The main legal point established in the judgment is the reliance on credible and firm testimony of prosecution witnesses to establish the commission of the offenses beyond reasonable doubt.

UMESH KUMAR, J.

1. These three criminal appeals have been filed against the common judgment and order dated 29.05.2003 passed by Additional Sessions Judge, Moradabad in S. T. No. 623 of 2001 (State Vs. Ashfaq and others) convicting and sentencing the appellants to undergo life imprisonment under Sections 302/149 IPC and 7 years R.I. under Sections 307/149, IPC and also to undergo R.I. for 2 years under Section 148 of IPC. All the sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

2. In Criminal Appeal No. 3136 of 2003, the appellants-Ashfaq, Azamuddin and Jamil have died during pendency of appeal and therefore, appeals in respect of them stands abated.

3. The Criminal Appeal No. 2771 of 2003 preferred by appellant-Yusuf stands abated vide order dated 29.03.2017 on his death during pendency of the appeal.

4. Criminal Appeal No. 2909 of 2003 has been preferred by appellant-Masoom Ali.

5. Thus, appeals in respect of appellants Nafees, Ghulam Sabir, Asif @ Kalwa, Aslooq, Zakir, Qayyum and appellant-Masoom Ali survives.

6. In brief, the prosecution story, is that on 21.05.2001 at about 12.30 p.m., the informant Ghulam Hasan gave a written report at the police Station, Bhojpur district, Moradabad alleging therein that one Imtiaz of his village had given 11 bigha land to the Mosque, but the same was not mutated in the name of Mosque. The said land was being cultivated by Azamuddin son of Nazar Uddin who is the sister's son of Imtiaz; the grand father of informant Ahmad Noor is the Mutawalli of the said Mosque who did pairavi in the matter and the land was recorded in the name of Mosque. On account of this, accused Azamuddin became inimical to them, he filed a case at Moradabad; that case was fixed on 21.05.2001 (i.e. date of occurrence); in order to attend the proceedings on 2.1.05.2001, the informant, his father Mubarak Husain, his uncle Mehndi Hasan and Sharafat Husain, cousin brother Ali Husain and Shafi sons of Abdul Wahid were going for pairavi of the said case on foot, ahead of them, accused-Ashfaq, son of Bashir and Nazim son of Chidda were also going; at about 10.00 a.m. when they reached the jungle of Trilokpur at about 1 km from Ramganga river, then from the bush near Damdama nalla(rivulet), the accused persons, Ashfaq son of Mushtaq, his brother Nafees, Azamuddin sons of Nazaruddin, Ghulam Sabir son of Himayat, Asif @ Kalwa son of Ibrahim, armed with country made pistol and the accused Yusuf son of Himayat, Aslam son of Nazaruddin, Jamil son Ibne Ali, all armed with Tabals and accused Qayyum, Masoom Ali, Jabir son of Ghulam Sabir armed with knives in their hands, all of a sudden came out of the bush tried to surround the informant and others accompanying him; in order to save their lives, the informant Ghulam Husain and Ali Hasan returned, but being of old age, Mehndi Hasan, Mubarak Husain, Sharafat Husain and Shafi were surrounded by the accused persons armed with country made pistols started firing; Shafi sustained fire arm injury but manage his escape; Mehndi Hasan, Sharafat Husain after sustaining injuries fell down, whereas Mubarak Husain ran towards west to save his life, but the accused persons also fired on him. Thereafter, the accused persons armed with Tabals and knives inflicted serious injuries; the informant and his associates were unarmed/empty handed, they could not save the deceased persons; the informant and others raised alarm upon which the accused persons ran away towards east; all the aforesaid accused persons (appellants) belong to same group and are notorious; the occurrence was seen by informant himself, Ali Hasan, Afaq, Nazim, Shafi and others; after the accused persons ran away, when the informant and others reached at the place of occurrence, they saw Mehndi Hasan, Shafat Husain and Mubarak Husain lying dead; leaving Ashfaq, Ali Hasan and Nazim on the spot, the informant Ghulam Husain along wi