chintaram (A-4) and Khemraj (A-6).

2.1. Essentially, the conviction of the appellants under Section 302/149 has been questioned in these appeals; and the principal ground of challenge is that there is no cogent evidence about their involvement in the crime in question. The reliability of evidence led by the prosecution has also been assailed in these appeals apart from other contentions concerning the surrounding factors. The relevant facts and background aspects could be noticed, keeping in view the points arising for determination in these appeals.

The relevant facts and background

3. The prosecution case has been that a dispute in relation