ORDER :

1. Leave granted.

2. The appellants before us are the father and sons. Out of the three appellants, the father, namely, the appellant no. 1, died. Thus, the appeal stands abated in so far as appellant no. 1 is concerned.

3. Appellant No. 1 has been convicted for the offences punishable under Section 294(b), 323 of Indian Penal Code, (for short the ‘IPC’) and Section 3(1)(x) of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (for short, the SC/ST Act). The appellant No. 2 is convicted under Section 323 of the IPC and Section 3(1)(x) of the SC/ST Act. While appellant No. 3 was convicted under Section 323 of the IPC. All the Courts concurrently confirmed the conviction and sentence of the appellants.

4. Mr. T. Harish Kumar, Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants submitted that insofar as the appellant No. 2 is concerned, the charge under Section 3(1)(x) of the SC/ST Act is not made out. The occurrence took place in a liquor shop run by the appellants, in which the victim came to buy a liquor. PW-3 and PW-4 came to the scene of the occurrence only after the utterance alleged to have been made by the victim.

5. In such view of the matter, even