R. K. DASH, J.

( 1 ) THESE six appellants (hereinafter referred to as the 'accused persons') and one Jaimohan Mahanta, since acquitted, stood charged under Sections 148 and 302/149 IPC for rioting with deadly weapons and committing murder of Anil Kumar Choudhary (hereinafter referred to as 'the deceased' ). Learned Sessions Judge, Sundargarh, upon consideration of the evidence led in support of the charge while acquitting accused Jaimohan Mahanta, convicted all these six accused persons for both the offences and contended each of them to suffer rigorous imprisonment for three years for the offence under Section 148 IPC and imprisonment for life for the offence under Section 302/149 IPC. Aggrieved by the judgment and order of conviction, the accused persons have preferred this appeal.

( 2 ) BEREFT of details the prosecution case may be stated as under : Barsuan, the place of incident, is an industrial belt and Abhaya Kumar Choudhury, P. W. 16, father of the deceased, is an employee of Steel Authority of India Ltd. There are two unions, viz. , Central Industrial Trade Union (CITU) and Rourkela Mazdoor Sabha (R. M. S.) of which P. W. 16 is an organiser of the former. Due to bickerin