The central legal point established in the judgment is the evaluation of witness testimonies, the corroborative value of evidence, and the participation of each appellant in the incident to determine their guilt or innocence.

( 1 ) CRIMINAL Appeal No. 2387 of 1982 was preferred by Malkhan Singh, Narendra Kumar and Pratap Singh. Connected with this appeal are Criminal Appeal No. 2548 of 1982 and Criminal Appeal No. 2686 of 1982. These appeals are preferred by Om Pal and Shripal respectively.

( 2 ) ALL the aforesaid appeals arise out of an order of conviction under Section 302/149, 147 and 148, I. P. C. of all the appellants. Malkhan Singh and Pratap Singh being armed with Lathi were convicted under Section 147, I. P. C. and sentenced to one years R. I. Appellants Shripal and Om Pal were sentenced under Section 148, I. P. C. for holding pharsa and sword to two years R. I. They all were also sentenced to R. I. for life under Sections 302/149, I. P. C. All the sentences were to run concurrently.

the Jungle (fields) of village Jarara near the field of Devi Singh. The place, where there incident had occurred, is about 2 kms. from the Abadi of the village. The F. I. R. of this incident was lodged by Vipin Kumar son of deceased Fatesh Singh at 6. 30 p. m. at P. S. Pahasu on the same day. A case, on the basis of this written report, was registered at the above said police station by the Head Moharir, P. W. 4 Shiv Prakash. Written report is Ext. Ka-1. After preparation of the check report and completion of other formalities the investigation of the case was taken up by P. W. 6 Yogendra Singh, S. I. He arrived at the scene of occurrence and prepared inquest memo and sent the dead body for post-mortem examination. He had alsoprepared other papers pertaining to the post-mortem. He had recovered the bags containing grounded wheat flour and other vegetables that were carried by the deceased on his cycle. They were given in the custody of his son, PW-1 Vipin Kumar. He had also recovered blood stained earth and simple earth from the seat of incident, sealed them in different containers, and prepared their recovery memos. Thereafter the investigation was taken over by P. W. 7 Balbeer Singh, S. I. After conclusion of the investigation he had submitted the charge-sheet in the case against the abovesaid appellants.

( 4 ) THE post-mortem examination on the person of the victim was conducted by P. W. 10 Dr. Chandra Prakash. The doctor had found only two incised wounds on the person of the deceased. One was on the neck just below right ear. Underneath that injury right vertebral vessels were also found cut through and through. About 1 oz. of clotted blood was present around the tissues. The second sharp-edged weapon injury was on left temporal region extending to left cheek bone, of the dimension of 61/2" x 11/2" x bone deep. Left ramous of mandible and left mastoid process was found cut underneath this injury. The Doctor opined that these two injuries could have been caused by a sharp cutting weapon and were sufficient to cause death in ordinary course. Rigor mortis had passed off. There was no decomposition noted by the doctor. In his opinion death could have occurred on 23-9-1981 at 4. 30 p. m. He had further very clearly stated that these two injuries could have been the result of use of a sword or a pharsa. In cross-examination he had admitted that injuries No. 1 and 2 could be the result of a single weapon and there can be a difference of 2-4 hours in the duration of death either way. It is also admitted to the doctor that the deceased must have taken his last meal some 4 hours before his death and he had died instantly.

( 5 ) THE prosecution has examined four ocular witnesses in this case. Out of them P. W. 1 Vipin Kumar and P. W. 5 Gajraj Singh are the sons of the deceased. P. W. 2 Omkar Singh and P. W. 3 Bani Singh have turned hostile and have not supported the prosecution story in its entirety. P. W. 2 Omkar Singh in his examination-in-chief had nominated all the five appellants and also attributed role of killing of Fatch Singh to Om Pal and Shripal. He had also stated that Om Pal was armed with a Pharsa and Shripal was armed with a sword. Rega