JUDGMENT :

ASHUTOSH KUMAR, J.

1. All the criminal appeals have been heard together and are being disposed off by this common judgment.

2. We have heard Mr. Ajay Kumar Thakur, Ms. Rina Sinha and Mr. Umesh Kumar Singh, the learned Advocates on behalf of the appellants. The State, in all the appeals, has been represented by Mr. Dilip Kumar Sinha, the learned Additional Public Prosecutor.

3. The appellants (fifteen in number) have been convicted under Sections 302 and 201/34 of the Indian Penal Code (in short, the I.P.C.) videjudgment dated 28.03.2017 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge-VIII, Gopalganj in Sessions Trial No. 342 of 2010 (CIS No. 2898 of 2013) arising out of Manjhagrah P.S. Case No. 45 of 2010. On the same day of conviction, i.e., on 28.03.2017, the appellants were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life, to pay a fine of Rs. 20,000/-each for the offence under Section 302/34 of the I.P.C. and to undergo rigorous imprisonment for four years, to pay fine of Rs. 1000/-each for the offence under Section 201 of the I.P.C. The default clauses have been made composite, namely, to suffer an additional period of simple imprisonment of six months for not paying the fine