Criminal Appeal Nos 285  286 of 1986
From the Judgment and Order dated 710286 of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Criminal Appeal Nos 1403 to 1404 of 1985
UR Lalit GK Sharma and SK Sabharwal for the Appel lants
TC Sharma for the Respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by KHALID J
The appellants Ram Narayan and his son Mahesh have been convicted under Section 302 IPC and sentenced to death
They are the residents of Village Hinota
They are alleged to have committed five murders on 21 6 1984 at about 630 PM
The deceased are Puran Baraua his wife Narbad Bai his mother Mula Bai his daughter Kumar Nanhi Bai and his neighbour Gulab
The learned counsel for the appellants tried to take us through the evidence to persuade us to re appreciate it
The evidence has been considered minutely by the Courts below
Then he put forward a feeble right of private defence which has no substance
Then he made a fervent appeal before us regarding the sentence imposed
It is useful to advert to one fact which has come out the evidence in the case
The root cause of the gruesome murder appears to be the marriage of a lady belonging to a higher caste with a Harijan boy
The High Court deals with it in paragraph 19 as follows 19
It may be pointed out that it is clear from the evidence that the incident occurrence when the appellant Mahesh had broken the earthen pot of the deceased Narbad Bai at the well on the ground that the appellents 712 treated Pooran and his inmates of the lower caste because Jankibai one of the daughters of Pooran had taken a Harijan as her husband
 The High Court felt compelled to express its concern about the evil of untouchability in paragraph 18 at page 46 as follows It is unfortunate that evil of untouchability was still prevalent in some parts of our country even after 38 years of independence and 30 years of coming into force of the untouchability Act 1955 which evident by the facts of the instant case
Indeed it is a matter of great concern that very often there occur grave occurrences including group mur ders resulting into untimely death of innocent persons by those who still believe in toucha bility as their way of life
The present case is one of those gravest killings and ghastly murders of five persons by the appellants who deserve condemnation by awarding severest punishment provided under the law
 The evidence shows that Mahesh axed Narbadbai without any provocation from any member of his family
Thereafter Pooran was assaulted and axed by Mahesh
When the assault of these two persons by the father and son was on the mother of Pooran came from inside and questioned as to why they were doing this
She too was killed by giving her axe blows by the appellants
When the neighbour Gulab asked the appel lants as to why they were murdering these people he was also axed to death by the appellants
A young girl aged about 14 years standing near the bathing place at the corner of the house was also not spared
Mahesh gave her an axe blow on receipt of which she fell down at some distance and died
The evidence further shows that the blood thirst of the accused was so intense that they knocked and tried to break open the door of the room where Nandram PW 1 and his wife Savithri Bai PW 2 were hiding to save themselves and they left the place only when the door could not be broken
It is against this background that the request of the appellants  counsel for interference with the sentence has to be considered
The High Court observes that the act of the appellant was extremely brutal revolting and gruesome which shocks the judicial conscience And again as in such shocking nature of crime as the one before us which is so cruel barbaric and revolting it is necessary to impose such maximum punishment under the law as a measure of social necessity 713 which work as a deterrent to other potential offenders
 We share the concern of the High Court
We also feel that it will be a mockery of justice to permit these appel lants to escape the extreme penalty of law when faced with such evidence and such cruel acts
To give the lesser pun ishment for the appellants would be to render the justicing system of this country suspect
The common man will lose faith in courts
In such cases he understands and appreci ates the language of deferrence more than the reformative jargon
When we say this we do not ignore the need for a reformative approach in the sentencing process
But here we have no alternative but to confirm the death sentence
Accordingly we dismiss the appeals
PSS Appeals dismissed


Summary:
The prosecution alleged that the appellants father and son had committed the murder of five innocent persons
The root cause of the crime was said to be that one of the daughters of the deceased had taken a Harijan as her hus band and for that the appellants were treating them as lower caste
The evidence showed that the appellants had assaulted and axed the wife husband and his mother without any provocation from them
A neighbor who asked as to why the appellants were murdering those people was also axed to death
A young girl aged about 14 years who was standing near the scene of occurrence was also not spared
The blood thirst of the appellants was so intense that they then knocked and tried to break open the door of the room where PW Nos 1 and 2 were hiding to save themselves and they left the place only when the door could not be broken
The appellants were convicted under section 302 IPC and sentenced to death
The High Court observed that the case was one of the gravest killings and ghastly murders that the act of the appellants was extremely brutal revolting gruesome and shocking to the judicial conscience and that the nature of crime being so cruel and barbaric it was necessary to impose the maximum punishment under the law as a measure of social necessity to work as a deterrent to other potential offenders
Dismissing the Appeals of the appellants the Court 711 HELD There is no alternative but to confirm the death sentence
The evidence has been considered minutely by the courts below
It will be a mockery of justice to permit these appellants to escape the extreme penalty of law when faced with such evidence and such cruel acts
To give the lesser punishment for them would be to render the justicing system of this country suspect
The common man will then lose faith in courts for in such cases he understands and appreciates the language of deferrence more than the reform ative jargon
To say so is not to ignore the need for a reformative approach in the sentencing process
713A C