The conviction of accused under unlawful assembly and assault was confirmed, while the charges of using a dangerous weapon were dismissed due to lack of evidence; compensation awarded to victims per Section 357 of Cr.P.C.

ORDER :

Kauser Edappagath, J.

This criminal revision petition has been filed challenging the concurrent finding of conviction and sentence in a prosecution under Sections 143 , 147, 148, 452, 323 and 324 read with Section 149 of IPC .

2. The petitioners are accused Nos.1 to 5 and 7 in C.C.No.1258 of 2007 on the files of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-I, Perumbavoor (for short, 'the trial court'). They along with the 6^th accused faced trial for the offences under Sections 143 , 147, 148, 452, 323 and 324 read with Section 149 of IPC .

3. The prosecution case, in short, is that on 07.06.2007 at 01.00 a.m., the accused formed an unlawful assembly and trespassed into the house of the PW1, armed with deadly weapons like sword and assaulted PW1, PW2 to PW4 and PW6 to PW8.

4. All the accused, except the 6^th accused faced trial. The case as against 6^th accused was split up since he was absconding. It is submitted that later on he appeared, faced trial and ultimately, he was acquitted.

5. On the side of the prosecution, 11 witnesses were examined as PW1 to PW11 and Exts.P1 to P11 were marked. On the side of the defence, the 1^st accused was examined as DW1 and two documents were marked as Exts.D1 and D2. After trial, the trial court found the petitioners guilty for the offences punishable under Sections 143 , 147, 148, 452, 323 and 324 read with Section 149 of IPC and they were convicted for the said offences. They were sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of three months each for the offence punishable under Section 143 of IPC , simple imprisonment for a period of three months each for the offence punishable under Section 147 of IPC , simple imprisonment for a period of six months each for the offence punishable under Section 148 of IPC , rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months each and to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/- each for the offence punishable under Section 452 of IPC , in default to suffer simple imprisonment for a period of three months each, simple imprisonment for a period of three months each for the offence punishable under Section 323 and rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months each and to pay fine of Rs.4,000/- each, in default to suffer simple imprisonment for a period of three months each for the offence punishable under Section 324 of IPC . The substantive sentence of imprisonment was ordered to be run concurrently. Out of the fine amount, a sum of Rs.2,500/- each was ordered to be paid to PW1, PW2, PW4, PW6, PW7 and PW8 as compensation under Section 357 (3) of Cr.P.C. The petitioners challenged the conviction and sentence of the trial court before the Additional District and Sessions Court-II, North Paravur (for short, 'the appellate court') in Crl.Appeal No.757 of 2012. The appellate court dismissed the appeal confirming the conviction and sentence of the trial court. This revision petition has been filed challenging the conviction and sentence passed by the trial court as well as the appellate court.

6. I have heard Sri.K.I.Abdul Rasheed, the learned counsel for the petitioners and Sri.Sanal P. Raj, the learned Public Prosecutor.

7. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioners impeached the finding of the trial court as well as the appellate court on appreciation of evidence and resultant finding as to the guilt. The learned counsel submitted that the evidence of the injured witnesses and the occurrence witnesses are contradictory to each other and full of inconsistencies and therefore, their evidence ought not to have been relied on by the trial court as well as the a