In a criminal case, the prosecution must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. This includes proving the motive for the crime, the identity of the perpetrator, and the circumstances surrounding the crime. If the prosecution fails to prove any of these elements, the accused must be acquitted.

JUDGMENT : This appeal is directed against the judgment dated 31st of August 1967 by which Shri Jose Justinho Coelho, the Additional Sessions Judge at Margao, convicted all the five accused hauled up before him. He found the accused Gollappa guilty under Sections 148 and 304 Part II of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to seven years' rigorous imprisonment. The remaining four accused were held guilty under Section 147 I.P.C. and Section 325 read with Section 34 of the same Code. The accused Dyamappa and Pundalikappa were sentenced to one year's rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 300/- each, or, in default, two months' rigorous imprisonment, while the other two accused, Irappa and Shivappa, were awarded six months' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 150/- each, or, in default, one month's rigorous imprisonment. In this joint appeal by all the five accused the correctness of the convictions and the sentences is challenged.

2. The first information report was lodged with the Harbour police station at Marmagoa by Anvari Narcinva Murti on the morning of 27-10-1966. It was mentioned in this document (Exh. 18) that Murti had been told by Ningappa (PW 3) that at about 12 O'clock on the preceding night a quarrel took place between his uncle Badiger (whose proper name was Ramchondra) and Golappa (accused no. 1 of the case) when the latter gave a blow with a stick to the former and the victim dropped, unconscious on the ground, that first aid was administered to the injured though without result, and that it was necessary that the victim should be removed to some hospital. It was also stated in the document that Murti engaged a taxi and went to the hut of the injured at the jetty in the company of one Lingappa, that he (Murti) found that the injured was not in a position to speak, and that he consequently placed him in the taxi and took him to the Government hospital at Vasco. It was further stated that the injured was in grave condition, that there were signs of bleeding from his right ear, and that there was swelling on the head behind the ear. A case was registered on the basis of this report made by Murti. The doctor who examined Ramchondra at Vasco hospital adviced his removal to the bigger hospital at Margao as he believed that the condition of Ramchondra was grave. Consequently Ramchondra was removed to the hospital at Margao where he succumbed to the injuries sometime in the evening. The post mortem examination was done at Margao on 28-10-1966 and a copy of the report made is marked Exh. 26-A. Four external injuries were found on the person of the deceased. They are as under :

1. Haematoma with a slight elevation at the right temporal region, about 5x7 cms;

2. Haematoma at the back on the left side below the neck, about 9 cms. in length, somewhat straight and parallel to the back bone;

3. Two small scratches on the upper side of the left eyebrow; and

4. Two scratches on the outer side of the left eye.

Dr. Hede, who did the autopsy, mentioned in the report that the first two injuries could be caused with a stick or a fall against some hard and blunt surface, while injuries nos. 3 and 4 could be occasioned by brushing against a hard substance. The doctor noticed collection of blood in temporal-parieto-occipital region and fracture about 6 cms, long at the centre of the above collection. The probable cause of death, according to Dr. Hede, was intra-cranial haemorrhage and the compression it caused on the brain matter.

3. The prosecution story culminating in the death of Ramchondra lies within a short compass. The five accused, the deceased Ramchondra and the ocular witnesses examined at the trial are all labourers and they were putting up in the huts built on the jetty at Marmagoa. At about 10 p.m. on 26-10-1966 the five accused reached their residential huts from the bazaar after making some purchases. P.W. 2 Dondappa was sitting in his hut which was adjacent to the hut in which Ramchondra deceased was putting up. The accu

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