IMPORTANT POINT
Murder – Only because an eye witness is a member of deceased's family, per se, evidence of such a witness cannot be discarded – If evidence of an eyewitness who is a close relative of deceased is cogent, reliable and credible, it can always be relied upon.

JUDGMENT :

ABHAY S. OKA, J.

FACTUAL ASPECTS

1. The appellant-accused no.2 has been convicted for the offences punishable under Sections 148 and 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short, ‘the IPC’). There were eleven accused who were charged with the murder of one Shiva Prasad Reddy (for short, ‘the deceased’) by hacking him with hunting sickles. The accused were charged with offences punishable under Sections 120B, 148 and 302 of the IPC.

Accused nos.5 and 9 died during the pendency of the trial. The Trial Court found that the charge under Section 120B of the IPC has not been proved against any accused. The Trial Court also found that accused nos.6, 7 and 8 were not guilty of any offence and were acquitted. The Trial Court convicted accused nos.1 to 4 and accused nos.10 and 11 for the offences punishable under Sections 148 and 302 of the IPC.

2. Apart from the present appeal, there were appeals preferred by the coaccused bearing Criminal Appeal nos. 2130 and 2131 of 2011. By the order of this Court dated 13th July 2023, the appeals were disposed of as the learned counsel representing the appellants therein made a statement that the appellants have been granted permanent remission. Therefore, they were not pressing the appeals. The appellant, in this appeal, was enlarged on bail. However, the order dated 13th July 2023 records the statement of the learned counsel for the appellant that the appellant-accused no.2 has decided to surrender so that his application for permanent remission can be considered. Therefore, this Court directed that after surrendering, if an application is made by the appellant-accused no.2 for a grant of permanent remission, the same shall be decided within six weeks from the date of making the application. However, the order dated 4th October 2023 records that the appellant-accused no.2 has changed his mind and decided not to surrender. In the said order, it is recorded that the learned counsel appearing for the appellant-accused no.2 stated that the appellant-accused no.2 wants to prosecute the appeal on merits.

3. PW1 and PW3 are brothers of the victim of the offence, who are the eyewitnesses. Apart from PW1 and PW3, PW2 was also an eyewitness. The prosecution's case is that the deceased was a practising lawyer at Gooty. The deceased and his brothers were residing in Peddavadugur village. Every day, the deceased used to travel from his residence to the Court at Gooty by his motorcycle. The deceased had contested the election for the post of President of the Water Users Association of Peddavadugur village against the appellant-accused no.2. The election was won by the appellant-accused no.2. The allegation is that accused no.1 and other communist party leaders helped the appellant-accused no.2. A couple of months after the election, the Excise Police raided the house of the appellant-accused no.2 and seized illicit brandy and accordingly, a case was registered against accused no.2. According to the prosecution case, the appellant-accused no.2 suspected that the deceased was responsible for the raid and seizure. The incident occurred on 26th July 1997. Twenty days before the said incident, the Congress party had convened a meeting in the village, and the deceased was elected as convenor of the Congress party. It is the case of the prosecution that the Excise Police also booked a case against accused no.1, who carried an impression that the deceased was responsible for the action taken by the Excise Police. On the date of the incident, the deceased left the village between 9:00 am and 9:30 am and proceeded to the Court at Gooty. On the same day, PW1 to PW3 had visited Pamidi village. After completing the work, at 5:00 pm, the three prosecution witnesses boarded a truck at Pamidi, which gave them a lift to Miduthuru crossroads. After getting down from the truck, they were waiting for a conveyance to reach their village. In the meanwhile, they saw the deceased coming from Gooty side on his motorcycle. While