IMPORTANT POINTS
Murder--Conviction--Protracted trial for 7 years--Sentence reduced to already undergone.
Unlawful assembly--Common object--There must be a nexus between the common object and the offence committed--Question of common intention does not arise under Section 149.
Motive--Motive is not deciding factor in a criminal case and absence of motive does not speak of the innocence of the accused.

H.S. Bhalla, J.:- By this common judgment we shall be disposing of two appeals, being Criminal No. 104-DB of 2005 and Criminal Appeal No.33- SB of 2005 together as they arise out of the same occurrence.

2. This appeal is directed against the judgment dated 15.12.2004 passed by Additional Sessions Judge, Bhiwani, whereby he convicted the appellants under Sections 302/323/325/148 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code. All the appellants were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year under Section 148 of the Indian Penal Code; rigorous imprisonment for six months under Section 323 of the Indian Penal Code; rigorous imprisonment for four years under Section 325 of the Indian Penal Code and they were ordered to pay fine of Rs.500/- and rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and they were ordered to pay fine of Rs.2000/-. In default of payment of fine, the appellants were directed to undergo additional rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year. All the sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

3. The facts required to be noticed for the disposal of this appeal are that on 1.6.2000 a wireless message was received from PGIMS Rohtak and on the basis of this message, police machinery was set into motion and Assistant Sub Inspector Manjit Singh rushed to the hospital, where the Medical Officer declared the injured Daya Nand unfit to make a statement and in such like circumstances, Smt. Santosh wife of Daya Nand (since deceased) suffered a statement, Ex. PQ, to the effect that on 31.5.2000 around 8.30 P.M. she along with her husband and son was sitting in the precinct of her house. She was attracted to the place of occurrence, when she heard the screams of Yudhbir in the form of “Mar Diya Mar Diya and Bachao Bachao”. She along with her husband rushed to the spot and found that accused Mahabir, Vinod, Sandeep, Bijender, Randhir, Ram Kumar, Smt. Sajna, Smt. Omli and Smt. Yashoda were causing injuries to Yudhbir. Vinod was armed with an axe, whereas other accused were having lathis. On the intervention of her husband, accused persons caught hold him. Accused Vinod inflicted axe on his head as a result of which, he fell down . Other accused persons also attributed injuries to him. She and her son raised an alarm, which attracted Attar Singh and Mir Singh to the spot and they tried to rescue them from the clutches of the accused. However, accused persons also caused injuries to her son Mandeep, Attar Singh and Mir Singh and then fled away. On the basis of this statement suffered by her, a case was registered. During the course of investigation, necessary formalities were completed by the Investigating Officer and the statements of the witnesses were also recorded. A supplementary charge sheet was presented against accused Sandeep, who was a minor at the time of occurrence, but accused Sandeep did not claim himself to be a juvenile as per his statement, recorded separately on 22.9.2000 and he was also sent up for trial along with others.

4. Charges under Sections 148/323/325/302 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code were framed against all the accused, to which they did not plead guilty and claimed trial.

5. Prosecution, in order to prove its case, examined as many as 16 witnesses, namely, Ravinder Kumar, Draftsman (PW-1), Assistant Sub Inspector Hari Singh (PW-2), Head Constable Surinder Singh (PW-3), Constable Rajbir Singh (PW-4), Dharamvir Singh, retired Police Inspector (PW-5), Dr. P.D.Sharma, Senior Medical Officer, General Hospital, Bhiwani (PW-6), Inspector Mohinder Singh (PW-7), Dr. R.K.Wadhwa, District T.B.Officer, Rohtak (PW-8), Dr. Wazir Singh, Senior Medical Officer, General Hospital, Bhiwani (PW-9), Smt. Santosh Devi (PW-10), Yudhbir Singh (PW-11), Assistant Sub Inspector Manjit Singh (PW-12), Sub Inspector Ajaib Singh (PW-13), Balwan Singh, Record-Keeper, PGIMS, Rohtak (PW-14), Dr. Amar Jeet Singh, Deputy Medical Superintendent, PGIMS, Rohtak (PW-15)