Conviction under homicide laws requires both ocular and medical evidence to substantiate claims; familial witness testimony, if credible, is admissible.

1. Appellant No.1 Ram Prasad, appellant No. 2 Ram Sharan, appellant No.3 Sukhram and appellant No. 4 Dhanaram were tried by the Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Surajpur in Sessions Trial No.357/1998 for offence punishable under S.302 of the IPC or in alternative, under S.302 read with S.34 of the IPC and by the impugned judgment dated 20-9-2000, they were convicted for the offence under S.302 of the IPC and each of them were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and pay fine of Rs.1,000/- and in failure to pay the fine each of them has to undergo additional RI for a period of five months.

2. Questioning the legality and validity of the judgment of conviction recorded and sentence awarded, this appeal has been preferred by the appellants.

3. During the pendency of appeal, since appellant No.1 Ram Prasad has died which has been duly recorded in the order sheet dated 8-5-2006. This is how the appeal of appellant Nos.2, 3 and 4 is before us.

4. The prosecution case unfolded during the course of trial is as under: -
Admitted facts
4.1) That, accused appellant Nos. 1, 2, 3 and complainant Sukhsagar (PW - 1) are real brothers. Accused appellant No. 4 is son of accused appellant No. 2 Ram Sharan. Deceased Premsai is son of Sukhsagar (PW - 1) Kailaso (PW - 4) is wife of Sukhsagar (PW - 1). Seemavati (PW - 3) is wife of deceased Premsai. Among accused appellant Nos. 1 to 3 and complainant Sukhsagar (PW - 1), at the time of occurrence, dispute with regard to land left by their uncle Budhu, who was issue - less and had given 2.50 acres of land to deceased Premsai as Premsai had looked after Budhu, was pending consideration before the revenue Court and there was serious dispute with regard to possession of that land and their relations were estranged. Prosecution case in brief
4.2) The accused appellants now stand convicted under S.302 of the IPC. Appellant No.1 was carrying axe, whereas appellants Nos. 2, 3 and 4 were carrying lathi. On 4-8-1998, at about 7 p.m. in village Singri, Police Station Ramkola, Distt. Sarguja, these accused persons inflicted four injuries upon deceased Premsai and consequently, he died while he was being taken to hospital by Sukhsagar (PW - 1). Merg intimation Ex. P - 1 was given by Sukhsagar (PW - 1) on 4-8-1998 at about
23:45 hours. FIR Ex.P - 2 was registered on the basis of merg intimation on 5-8-1998 and the same was lodged by Sukhsagar (PW - 1). Inquest Ex.P - 4 was conducted on 5-8-1998. Memorandum statement Ex.P - 5 of appellant No.1 Ram Prasad was recorded on 5-8-1998 and on the basis of his memorandum, tangi was seized vide Ex.P - 13 on 5-8-1998. Thereafter, memorandum statement Ex.P - 6 of appellant No.2 Ram Sharan was recorded on 5-8-1998 and on the basis of his memorandum, lathi was seized vide Ex.P - 14 on 5-8-1998. Likewise, memorandum statement Ex.P - 7 of appellant No. 4 Dhanaram was recorded on 5-8-1998 and on the basis of his memorandum, lathi was seized vide Ex. P - 9 on 5-8-1998. Memorandum statement Ex.P - 8 of appellant No.3 Sukhram was recorded on 5-8-1998 and on the basis of his memorandum, tangi was seized vide Ex.P - 10 on 5-8-1998. The police also seized battle axe from the spot vide Ex.P - 11. Thereafter, body of deceased Premsai was sent for post - mortem and post - mortem was conducted by Dr. (Smt.) Subhadra Paikra (PW - 12) vide Ex.P - 31A. Autopsy surgeon found four injuries viz., two lacerated wounds, one abrasion and one incised wound over the body of the deceased and she opined that death of Premsai was on account of head injury and excessive bleeding.
4.3) The police after completion of investigation, charge - sheeted the appellants under S.173 of the CrPC. The prosecution in or