1. The appellants who are arrayed as A-1 to A-9 have come forward with this appeal challenging their conviction and sentence imposed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge/FTC, Dharmapuri, by judgment dated 07.01.2010 made in S.C. No. 68 of 2007, convicting and sentencing the appellants as hereunder:-

All the appellants/accused were found guilty for offence under Section 341 of IPC and sentenced them to undergo one month simple imprisonment, and found the accused 6, 7 and 9 guilty under Section 324 IPC instead of 307 IPC and sentenced to undergo two years Rigorous imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/- each, in default to undergo one month R.I. and also found accused 1 to 5 and 8 guilty for offence under Section 324 IPC read with 149 IPC and sentenced them to undergo 2 years R.I. and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/- each, in default to undergo one month R.I. and further found accused 1, 3, 6, 7 and 9 guilty under Section 148 of IPC and sentenced to undergo one year R.I. and also found accused 2, 4, 5 and 8 guilty under Section 147 of IPC and sentenced them to undergo one year R.I. By the said judgment, the Sessions Court also found accused 2, 4, 5 and 8 not guilty under Section 342 IPC and also ordered that the sentence shall run concurrently.

2. The case of the prosecution is that the accused who are the appellants herein and PW-1 Dhanaraj are relatives and residents of same village and due to land dispute, there was enmity between them for nearly 5 years and previous cases were also pending between them. On the occurrence date i.e. 06.06.2006, at about 1 p.m. when PW-1 Dhanaraj was proceeding towards Poomani Sami Temple, in his village Chinnavathalapuram to attend Kumbabishekam festival, the accused who were assembled with an intention to assault the accused near Nallathambi house wrongfully restrained PW-1 Dhanaraj and attempted to murder him by assaulting him with iron rod, knife and stones and caused injuries to PW-1 and accordingly the case was registered against the accused herein.

3. PW-1, the complainant states that due to land dispute between himself and the accused, he left the village and was working in Karnataka and on 06.06.2006, he returned to his native village to attend temple festival and while he was proceeding to temple at 1 p.m. the accused who were assembled near the house of Nallathambi with weapons assaulted him. PW-1 states that accused Nos. 5 and 8 viz. Chandra and Rathinammal caught hold of him and 1st accused/Chettiyappan assaulted him with iron rod on his head with an intention to murder him and he suffered two injuries. PW-1 further stated that A-2 Raji and A-4 Manickam caught hold of him from escaping and at that time, A-6 Sivasankar and A-7 Sivasakthi assaulted him in the chest and nose with stones and A-3 Ashokkumar took out soorikathi from his pocket and tried to stab him while he tried to prevent the same, he got injured in his right forearm. PW-1 further stated that A-9 Kala @ Padmavathi assaulted with stone in his leg and he suffered bleeding and so that he shouted due to pain and his cousin brother PW-2 Vasudevan, his brother Sekar and another person came there and rescued him. PW-1 further stated that the accused went away and he went to Dharmapuri G.H., along with PW-2 Vasudevan and got himself admitted there. While he was in Dharmapuri G.H. Police came and recorded statement and complaint given by him is Ex.P.1. He further stated that on the next day, he was enquired by Sub Inspector of Police and handed over the blood stained dress material worn by him at the time of occurrence and the same is produced as M.O.4 and 5.

4. The eyewitness to the occurrence who deposed as PW-2 corroborated the version of PW-1 by stating that he was following his uncle PW-1 to the temple on 06.06.2006 and at about 1 p.m. the accused herein caught hold of and assaulted PW-1 with iron rod, knife and stone, due to which PW-1 suffered injuries.

5. The Head Constable, who deposed as PW-6, stated that on 06