IMPORTANT POINTS
Motive alone cannot be a ground for conviction.
Extra judicial confession of one accused cannot be fastened upon other accused.

JUDGMENT

Aftab Alam, J. —

1. Leave granted.

2. The three appellants are serving life sentences for committing murder of one Dile Ram. They were never on bail and have, thus, completed over ten years of incarceration. We, therefore, intended to grant leave in the case and release the appellants on bail. But, the counsel for the respondent stated that once released on bail it will be almost impossible to get hold of the appellants. We, accordingly, proceeded to hear the case on merits at the stage of special leave itself and at the conclusion of hearing we are dismayed to find that the appellants were convicted and sentenced on completely insufficient evidence.

3. The appellants are migrant workers who came to Chandigarh from different parts of the country in search of livelihood and were trying to eke out a living by working as rickshaw pullers. Appellant no.1, Sunil Rai alias Paua (accused no.1) had his money and clothes stolen by someone breaking open the lock of the box under the passenger seat of the rickshaw and the quarrel that took place, as a result of it, is said to be at the root of the alleged offence.

4. According to the prosecution case, on March 29, 2001 at about 8:30 p.m. Arun Kumar (PW-14), Shailendra Kumar Pandey (PW-9) and one Jaspreet Singh alias Chikna were present near the GPO, Sector 17, Chandigarh. Appellant no.2, Sher Bahadur alias Sheru (accused no.2) was also present there. At that time Sunil Rai and appellant no.3, Ram Lal (accused no.3) came there. Sunil Rai was agitated as his money and clothes were stolen. He accused Sher Bahadur of committing the theft and an altercation took place between them. Sher Bahadur told Sunil Rai that he had not stolen his money or the other articles and it might have been the work of Dile Ram. He also told Sunil Rai that he would make Dile Ram return his money and clothes. It was at this stage that Dile Ram also arrived at the scene coming from the side of Jagat Cinema. Sunil Rai caught hold of Dile Ram by his neck and asked him to return his money and clothes otherwise he would kill him. A scuffle took place between Sunil Rai and Dile Ram but the latter got himself freed and ran away from there. The three accused went after him yelling and shouting that they would not spare him. 12 hours later, at about 8:30 in the morning of March 30, 2001, an unidentified person was found lying in a badly injured condition at a spot near the local bus stand on the rear side of Neelam Cinema, situate at the sector 17 market. There were injuries on his head and face. At the spot where he lay there was a pouch of liquor (Ex. P32), a piece of brick (Ex. P1), a piece of stone (Ex. P2) and another piece of hard concrete. The blood flowing from the injuries had stained the earth at the spot, a sample of which was collected and produced in court as Ex. P3.

5. The injured was sent to hospital where he died. He was later identified as Dile Ram who, according to the prosecution, was last seen the previous evening, fleeing away with the appellants in pursuit yelling and shouting threats at him.

6. The three accused were put on trial for the murder of Dile Ram before the Sessions Judge, Chandigarh, who by judgment dated June 12, 2006 passed in Sessions Case no.02 of July 30, 2001 convicted all of them under section 302 read with section 34 of the Penal Code and by orders dated June 13 & 15, 2006, sentenced them to rigorous imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs.5,000/- each with the direction that in default of payment of fine they would undergo rigorous imprisonment for 1 year. The appellants went to the High Court in two separate appeals, one by Sunil Rai (Criminal Appeal no.580-DB of 2006) and the other by the other two appellants (Criminal Appeal no.523-DB of 2006). Both the appeals were heard together and were dismissed by a division bench of the High Court by judgment and order dated March 5, 2008. The matter is now before this Court in appeal by grant of special leave.

7. From the ante m