The court confirmed that shared intent among an unlawful assembly to commit harm is sufficient for establishing guilt under relevant IPC sections, outweighing political affiliations of witnesses or accused.

JUDGMENT

P.B.Suresh Kumar, J.

These appeals arise from S.C.Nos.609 of 2015 and 1234 of 2015 on the files of the Court of the Special Additional Sessions Judge (Marad Cases), Kozhikode. The cases were tried together as they were registered in respect of the same occurrence. There were altogether 17 accused, and the trial court acquitted all of them. Crl.Appeal.No.988 of 2016 is preferred by the State challenging the acquittal of the accused. The remaining appeals are preferred by the victims, of which Crl.Appeal (v) No. 62 of 2017 is by the father of Shibin who succumbed to the injuries sustained in the occurrence and Crl.Appeal (v) No.107 of 2017 is preferred by some among the persons who sustained injuries in the occurrence.

2. The occurrence took place on 22.01.2015. Apart from the accused, one Muhammed Aseeb, a juvenile in conflict with law, hereinafter referred to as “the Juvenile”, was also involved in the crime. There was a religious ceremony in the house of the Juvenile on 22.01.2015. Food was taken from the house of the Juvenile after the ceremony to the house of the first accused by the sixth accused in a motor cycle bearing registration No.KL-18/D 6024 with the fifth accused in the pillion of the motor cycle. When the motor cycle passed through the road leading to Vellur from Thuneri, a few activists of the organisation DYFI namely Akhil, Rakhil, Lineesh and the deceased, Shibin were standing on the side of the road in front of the house of one Anilkumar. As the re-formation work of the said road was going on, dust scattered when the sixth accused had ridden the motor cycle through the same. The DYFI activists questioned the sixth accused for having ridden the motor cycle in such a manner causing dust to scatter and there occurred a verbal altercation between the DYFI activists and accused 5 and 6 on account of the same. After providing food in the house of the first accused, accused 5 and 6 returned through the same road. This time, the fifth accused was not in the pillion of the motor cycle. Instead, he was riding another motor cycle bearing registration No.KL-18/D 7061. At about 10.00 p.m., an altercation took place on their way back also at the same place. The accusation in the case is that when the altercation was going on between the DYFI activists on one hand and accused 5 and 6 on the other hand, accused 2, 4, 7, 8, 16 and the Juvenile arrived at the said place and supported accused 5 and 6 and thereupon, there occurred a quarrel between the groups. It is alleged that on hearing the noise from the quarrel, three persons namely, Vijeesh, Aneesh and Rajesh who were in the midst of some work in the vicinity arrived there and tried to pacify the groups involved in the quarrel and attempted to separate them to the two sides of the road, the accused to the western side and the DYFI activists to the eastern side. It is also alleged that accused 1, 3 and 15 then arrived there in a scooter bearing registration No.KL18/M- 8285 carrying few weapons. Accused 1, 3 and 15 thereupon asked the remaining accused who were present there then to come towards them, handed over to them the weapons which they carried and gave some instructions. It is further alleged that thereupon, accused 1 to 8, 15, 16 and the Juvenile formed themselves into an unlawful assembly with the common object of committing murder of the DYFI activists, namely, Akhil, Rakhil, Lineesh and Shibin as also Vijeesh, Aneesh and Rajesh and attacked them with the weapons carried by the said accused and also with a torch. It is further alleged that the third accused started the attack by beating Aneesh with the torch carried by h