The main legal point established is the requirement to prove the meeting of minds and fusion of ideas among the accused for the application of Section 34 of IPC, and the consideration of the nature of injuries and absence of premeditation in determining the appropriate conviction.

JUDGMENT :

Sanjay K. Agrawal, J

This criminal appeal filed by the accused-appellants under Section 374(2) of Cr. P.C. is directed against the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 25.05.2015, passed by the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge, Katghora, District Korba (C.G.) in S.T. No.04/2014, whereby the appellants-accused have been convicted for offence under Section 302 r/w 34 of IPC and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment each with fine of Rs.1,000/- each and, in default of fine, additional imprisonment of 01 year each.

2. The case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on 14.11.2013 at about 03:00 PM at Village Botla, the accused-appellants shared a common intention to kill Samaru Singh (deceased) and, in furtherance thereof, assaulted Samaru Singh (deceased) by means of ‘lathi’, hand, fist and legs, due to which he suffered grievous injuries and died during the course of treatment in hospital and, thereby, committed the offence under Section 302 r/w 34 of IPC.

3. In the instant case, it is admitted and undisputed facts that :

Amir Singh (PW-05) and Rai Singh (PW-01) are brothers of deceased- Samaru Singh and Ku. Fulkunwar is sister of deceased- Samaru Singh; all the accused persons/appellants and the deceased are resident of Village Botla; and appellant No.02-Asman Singh and appellant No.04- Meena Kumari are son and daughter of appellant No.03- Smt. Vedmati.

4. The further case of the prosecution, in nutshell, is that: on 14.11.2013, in the afternoon, deceased-Samaru Singh was going towards Mateen Pahad for the purpose of gazing cattle, and about 03:00 PM when he reached near his fields (farm) at Jhumarjhotki Nala, he saw accused-appellants were cutting paddy/harvesting crops from his fields; thereafter, deceased- Samaru Singh entered into the fields and asked accused-appellants not to cut paddy from his fields, but they refused and started abusing him by encircling deceased- Samaru Singh and, at that juncture, accused-appellant No.01- Dharm Singh armed with ‘lathi’ was standing there; Fulkunwar (PW-04), who is sister of deceased, also reached on the spot, as she came to cut paddy from the fields and Sukul Singh (PW-02), who was going towards market to purchase some stuff by that side, also reached on the spot, and they both saw accused-appellants disputing with deceased- Samaru Singh by encircling him, pursuant to which, they immediately informed the brothers of deceased- Samaru Singh, namely, Amir Singh (PW-05) and Rai Singh (PW- 01) and, thereafter, they all visited the place of incident; on the place of incident, appellant No.01- Dharm Singh assaulted deceased- Samaru Singh by means of ‘lathi’ and appellants No.02 to 04 assaulted deceased by means of hand, fist and legs, due to which deceased- Samaru Singh sustained injuries and fell down on floor in an unconscious state and, thereafter, he was taken to Podi-Uproda Hospital for treatment, where on 15.11.2013, at about 05:00 AM in the morning he died during the course of treatment.

5. Thereafter, on the basis of information given by Amir Singh (PW-05), marg intimation (Ex.P/05) was recorded and FIR (Ex.P/06) was also registered by the police against the accused-appellants. Inquest proceedings were conducted vide Ex.P/02. Nazari Naksha was prepared vide Ex.P/04. The dead-body of deceased- Samaru Singh was sent for postmortem examination and, in the postmortem examination report (Ex.P/03), conducted by Dr. Rakesh Agrawal (PW-07), it has been opined that the cause of death is due to cardio-respiratory arrest due to neurogenic and hypovolemic shock, as a result of injury- Intra Extracranial Hemorrhage and mode of death is homicidal in nature. Thereafter, accused-appellants were arrested vide Ex.P/15 to 18. Memorandum statement of appellant No.01- Dharm Singh was recorded vide Ex.P/07 and, pursuant to which, seizure of a wooden stick was affected vide Ex.P/08. But said wooden stick was not subjected to FSL examination for the reasons best known to t