The main legal point established in the judgment is the requirement to prove the constitution of an unlawful assembly and the applicability of vicarious liability under Section 149 of IPC.

JUDGMENT :

Sanjay K. Agrawal, J.

1. These four criminal appeals under Section 374(2) of CrPC emanate from impugned judgment dated 02/02/2017 passed in Special Sessions Trial No. 11/2015, therefore, all these appeals have been clubbed together, heard together and are being decided by this common judgment. Vide the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence, learned Session Judge and Special Judge (Atrocities), Balodabazar has convicted the appellants and awarded sentence as follows :

2. The case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on 19/06/2015 at about 05:30 PM at village Banahil, P.S. Bilaigarh, the appellants, in furtherance of their common intention, abused and assaulted Chandai Bai, wife of Firatram (P.W.7), with a pickaxe due to which she suffered grievous injury and succumbed to death and thereby, committed the aforesaid offences.

3. It is admitted position on record that appellants' byara (land reserved for keeping paddy after harvesting) is adjoining to Firatram's (P.W.7) byara and the vacant land opposite to their byara is Government land and a kuttcha road connects the the village and the fields.

4. Further case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on 19/06/2015 at about 06:45 PM, Navratan Kumar Chouhan (P.W.1) informed at the Police Station Bilaigarh that at about 05:30 PM, when his father Firatram (P.W.7) was returning from the fields to their home, the appellants/accused persons were trying to make a way to reach their fields and in that context, dispute occurred between them and the appellants started abusing him and even threatened to kill and thereafter, when Navratan (P.W.1) reached on the spot along with his mother Chanda Bai (deceased) and asked the appellants not to abuse, one of the appellants namely Mahesh Ram attacked Chanda Bai and caused a blow in her shoulder (scapular region) due to which she suffered grievous injury and died instantaneously and he further assaulted his father Firatram (P.W. 7). Both Firatram (P.W.7) and Chanda Bai were immediately taken to the hospital, but Chanda Bai was declared dead and appropriate treatment was given to Firatram (P.W.7). On the said information, merg intimation was registered vide Ex. P/1 and FIR was lodged against the appellants for offences punishable under Sections 294, 506, 307, 302 read with Section 34 of IPC and Section 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 vide Ex. P/2. Thereafter, summons were issued to the witnesses under Section 175 of CrPC vide Ex. P/3 and after conducting inquest vide Ex. P/4, the dead body of Chanda Bai was sent for postmortem which has been conducted by Dr. P.K. Vaishnav (P.W.9) and as per the postmortem report (Ex. P/5), the cause of death is cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory arrest due to stab wound in the scapular region and the nature of death is said to be homicidal. Nazri Naksha was prepared vide Ex. P/7 and from the spot plain soil as well as blood stained soil was seized vide Ex. P/9. Pursuant to the memorandum statement of the appellant/accused Mahesh Ram vide Ex. P/11, recovery of sharp pick axe was made from his possession vide Ex. P/12 and the clothes worn by Firatram (P.W.7) were seized vide Ex. P/10 and the said seized articles were sent for chemical examination in which blood stains were found on the pick axe seized from appellant Mahesh Ram vide FSL report (Ex. P/29) although the blood stains were disintegrated and so it could not be ascertained whether it was human blood or not. After due invest