Important Point
Common object of unlawful assem-bly does not require prior concert and a common meeting of mind before attack and such object can develop after accused assembled.

Judgment

M. Karpagavinayagam, J.— The appellants are A1 and A3 to A6 respectively along with A2, they were tried for the offences under sections 148 and 302 read with 149 I.P.C. The trial court acquitted A2 and convicted A1 and A3 to A6 for the offence under sections 148 and 302 read with 149 I.P.C. and sentenced them each to undergo R.I. for one year for the

offence under section 148 I.P.C. and life imprisonment for the offence under section 302 read with 149 I.P.C. Aggrieved by the same, this appeal has been filed.

2. The case of the prosecution in brief is as follows :

“(a) The deceased Santhanaraj, who belongs to Harijan community is the husband of papa (P.W. I). The accused 1 to 6 belong to Thevar comm-unity. There is an enmity between these two comm-unities. Both the community people conducted Pongal festival separately. Even in their independent festival, dispute arose between them. Consequently, on a complaint given by the person who belongs to Thevar comm-unity, a criminal case was filed against 13 persons be-longing to Harijan community in which the deceased San-thanaraj was one of the accu-sed. After the registration of the case, one Sudalaimuthu, the brother of the appellants 2 to 4 (A3 to A5) used to threaten the deceased. There were frequent quarrels bet-ween the said Sudalaimuthu and the deceased, ultimately the said Sudalaimuthu was murdered by the deceased Santhanaraj. The case was filed against Santhanaraj for the offence under section 302 I.P.C. and he was convicted and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment. He filed an appeal before the high court and obtained the order of suspension of sentence and came out on bail. Though the accused as well as the deceased were living in the same village Karaseri initially, due to murder of Sudalai-muthu, the accused shifted their residence from Karaseri to Vallanadu, Chettanpatti and Morappanadu.

(b) On 27.12.1993, the deceased Santhanaraj left the village and went to Tirunelveli at 10.00 a.m. in connection with taking of loan. P.W. 1 Pappa his wife is working as a servant maid (Aaya) at noon meal center at Karaseri. P.W. 1 after finishing her work at school came to Deivaseyalpuram, since the deceased Santhanaraj pro-mised that he would come by 2.00 p.m. on that day from Tirunelveli to Deivaseyal-puram so that both can join together to purchase house-hold articles. As promised by the deceased, he came to Deivaseyalpuram and met P.W. 1 at the tea stall of Ramakrishnan, where she was waiting for him. After ordering for tea, the deceased was sitting in the bench inside the tea stall and was reading a newspaper.

(c) Within a few minutes, i.e. at about 2.15 p.m. all the accused persons (a1 to A6) armed with deadly weapons came inside the tea stall and attacked the deceased indis-criminately and caused his death at the spot in the presence of P.W. 1 Pappa, his wife, P.W. 2 Ramakrishnan, tea stall owner, P.W. 5 Peri-asamy and one Ramiah Konar. When the witnesses raised a hue and cry, the accused ran away from the scene with the weapons.

(d) Then, P.W. 1 Pappa, wife of the deceased, accompanied by P.W. 2 Ramakrishnan and P.W. 5 Periasamy went to Pudukottai police station on the same day at about 5.00 p.m. and lodged a complaint (Ex. P1) with P.W. 9, the sub Inspector of Police.

(e) On receipt of the complaint, P.W. 9 registered a case in crime No. 609/93 against all the accused for the offences under Sections 147, 148 and 302 I.P.C. He prepared the F.I.R. Ex. P15. He sent these documents to the court as well as to the superior officers.

(f) On receipt of this F.I.R. P.W. 11, the Inspector of Police proceeded to the spot at 6.00 p.m. and prepared observation mahazar Ex. P3 and rough sketch Ex. P16. He also recovered blood stained earth and sample earth from the scene of occurrence. He conducted inquest and exa-mined the witnesses, P.Ws. 1, 2 and 5 and others. The inquest report is Ex. P.7. Then, he sent Ex. P8 requis-ition to the doctor for conducting post-mortem