The court found that the prosecution failed to prove the involvement of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt due to inadequate procedural adherence and unreliable evidence.

JUDGMENT :

ARUN DEV CHOUDHURY, J.

1. The Death Sentence Ref. No. 5/2018, Crl. A. No. 342/2018, Crl. A. No. 358/2018, Crl. A. No. 93/2019 and Crl. A. No. 171/2019, have been heard together and are being disposed of by this Common Judgment and Order.

2. We have heard Mr K. Gogoi, learned Public Prosecutor, Assam, assisted by Mr. R. R. Kaushik, learned Additional Public Prosecutor, Assam, for the State in Death Sentence Ref. No. 5/2018 and Mr. A. K. Bhattacharyya, learned Senior Advocate, assisted by Mr D. K. Bhattacharya, learned Advocate for the appellants in Crl. A. No. 342/2018, Crl. A. No. 358/2018, Crl. A. No. 93/2019 and Crl. A. No. 171/2019. We have also heard Mr K. Agrawal, Learned Amicus Curiae.

3. By the impugned judgment dated 29.08.2018 and Order of sentence dated 15.09.2018 passed by the learned Special Judge, NIA, Assam, Guwahati in Special NIA Case No. 04/2015, the accused/appellants were convicted and sentence in the following manner:-

4. The prosecution case in a nutshell is that on 23.12.2014, the villagers of Santipur and Hatijuli area under Dhekiajuli Police Station were attacked by the cadre of the extremist group of NDFB(S). The incident of firing took place between 04:00 PM and 05:00 PM. In the aforesaid incident, six people died, and two were injured. Accordingly, a GD entry was made, and Assam Police started an investigation. The dead bodies were sent for post-mortem, and the injured were sent for medical examination and treatment in the Kanaklata Civil Hospital, Tezpur.

5. PW-1, Lakheswar Mirdha, lodged the FIR. Accordingly, Dhekiajuli PS Case No. 738/2014 was registered. The Assam Police continued the investigation until 06-01-2015, when it was handed over to the National Investigating Authority (in short, NIA). Thereafter, the National Investigating Authority continued with the investigation and filed a charge sheet against the four appellants before the Special Judge, NIA, Assam.

6. The learned Special Judge framed charges under Sections 120B, 121, 121A, read with Sections 302, 307, and 34 of IPC, Sections 7, 25(1-A) Arms Act, Section 5 of Explosive Substance Act and Sections 16(1)(a), 18 and 20 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and read over to the accused, to which the accused pleaded not guilty, and accordingly, the trial proceeded.

7. During the Trial, to bring home the charges, the prosecution ex