-1- HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH : BENCH AT INDORE (D. B.: P.K. Jaiswal & Mrs. S.R. Waghmare, JJ.) Criminal Appeal No.348/2010 Deependrasingh & another Vs. State of M.P. Shri Sanjay Sharma, learned counsel for the appellants. Shri R.S. Chouhan, learned GA for the respondent/State. Criminal Appeal No.351/2010 Lokendrasingh @ Anju & Ors. Vs. State of M.P. Shri S.K. Vyas, learned Sr. Counsel with Shri Amit Vyas, learned counsel for the appellant No.1. Shri Jai Singh, learned Sr. Counsel with Shri Rajesh Chouhan, learned counsel for the appellants No.2 and 3. Shri R.S. Chouhan, learned GA for the respondent/State. Criminal Appeal No.700/2010 Deepak S/o Maruti Rao Vs. State of M.P. Smt. Preeti Saxena, learned counsel for the appellant. Shri R.S. Chouhan, learned GA for the respondent/State. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- -2- J U D G M E N T (26 .09.2011) Per P.K. Jaiswal, J. This judgment shall govern the disposal of all the above three criminal appeals as they arise out of common judgment of conviction and sentence dated 10/3/2010, passed by II A.S.J., Ratlam in S.T. No.195/99. 2. By the aforesaid judgment, accused Deependrasingh, son of Ramchandra, Shailendra, son of Komal Singh Chouhan and Lokendrasingh @ Anju, son of Narendrasingh Rathore have been convicted for commission of the offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the IPC and they have been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life with fine of Rs.5,000/- each, in lieu, thereof, to undergo additional six months rigorous imprisonment. 3. Accused Anand Singh, son of Raisingh, Ravindra Singh @ Pappu, son of Ramchandra Singh Rathore and Deepak, son of Maruti Rao Patil have been convicted for commission of offence under Section 302 of the IPC and all of them have been sentenced to imprisonment for life with fine of Rs.5,000/-, in lieu, thereof, to undergo additional six months R.I. 4. Accused Ravindrasingh @ Pappu, Deependrasingh, Shailendrasingh and Lokendrasingh @ Anju have also been -3- convicted for commission of the offence under Section 323 of the IPC and all of them have been sentenced to undergo one month R.I. with fine of Rs.500/- each. All these sentences shall run concurrently. 5. All the above six accused preferred the appeals against the judgment of conviction dated 10/3/2010 before this Court. Deependrasingh, son of Ramchandra and Shailendra, son of Komalsingh Chouhan have filed Cri.A. No.348/2010 against the judgment of the trial Court, accused Lokendrasingh @ Anju, son of Narendrasingh Rathore, Anandisngh, son of Raisingh and Ravindrasingh @ Pappu, son of Ramchandrasingh Rathore have filed the appeal being Cri.A. No.351/2010 and accused Deepak, son of Maruti Rao Patil has preferred a separate appeal being Cri.A. No.700/2010 against the judgment of the trial Court. 6. According to the case of the prosecution, on the night intervening 14th and 15th October, 1999 at about 01.55 hours Yashpal, son of Rameshchand Mandora(PW.3) was sitting inside the house of Bothra Seth. Son of Eshwer Singh and his friends Golu and Manoj, both not examined, came to them and stated that Pappu Seth and his goons were quarelling with his companions and there was likelihood of a fight. On hearing the said news, Eshwer Singh left for the place on a scooter and reached Kiran Talkies. He saw that Ravindrasingh @ Pappu, Jitendera Singh, Deependra Singh, Anand Singh, Deepak, -4- Lokendrasingh @ Anju and Shailendrasingh armed with swords, Farsa, iron rods etc. were present. He tried to pacify them and said that they should not fight. These accused persons then conjointly attacked Eshwer Singh with their weapons, resulting in loss of his teeth and other serious injuries. Pappu had a sword in his hand, Anandsingh was armed with Farsa, Deepak was armed with sword, Shailendra Singh was armed with an iron rod and rest of them were armed with hockey and pipes. Ravindrasingh @ Pappu assaulted first with sword, which caused a deep injury on his neck; second injury was caused by Anandsingh, which struck him in the mouth and Deepak assaulted with sword. As a result of the assault, Eshwer Singh became unconscious and fell down. When Shaktisingh @ Vicky (PW.2) tried to intervene, he was also belaboured by these persons. Yashpal(PW.3) raised an alarm, which attracted a large number of persons to the spot. Seeing that the persons were approaching, the accused persons ran away. Eshwersingh Singh was taken in a Maruti Van to the hospital, but he succumbed to the injury before reaching the hospital. A report of the incident Ex.-P/6 was lodged by Yashpal(PW.3) at Police Station, Manik Chowk, Ratlam. 7. On a report having been filed, an offence was registered and B.S. Malviya(PW.15), S.H.O. of the Police Station started investigation. After trial, while acquitting accused Lokendrasingh, son of Devchand Jaiswal, other -5- accused persons have been convicted under Sections 34 and 148 of the IPC and each has been sentenced to RI for three years and fine of Rs.500/- each ; under Section 323 of the IPC for one year RI and fine of Rs.250/; as also under Section 302 IP and sentence of imprisonment for life and fine of Rs.500/- by the learned III ASJ, Ratlam in S.T. No.195/99. The judgment also directs imprisonment in default of payment of fine. 8. In Criminal Appeal No.907/2001 filed by the accused persons, it was contended that the trial Court has committed an illegality in recording the statement of PW.2 Shakti Singh Solanki and PW.3 Yashpal, both eye-witnesses, in the absence of the accused. Division Bench of this Court has opined that provisions contained in Section 273 of the Cr.P.C., which mandates that evidence shall be taken in the presence of the accused, has not been followed and, therefore, the judgment of conviction dated 6/8/2001was set aside with a direction to the trial Court to examine Shakti Singh Solanki(PW.2), Yashpal(PW.3) and Rajendra Singh(PW.4) again in the presence of the accused persons and, thereafter, to decide the matter in accordance with law. 9. The trial Court in compliance to the direction made by the Division Bench of this Court vide order dated 12/8/2008, recorded the statements of Shaktisingh @ Vicky(PW.2), Yashpal(PW.3) and Rajendrasingh(PW.4) again in the presence of the accused persons on 15/10/2008, 9/3/2009 and 23/3/2009 -6- respectively. After trial, while acquitting accused Lokendrasingh, son of Devchand Jaiswal and Jitendrasingh, son of Komalsingh under Sections 148, 302 and 323 of the IPC, other accused persons have been convicted by the impugned judgment dated 10/3/2010 as herein-above stated. 10. PW.2 injured eye-witness Shaktisingh( @ Vicky is the main eye-witness of the incident. He is the son of deceased Eshwersingh. PW.4 Rajendra Singh is the brother-in-law of the deceased and maternal uncle of PW.2 Shakti Singh @ Vicky. 11. The prosecution has produced Rajendrasingh(PW.4) as eye-witness of the case, but after appreciating his evidence, he was not found as eye-witness of the case. The trial Court held that at the time of incident, he was not present at the scene of occurrence. PW.3 Yashpal has been partly declared as hostile, but he has supported the prosecution case to the fact that he came at the place of occurrence along with Eshwersingh(deceased) and thereafter, a large number of persons were started inflicting injuries with deadly weapons to the deceased Eshwersingh, but he had not made any allegation against the accused persons and on that count he was declared hostile. Apart from that, the prosecution has not examined other important witnesses namely, Suresh, Bantu and Ramesh with whom Shaktisingh @ Vicky(PW.2) had gone to see “Garba”. The other important witnesses Manoj and Golu were also not examined by the prosecution. -7- 12. As per the statement of Shaktisingh(PW.2), the allegation against accused Jitendrasingh was that he only obstructed him when he was going to see 'Garba' and at that time he was unarmed. As per his statement, Jitendrasingh was asked by the accused persons to go and bring the arms, but this fact was found disbelieved by the trial Court. The trial Court has held that there is material omissions in Ex-D/1, police statement of PW.2 and Para 1 of his Court statement. In Para 1 he deposed that Jitendrasingh and Shailendrasingh had gone to bring the arms but B.S. Malviya, Investigating Officer (PW.15) in Para 21 of his statement has deposed that no such statement was made by Shaktisingh(PW.2), in his police station which was recorded by him. The trial Court in Paragraphs 15, 16 and 18 appreciated the statement of PW.2 and acquitted the co- accused Jitendrasingh, son of Komal Singh and Lokendrasingh, son of Devchand Jaiswal from the alleged offence. 13. Shri Jai Singh, learned senior counsel, who is appearing on behalf of accused Anandsingh and Ravindrasingh @ Pappu has submitted that trial Court erred in convicting them under Section 302 IPC and convicting Ravindraingh @ Pappu under Section 323 of the IPC for causing injuries to Shaktisingh (PW.2). His contention is that the evidence of PW.2 against the accused for commission of the offence under Section 302 of IPC is not reliable. -8- 14. The learned counsel for the State, on the other hand, submitted that the reasons given by the trial Court for recording the order of conviction is based upon proper appreciation of evidence led by the prosecution in the case. 15. Shakti Singh Solanki (PW2) in his statement, which was recorded on 15.10.08, has deposed that on the fateful night he along with his friends namely Suresh, Bantu and Ramesh were going to see 'Garba' at Kiran Talkies. When they reached Naharpura square, at about 1.30 AM, accused persons namely Ravindra Singh @ Pappu, Anand, Deepak, Jitendra and Shailendra stopped him and asked why you have come to see 'Garba' and also started abusing him. He found them preparing to cause injuries to him and, therefore, he asked his two friends Manoj and Golu to call his father Eshwer Singh, who was sitting at Bothra Tent House, Neem Chowk. As per PW2, within 2-3 minutes his father came at the place of occurrence and tried to pacify them and said that they should not fight. The accused persons then conjointly attacked Eshwersingh with their weapons. Ravindra Singh, who was armed with sword, inflicted sword injury on his father's neck, Anandsingh, who was armed with Farsi (sharp edged iron weapon), inflicted Farsi blow in the mouth and Deepak, who was armed with sword, caused sword injury on his neck. Due to multiple injuries, he became unconscious and fell down and when he tried to rescue Eshwarsingh, he was also assaulted by Ravindra Singh @ -9- Pappu and thereafter, Deependrasingh, Shailendrasingh and Lokendrasingh caught him. As per paragraph 2 of his statement he tried to save the life of his father, but they did not spare his father Eshwer Singh. 16. In respect of any prior enmity Shaktisingh @ Vicky (PW2) in paragraphs 2 and 4 of his statement has deposed that accused persons used to come in drunken state at his Health Club; they never used to pay any charge of Health Club and when he asked that Health Club is going to close at 9 PM they abused him and accused Ravindra Singh also slapped him and due to this old enmity they had committed the alleged offence. Ex.D/1 is the police statement of PW2, but there is omission in his police statement that he was slapped by Ravindra Singh and that the accused persons used to come to his Health Club. This witness in paragraph 31 of his statement has further stated that at the time of recording of his police statement he narrated the above fact to B.S. Malviya (PW15), but he did not know why this did not find place in his police statement. When PW15 was confronted with the statements of PW2 given in paragraph 31, he has deposed that the fact that the accused persons used to come his Health Club and on one occasion Ravindra Singh slapped him was never stated by PW2 and, therefore, the above facts were not recorded in his police statement. PW2 in paragraph 32 of his cross examination very specifically -10- admitted that the incident of using his Health Club without paying any charges and during quarrel with Ravindra Singh he slapped him was never told to his father. This witness has further admits that after the said incident the accused persons were continuously coming to his Health Club for a period of about 2-3 months and they were forcibly using all the facilities of the Health Club, which was run by his father. PW2 in paragraph 28 of his statement has deposed for the first time he went to see 'Garba' and except his friend nobody knows that he is coming to see 'Garba'. The trial Court after appreciating this part of the statement of PW2 has come to the conclusion that the conduct of PW2 is unnatural, because the said important fact has not been narrated to his father, which is nothing but an after thought. 17. Shaktisingh @ Vicky (PW2) in his statement also admitted that when he was obstructed by the accused persons, at that relevant point of time all the accused persons were unarmed. PW2 in paragraph 22 of his statement also admitted that there was no land dispute between the accused persons and his father, nor there was any money dispute, caste dispute, social dispute or political dispute with his father. In paragraph 43 he has further admitted that his father was not having any old enmity with the accused persons. Considering the above admission, trial Court came to the conclusion that there was no -11- old enmity or dispute between the accused persons and deceased Eshwer Singh to hold that they were having common object or common intention to commit the offence. The trial Court divided the whole incident in two parts. The first part is that no sooner PW2 along with his friend reached at the place where the 'Garba' was going on, the accused persons obstructed him and started quarrellings with him as there was a likelihood of a fight and therefore, he asked his two friends to call his father, while the second part starts when deceased Eshwersingh (father of PW2) came at the place of occurrence, he tried to pacify them and advised them not to quarrel with his son. The accused persons without following his advise started inflicting injuries to Eshwersingh by deadly weapons. The trial Court held that at the spot the accused persons formed an opinion and with common intention started inflicting injuries and committed murder of the deceased. 18. On 15.10.99 Dr. S.S. Bhushan (PW5) was posted as Medical Officer, District Hospital, Ratlam. On that day he did postmortem on the dead body of deceased Eshwersingh. As per postmortem report (Ex.P/6) the deceased received following multiple injuries, which reads as under: “I.W. Rt. Side of face, upper lip, lower lip up to chin is 15cm x 2cm bone deep. Tail directed down wards. -12- I.W. 10cm x 1cm lower lip, chin up to Lt. side and neck # mandible in mid line fail directed Lt. side downwards. I.W. 10cm x 1cm muscle deep, transverse below chin, tail directed left. I.W. 6cm x 1cm x 7cm deep (muscles, neck vessel cut.) situated Lt. side of neck transverse, tail directed laterally. I.W. Over nose (Rt) lower & upper lip 7cm x 1cm bone deep upper jaw bone #. I.W. 5cm x 2cm Lt. infra scapular region, obliquely downwards towards abdomens, entering in chest through abdomen rib cut diaphragm cut. I.W. 8cm x ½cm over vertex, transverse, bone deep. I.W. 5cm x 1cm. Just behind this injury. CLW, 2cm x 1cm Rt. side of forehead. CLW 10cm x 1cm . Lt. Ind. Surface of forearms muscle deep. Nine abrasion over chest, vertical ranges from 10cm x ¼ cm to 18cm x ¼ cm. Linear abrasion Lt. anterior shoulder ranges from 10cm x 14cm long. Three abrasion Lt. post-shoulder ranges from 10cm x ¼ to 14cm x ¼ cm. Abrasion Lt. side of forehead 7cm x 2cm. CLW 6cm x 1cm bone deep Rt. Side of forehead multiple abrasion over back ranges from 15cm x ¼ x 25cm x ¼.”. 19. There were number of incised wounds on the body of Eshwer Singh. The doctor opined that cause of death of deceased person is excessive haemorrhage from multiple wound over face, neck (due to severance & neck vessel), head, over left infra scapula through which injury to left lung and -13- spleen taken place loading to abundant blood loss. Mode of death – Syncope. Duration of death was within 24 hours. 20. Shakti Singh (PW2) in his statement has further deposed that Ravindrasingh, Deependra, Shailendra and Lokendra had also caused injuries to him. He was examined by Dr. Arun Kumar (PW1). Ex.P/1 is his MLC report, according to which he received following injuries: “(i) A transverse linear abrasion over antero- medial aspect of right arm – near shoulder joint – size 4” x ¼ cm, blood clot present. (ii) Mild pain over dorsal of right hand. (iii) Mild pain in middle of left forearm.” 21. PW1 has opined that injury No.1 of PW2 is simple in nature. In respect of injuries No.2 and 3 he has deposed that he will give his opinion after x-ray of the region and the injured was advised for x-ray. He further stated that injuries No.2 & 3 were caused by hard and blunt object. Considering the statements of PW1 & PW2 the learned trial Court convicted Ravindra Singh, Deependra, Shailendra and Lokendra under Section 323 of IPC. 22. PW2 in his statement has deposed that the accused persons also caused injuries to Jitendra Singh (PW7). PW7 has turned hostile and in paragraph 1 of his statement he has deposed that when he came to save the life of PW2 and his -14- father he received injuries, but he does not know who had caused all those injuries. 23. As per statement of PW2, Ravindra Singh @ Pappu, Anand Singh and Deepak are directly involved in inflicting multiple injuries on the person of the deceased. This part of the ocular evidence of PW2 is medically corroborated. The evidence of PW2 cannot be ignored through out, because it comes from a mouth of a person who is son of the deceased. In spite of extensive cross examination of PW2 defence could not illicit anything to discard this part of his deposition. Medical evidence shows that accused Ravindra Singh, Anand Singh and Deependra Singh caused very large number of injuries. The injury suffered by the deceased clearly shows that sword and Farsi were used by the accused persons with a considerable force and the injuries were caused on a vital part of the body. 24. In the instant case, Shakti Singh PW2 was injured eyewitness. He had given full details of the incident. He had given a graphical description of the entire incident. His deposition also stood fully corroborated by the evidence of (PW5) Dr.S.S. Bhushan. In such circumstances, it cannot be said that accused, Deepak, son of Maruti Rao Patil is not guilty of commission of offence under Section 302 of IPC. -15- 25. It is true that the injuries were inflicted on the deceased when he tried to pacify them and said that they should not fight, but the manner in which the above three accused persons had inflicted injuries on him, intention of causing bodily injuries is obvious. The said injuries were sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death. 26. Shri S.K. Vyas, learned Senior Advocate with Shri Ashish Gupta and Shri Sanjay Sharma, Advocates who were appearing for accused Lokendra Singh @ Anju, Deependra Singh and Shailendra Singh has submitted that the learned trial Court has mis-read and mis- appreciated the evidence on record. It is further submitted that from the evidence of Shakti Singh (PW2) it is crystal clear that appellants Lokendra Singh @Anju, Deependra Singh and Shailendra Singh did not cause any injury to the deceased, but the learned trial Court committed an error in holding them guilty of sharing common intention. It is also submitted that injury of PW2 is linear abrasion and was not a sword injury, learned trial Court erred in convicting them under Section 302/34 of IPC and under Section 323 of IPC. Learned Senior counsel also drew our attention to paragraphs 1, 2, 5, 49 & 52 to 55 of the statement of Shakti Singh (PW2), which was recorded on 15.10.88 and the FIR -16- No.117/06 (Ex.D/8), which was lodged by Nathuram against Vikky @ Shakti Singh (PW2) and Mukesh @ Kalu at Police Station Manak Chowk, Ratlam. 27. Learned Senior counsel placed reliance on an unreported decision of Division Bench of this Court in Criminal Appeal No.558909 (Chandar & another v/s State of M.P.) decided on 31.8.09. 28. Shri S.K. Vyas, learned Senior counsel and Shri Sanjay Sharma have also submitted that the question of convicting them with the aid of Section 34 of IPC did not arise. It is further submitted that essential ingredient of Section 34 of IPC i.e., that a common intention was shared, has not been established by the prosecution. They also submitted that their conviction under Section 302/34 of IPC is unwarranted and prayed for their acquittal. 29. On the other hand, Shri R.S. Chauhan, learned Govt. Advocate appearing for the respondent – State has vehemently opposed the appeals contending that the trial Court has rightly convicted the appellants (Lokendra @ Anju, Dipendrasingh and Shailendrasingh) under Section 302/34 of IPC. Eight persons came to the spot armed with deadly weapon with common intention to kill Eshwersingh. They surrounded Eshwersingh and started causing injuries -17- to him and when (PW2) Shaktisingh son of the deceased tried to save his father they also caused injuries to him and three appellants namely Lokendra @ Anju, Dipendra and Shailendrasingh caught hold him with a common intention to commit the murder of his father. If they could not have caught hold PW2 then he could have saved the life of his father. He lastly prayed for dismissal of the appeals. 30. Section 34 IPC carves out an exception from general law that a person is responsible for his own act, as it provides that a person can also be held vicariously responsible for the act of others if he has the “common intention” to commit the offence. The phrase “common intention” implies a prearranged plan and acting in concert pursuant to the plan. Thus, the common intention must be there prior to the commission of the offence in point of time. The common intention to bring a particular result may also well develop on the spot as between a number of persons, with reference to the facts of the case and circumstances existing thereto. The common intention under Section 34 IPC is to be understood in a different sense from the “same intention” or “similar intention” or “common object”. The persons having similar intention which is not the result of the prearranged plan cannot be -18- held guilty of the criminal act with the aid of Section 34 IPC. (Mohan Singh v/s. State of Punjab, AIR 1963 SC 174). 31. The establishment of an overt act is not a requirement of law to allow Section 34 to operate inasmuch this section gets attracted when a criminal act is done by several persons in furtherance of the common intention of all. What has, therefore, to be established by the prosecution is that all the persons concerned had shared a common intention (Vide Krishnan v/s. State of Kerala ( 1996) 10 SCC (Cri) 1375 and Harbans Kaur Vs. State of Haryana (2005) SCC (Cri) 1213). 32. In Gopi Nath Vs. State of U.P. (2001) 6 SCC 620, the Apex Court observed as under :- “8...... Even the doing of separate, similar or diverse acts by several persons, so long as they are done in furtherance of a common intention, render each of such persons liable for the result of them all, as if he had done them himself, for the whole