Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia, J.

Birbal Meena was in the possession of Bolero SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle) bearing Registration No. RJ 14 UA 4770. Anandi Lal @ Nanda, Subhash Sharma, Kailash @ Deewana and Vinod Kumar @ Dholya were last seen travelling in the said Bolero vehicle along with Birbal Meena. The case of the prosecution is that to commit robbery of the said Bolero vehicle, the above said four accused on the intervening night of 8th and 9th of October, 2006, committed murder of Birbal Meena by causing injury on his head, thereby committed offence punishable under Section 302 IPC. It is the further case of the prosecution that after committing murder of Birbal Meena, the accused have thrown his dead body in the ditch (Khai) in the revenue state of village Gadi Johara Bada falling within the jurisdiction of Ringas and thus, committed the offence punishable under Section 201 IPC.

2. Since the appellants have also forcibly taken away the Bolero vehicle belonging to the deceased Birbal Meena, they were tried for the offence under Section 392/34 IPC and also under Section 3(2)(5) of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (hereinafter to be referred as the 'SC/ST Act').

3. The