M. NAGESWARA REDDYversusTHE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH AND OTHERS

                         [2022] 2 S.C.R. 501                               501


                     M. NAGESWARA REDDY                                    A
                                   v.
      THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH AND OTHERS
                (Criminal Appeal Nos. 72-73 of 2022)
                          MARCH 07, 2022                                   B
         [M. R SHAH AND B. V NAGARATHNA, JJ.]
       Appeal: Appeal against acquittal – In the instant case, eleven
accused were tried together for the offences under ss.147,148, 324,
326, 307, 427 and 302 r/ws.149 IPC– Trial Court convicted accused
                                                                           C
no.1 to 3 u/ss. 148 and 302 of IPC and acquitted accused no.4 to
11 – High Court reversed conviction of accused no.1 to 3 and
confirmed the acquittal of accused no.4 to 11 – State and
complainant filed appeal against acquittal – Held: With respect to
accused no.1 to 3, they were identified by PW1, PW3 & PW6 – They
were main assailants – The depositions of the eye-witnesses and            D
injured eye-witnesses showed no major/material contradictions –
Merely because the witnesses were the relatives of the deceased, their
evidence cannot be discarded – Delay of 7 hours in filing FIR was
not fatal to the prosecution case – Even FIR was sent to magistrate
within 24 hours as per the provisions of Cr.P.C. – PW6 was an injured
                                                                           E
eye-witness and his presence cannot be doubted and being an injured
eye-witness, his deposition was reliable – High Court committed error
in reversing the conviction of accused no.1 to 3 – In respect of accused
no.4 to 11, the findings recorded in respect of their acquittal were on
appreciation of evidence on record and the view taken by the trial
Court acquitting Accused Nos. 4 to 11, which was affirmed/confirmed        F
by the High Court, was a plausible view – Roles attributed to Accused
Nos. 1 to 3 and Accused Nos. 4 to 11 were different – Therefore, case
of Accused Nos. 4 to 11 was not comparable with the case of Accused
Nos. 1 to 3 – No interference called for with concurrent findings of
acquittal against accused no.44 to 11.
                                                                           G
      Allowing the appeals against the acquittal of accused nos.
1 to 3 and dismissing the appeals against the acquittal of accused
nos.4 to 11, the Court
      HELD: 1. In the present case the prosecution examined
five important and relevant witnesses – PW1, PW3, PW5, PW6                 H
                                  501
502           SUPREME COURT REPORTS                     [2022] 2 S.C.R.


A     & PW7, out of which PW1, PW3 & PW5 were the eyewitnesses
      and PW6 & PW7 were the injured eye-witnesses. Accused Nos.
      1 to 3 were identified by PW1, PW3 & PW6. Though, the learned
      trial Court has disbelieved PW5, the High Court has not at all
      discussed and/or re-appreciated the evidence/deposition of PW5,
      which as a first appellate Court, the High Court was required to.
B
      Having gone through the deposition of the relevant witnesses –
      eye witnesses/injured eye-witnesses, this Court is of the opinion
      that there are no major/material contradictions in the deposition
      of the eye-witnesses and injured eye-witnesses. All are consistent
      insofar as accused Nos. 1 to 3 are concerned. The High Court
C     has observed that PW1, PW3 & PW5 were planted witnesses
      merely on the ground that they were all interested witnesses
      being relatives of the deceased. Merely because the witnesses
      were the relatives of the deceased, their evidence cannot be
      discarded solely on the aforesaid ground. Therefore, in the facts
      and circumstances of the case, the High Court has materially
D
      erred in discarding the deposition/evidence of PW1, PW3, PW5
      & PW6 and even PW7. [Paras 9, 10][510-D-H]
            2. One another reason given by the High Court is that the
      FIR was not registered at the time as claimed by the prosecution,
      but it was registered many hours after the occurrence and sent
E     to the Magistrate with unexplained delay and according to the
      High Court, this facilitated the police to falsely implicate the
      accused after PW1 arrived at the police station. However, the
      FIR was lodged within seven hours. As per the prosecution, it
      was lodged immediately. The interpolation of the time of the
F     incident, 0.30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., could not be explained as the
      same was not raised before the trial Court. No question on the
      same was asked to the concerned witnesses. Even otherwise, in
      the facts and circumstances of the case, the delay of seven hours
      cannot be said to be fatal to the prosecution case. Even the FIR
      was sent to the Magistrate within 24 hours, as required under
G     the provisions of the Cr.P.C. [Para 11][511-B-D]
           3. The High Court has unnecessarily given weightage to
      some minor contradictions. The contradictions, if any, are not


H
  M. NAGESWARA REDDY v. THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH                       503
                   AND OTHERS

material contradictions which can affect the case of the prosecution      A
as a whole. PW6 was an injured eye-witness and therefore his
presence ought not to have been doubted and being an injured
eye-witness, as per the settled proposition of law laid down by
this Court in catena of decisions, his deposition has a greater
reliability and credibility. The High Court has committed a grave
                                                                          B
error in reversing the judgment and order passed by the learned
trial Court convicting Accused Nos. 1 to 3 for the offences under
Sections 148 & 302 IPC and the High Court has erred in
acquitting Accused Nos. 1 to 3. [Paras 12, 14][511-E-F;
512-A-B]
      CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal                    C
Nos. 72-73 of 2022.
      From the Judgment and Order dated 21.02.2018 of the High Court
of Judicature at Hyderabad for the State of Telangana and the State of
Andhra Pradesh in Criminal Appeal Nos.611 and 659 of 2011.
                                                                          D
      With
      Criminal Appeal No. 74 of 2022.
      A. Sirajudeen, Sr. Adv., Sanjeev Kumar, Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki,
Polanki Gowtham, Shaik Mohamad Haneef, T. Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy,
K. V. Girish Chowdary, Ms. Rajeswari Mukherjee, Advs. for the             E
Appellant.
       Guntur Prabhakar, D. Ramakrishna Reddy, Mrs. D. Bharathi
Reddy, M. A. Chinnasamy, C. Rubavathi, M. Veeraragavan, C.
Raghavendren, Ch. Leela Sarveswar, V. Senthil Kumar, P. Rajaram, K.
Ethiraj, Goli Ramakrishna, Sumanth Nookala, Advs. for the Respondents.    F
      The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
      M. R. SHAH, J.
      1. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned common
judgment and order dated 21.02.2018 passed by the High Court of           G
Judicature at Hyderabad for the State of Telangana and the State of
Andhra Pradesh in Criminal Appeal No. 611/2011 and Criminal Appeal
No. 659/2011, by which the High Court has allowed Criminal Appeal
No. 611/2011 preferred by original accused Nos. 1 to 3 (respondent
Nos. 2 to 4 herein in Criminal Appeal No. 72 of 2022) and has acquitted
                                                                          H
504            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                           [2022] 2 S.C.R.


A     original accused Nos. 1 to 3 and by which the High Court has dismissed
      Criminal Appeal No. 659/2011 preferred by the original complainant –
      appellant in Criminal Appeal No. 73/2022, challenging the judgment and
      order passed by the learned trial Court acquitting the rest of the accused,
      i.e., accused Nos. 4 to 11, the original complainant has preferred the
      present appeals bearing Criminal Appeal Nos. 72-73/2022.
B
            1.1 Against the impugned judgment and order passed by the High
      Court acquitting original accused Nos. 1 to 3, the State has also preferred
      a separate appeal being Criminal Appeal No. 74 of 2022.
             2. As per the case of the prosecution, on 18.01.2007 at about 8:30
C     p.m., all the accused formed an unlawful assembly armed with hunting
      sickles, came from behind the sumo vehicle and surrounded it near Dr.
      Kabir Clinic at Gayithri Estate, Kurnool, in which the deceased
      Rajasekhar Reddy and his brother M. Nageswara Reddy (PW1) and
      other supporters Shaik Akbar Basha (PW3), P. Sekhar (PW7) and S.
      Venkagamuni (PW8) were travelling, and S. Rajesh (PW6) was the
D     driver. Accused Nos. 1 to 3 forcibly opened front left side door and
      dragged out the deceased by saying that “Ee Naqkodukulaganni
      Narakandir Raa” and immediately hacked him with hunting sickles
      indiscriminately while Accused Nos. 8 to 11 hit the glass windows of the
      sumo vehicle with hunting sickles and broke the glasses. Accused Nos.
E     9 & 11 hacked the driver Rajesh (PW6) and he sustained bleeding injuries
      on his right shoulder, hand and side ribs, while Accused Nos. 4 to 7
      chasedPW1, PW3, PW7& PW8 and when they were fleeing injuries
      were caused to PW7 and later all they fled away. The deceased
      Rajasekhar Reddy died on the spot whereas PW6&PW7 were taken to
      Government General Hospital, Kurnool. On the report of LW1
F     (Nageswara Reddy) a case being Crime No. 7 of 2007 was registered
      against the accused for the abovesaid offences.
             2.1 The investigating officer during the course of investigation
      recorded the statements of the concerned persons – witnesses. He also
      collected documentary evidences including medical evidence. During
G     the course of the investigation, the investigating officer arrested all the
      accused. On conclusion of the investigation, the investigating officer
      filed a chargesheet against all the eleven accused for the offences under
      Sections147, 148, 324, 326, 307, 427 and 302 read with 149 IPC in the
      Court of learned Magistrate, Kurnool. As the case was exclusively triable
H     by the learned Court of Sessions, the learned Magistrate committed the
  M. NAGESWARA REDDY v. THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH                            505
             AND OTHERS [M. R. SHAH, J.]

case to the District & Sessions Judge’s Court, Kurnool. The accused            A
pleaded not guilty and therefore all of them came to be tried by the
learned Sessions Court.
      2.2 To bring home the charge, the prosecution examined in all
seventeen witnesses and brought on record the relevant documentary
evidences through the aforesaid witnesses. According to the case of the        B
prosecution, PW1, PW3 & PW5 were the eye witnesses to the incident
and PW6 & PW7 were the injured eye witnesses who sustained injuries
during the incident.
       2.3 As per the case of the prosecution and the eye witnesses/
injured eye witnesses, all the accused persons attacked. Accused Nos.          C
1 to 3 dragged out the deceased and hacked him with hunting sickles
indiscriminately, while Accused Nos. 8 to 11 hit the glass windows of the
sumo vehicle with hunting sickles and broke the glass. Accused Nos. 9
& 11 hacked the driver Rajesh, PW6and he sustained bleeding injuries
on his right shoulder, hand and side ribs, while Accused Nos. 4 to 7chased
PW1, PW3, PW7 & PW8 while they were fleeing injuries were caused               D
to PW7 and later they ran away. After closure of the prosecution side
witnesses, the statements of the accused were recorded under Section
313 Cr.P.C. The case on behalf of the accused was that of total denial
and that they were falsely implicated in the case because of their political
rivalry and past enmity. However, the accused did not adduce any               E
evidence in support of their defence.
      2.4 On appreciation of evidence, the learned trial Court held
Accused Nos. 1 to 3 guilty of the offences punishable under Sections
148 & 302 IPC and sentenced them to undergo life imprisonment for the
offence under Section 302 IPC and one year R.I. for the offence under          F
Section 148 IPC. However, the learned trial Court acquitted Accused
Nos. 4 to 11 of all the charges levelled against them.
      3. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the judgment and order
of conviction and sentence passed by the learned trial Court, Accused
Nos. 1 to 3 preferred Criminal Appeal No. 611/2011 before the High             G
Court. The complainant also preferred Criminal Appeal No. 659/2011
before the High Court against acquittal of the rest of the accused, i.e.,
Accused Nos. 4 to 11.
       3.1 By the impugned common judgment and order, the High Court
has allowed Criminal Appeal No. 611/2011 preferred by original Accused
                                                                               H
506            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                           [2022] 2 S.C.R.


A     Nos. 1 to 3 and has acquitted the accused of the offences punishable
      under Sections 302 and 148 IPC. The High Court has dismissed Criminal
      Appeal No. 659/2011 preferred by the complainant, confirming the
      acquittal of accused Nos. 4 to 11.
            4. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned common
B     judgment and order acquitting Accused Nos. 1 to 3, both, the original
      complainant as well as the State have preferred Criminal Appeal Nos.
      72/2022 and 74/2022. Against dismissal of the appeal preferred by the
      complainant confirming the acquittal of original accused Nos. 4 to 11,
      the complainant has also preferred Criminal Appeal No. 73/2022.
C             5. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the original complainant
      as well as the State have vehemently submitted that the impugned
      judgment and order passed by the High Court acquitting Accused Nos.
      1 to 3 is not sustainable.
             5.1 It is submitted that in the present case, the High Court has
D     erred in acquitting accused Nos. 1 to 3.
             5.2 It is submitted that in the present case the High Court has
      unnecessarily given weightage to the alleged interpolation in the FIR
      with respect to the time of lodging the FIR. That as such the said question
      was neither raised before the learned trial Court nor any question of
E     such alleged interpolation, if any, was put to the Investigating Officers –
      PW16 & PW17. It is submitted that even the High Court has specifically
      observed in the impugned judgment and order that it is true that no such
      question on the alleged interpolation of the time was asked to the
      Investigating officers – PW16 & PW17.

F            5.3 It is vehemently submitted that the High Court has doubted
      the complaint/FIR given by PW1 mainly on the ground of alleged
      interpolation of time of lodging the FIR and on the ground that there was
      a delay of seven hours in lodging the FIR and that the FIR was sent to
      the learned Magistrate at 4:30 a.m. on the next morning. It is further
      submitted that the High Court has not properly appreciated and considered
G     the fact that the FIR was sent to the learned Magistrate within a period
      of 24 hours as required under the law.
             5.4 It is submitted that in the present case as per the FIR and
      even as per the deposition of the Investigating Officer, the FIR was
      lodged at 9:30 p.m. on 18.01.2007, i.e., before he reached the police
H     station at 10:30 p.m. That the High Court has suo motu raised the said
  M. NAGESWARA REDDY v. THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH                           507
             AND OTHERS [M. R. SHAH, J.]

issue which was not even framed by the learned trial Court and even it        A
was also not the case on behalf of the accused before the learned trial
Court.
       5.5 It is contended that as such in the present case the prosecution
has proved the case against Accused Nos.1 to 3 by examining the relevant
witnesses, more particularly PW1, PW3, PW5, PW6 & PW7. That PW1               B
& PW3 are the eye witnesses to the incident and PW6 & PW7 are the
injured eye witnesses whose testimony is consistent.
       5.6 It is submitted that the High Court has disbelieved PW1 &
PW3 who were the eye witnesses on some minor contradictions between
the two versions of PW1 & PW3. However, it is required to be noted            C
that those contradictions are not material contradictions which may create
a doubt about the trustworthiness and credibility of PW1 & PW3.
       5.7 It is further submitted that the High Court has also doubted
the credibility and trustworthiness of PW1 & PW3 on the ground that
they are interested witnesses. However, it is required to be noted that
                                                                              D
merely because PW1 is the brother of the deceased and PW3 is the
driver, that by itself cannot make them interested witnesses and their
evidence cannot be discarded on that ground.
      5.8 It is also submitted that in the present case even PW5 is also
an eye witness. However, the High Court has not reappreciated the
evidence of PW5 on the ground that the learned trial Court has held that      E
PW5 is not an eye witness but a planted witness. It is submitted that
however the High Court being the first appellate Court was required to
reappreciate the entire evidence on record including the deposition/
evidence of PW5.
       5.9 It is further contended that the High Court has not at all         F
appreciated and considered the fact that PW6 &PW7 are the injured
eye witnesses. That their injuries have been supported by the medical
evidence and the doctor who treated PW6 & PW7. It is submitted that
therefore there was no reason to doubt the credibility and trustworthiness
of PW6 & PW7.
                                                                              G
      5.10 Making the above submissions, it is prayed to set aside the
impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court insofar as
acquitting accused Nos. 1 to 3 are concerned.
       5.11 Now so far as acquittal of accused Nos. 4 to 11 by the learned
trial Court as well as by the High Court is concerned, it is vehemently       H
508            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2022] 2 S.C.R.


A     submitted that the prosecution has established and proved the presence
      of accused Nos. 4 to 11 at the time of incident and a specific role/overt
      act has been attributed to them. It is submitted that when accused Nos.
      4 to 11 were charged for the offences under Section 302 read with
      Section 149 IPC and when it has been established and proved that they
      participated in the commission of the offence and they were the part of
B
      the unlawful assembly, the learned trial Court ought to have convicted
      accused Nos. 4 to 11 also.
            6. The present appeals are vehemently opposed by learned counsel
      appearing on behalf of the original accused.
C             6.1 It is vehemently submitted by learned counsel appearing on
      behalf of the original accused that having found the interpolation/
      correction in the FIR and when it has been found that 0.30 a.m. has
      been converted to 9:30 p.m. and having found that even the FIR was
      received by the learned Magistrate at 4:30 a.m. on 19.01.2007, though
      the distance between the police station and the Magistrate Court is hardly
D     four kilometres and there was a delay of seven hours in sending the FIR
      to the learned Magistrate, the High Court has rightly disbelieved the FIR
      given by PW1 and has rightly observed that there are all possibilities of
      implicating the accused falsely.
            6.2 It is further submitted that as such cogent reasons have been
E     given by the High Court doubting the credibility and trustworthiness of
      PW1, PW3, PW6 & PW7. That the entire case of the prosecution rests
      on PW1, PW3, PW5, PW6 & PW7. It is submitted that therefore on
      reappreciation of the evidence and by giving cogent reasons, the High
      Court has disbelieved PW1 & PW3 (so called eye witnesses) and PW6
F     & PW7 (so called injured eye witnesses). It is submitted that the High
      Court has not committed any error in acquitting Accused Nos.1 to 3 and
      confirming the acquittal of Accused Nos. 4 to 11.
            6.3 Making the above submissions, it is prayed to dismiss all the
      appeals.
G            7. We have heard the learned counsel for the respective parties
      at length.
            At the outset, it is required to be noted that there were eleven
      accused who were tried together for the offences under Sections147,
      148, 324, 326, 307, 427 and 302 read with 149 IPC. The learned trial
H     Court convicted accused Nos. 1 to 3 for the offences under Sections
  M. NAGESWARA REDDY v. THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH                             509
             AND OTHERS [M. R. SHAH, J.]

148 & 302 IPC and sentenced them to undergo life imprisonment.                  A
However, the learned trial Court acquitted accused Nos. 4 to 11. The
conviction of Accused Nos.1 to 3 has been reversed by the High Court
by the impugned judgment and order and even accused Nos. 1 to 3 are
acquitted for the offences for which they were convicted. The High
Court has affirmed/confirmed the acquittal of Accused Nos. 4 to 11.
                                                                                B
       7.1. It is required to be noted that so far as the State is concerned,
the State has preferred the present appeal being Criminal Appeal No. 74
of 2022 challenging the impugned judgment and order passed by the
High Court insofar as acquitting Accused Nos. 1 to 3 and it is the original
complainant who has preferred the appeals being Criminal Appeal Nos.            C
72 & 73 of 2022 challenging the reversal of conviction and acquitting
Accused Nos. 1 to 3 as well as dismissing his appeal which was against
the judgment and order passed by the learned trial Court acquitting
Accused Nos.4 to 11.
       8. Having heard learned counsel for the respective parties and           D
having gone through the judgment and order passed by the learned trial
Court acquitting Accused Nos.4 to 11, which has been affirmed/confirmed
by the High Court and the appeal preferred by the complainant
challenging the acquittal of Accused Nos. 4 to 11 is concerned, as such,
there are concurrent findings recorded by both, the learned trial Court
as well as the High Court holding Accused Nos. 4 to 11 not guilty. The          E
findings recorded in respect of acquittal of Accused Nos. 4 to 11 are on
appreciation of evidence on record and the view taken by the learned
trial Court acquitting Accused Nos. 4 to 11, which has been affirmed/
confirmed by the High Court, is a plausible view and therefore the same
are not required to be interfered with by this Court in exercise of powers      F
under Article 136 of the Constitution of India. Accordingly, Criminal
Appeal No. 73/2022 preferred by the original complainant against acquittal
of Accused Nos. 4 to 11 is hereby dismissed.
       9. Insofar as Criminal Appeal No. 72/2022 preferred by the original
complainant and Criminal Appeal No. 74/2022 preferred by the State              G
challenging the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court
acquitting Accused Nos. 1 to 3, reversing the judgment and order of
conviction and sentence passed by the learned trial Court are concerned,
while acquitting accused Nos. 1 to 3, the High Court has summarised
the discussion as under:
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510            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                           [2022] 2 S.C.R.


A           “(i) The FIR was not registered at the time as claimed by the
            prosecution, but it was registered many hours after the occurrence
            and sent to the Magistrate with unexplained delay, which facilitated
            the police to falsely implicate the accused, obviously after PW1
            arrived at the police station;
B           (ii) PWs 1,3,5 and 8 were planted witnesses;
            (iii) PWs 6 and 7 could not identify the assailants;
            (iv) The accused, being the members of the rival faction, were
            the natural suspects and accordingly, they have been implicated
            on mere suspicion, without any clear evidence;
C
            (v) The Court below has completely failed to comprehend the
            aforementioned aspects and erroneously convicted accused nos.
            1 to 3, while acquitting accused Nos. 4 to 11; and
            (vi) In our opinion, the same reasoning, which was adopted by the
            Court below for acquitting accused Nos. 4 to 11, is equally
D           applicable to accused Nos. 1 to 3.”
              However, it is required to be noted that in the present case the
      prosecution examined five important and relevant witnesses – PW1,
      PW3, PW5, PW6 & PW7, out of which PW1, PW3 & PW5 were the
      eye- witnesses and PW6 & PW7 were the injured eye-witnesses.
E     Accused Nos. 1 to 3 were identified by PW1, PW3 & PW6. Though,
      the learned trial Court has disbelieved PW5, the High Court has not at
      all discussed and/or re-appreciated the evidence/deposition of PW5, which
      as a first appellate Court, the High Court was required to.
             10. Having gone through the deposition of the relevant witnesses
F     – eye-witnesses/injured eye-witnesses, we are of the opinion that there
      are no major/material contradictions in the deposition of the eye-witnesses
      and injured eye-witnesses. All are consistent insofar as accused Nos. 1
      to 3 are concerned. As observed hereinabove, PW6 has identified
      Accused Nos. 1 to 3. The High Court has observed that PW1, PW3 &
      PW5 were planted witnesses merely on the ground that they were all
G
      interested witnesses being relatives of the deceased. Merely because
      the witnesses were the relatives of the deceased, their evidence cannot
      be discarded solely on the aforesaid ground. Therefore, in the facts and
      circumstances of the case, the High Court has materially erred in
      discarding the deposition/evidence of PW1, PW3, PW5 & PW6 and
H     even PW7.
  M. NAGESWARA REDDY v. THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH                              511
             AND OTHERS [M. R. SHAH, J.]

       10.1 It is true that PW7 could not identify the assailants. However,      A
the prosecution has been able to prove the incident from the deposition/
evidence of PW7 and the manner in which the incident took place.
       11. One another reason given by the High Court is that the FIR
was not registered at the time as claimed by the prosecution, but it was
registered many hours after the occurrence and sent to the Magistrate            B
with unexplained delay and according to the High Court, this facilitated
the police to falsely implicate the accused after PW1 arrived at the
police station. However, the FIR was lodged within seven hours. As per
the prosecution, it was lodged immediately. The interpolation of the time
of the incident, 0.30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., could not be explained as the           C
same was not raised before the trial Court. No question on the same
was asked to the concerned witnesses. Even otherwise, in the facts and
circumstances of the case, the delay of seven hours cannot be said to be
fatal to the prosecution case. Even the FIR was sent to the Magistrate
within 24 hours, as required under the provisions of the Cr.P.C. PWs1, 3
& 6 are all consistent in their testimony and they have fully supported          D
the case of the prosecution. We see no reason to doubt their presence
and their deposition.
        12. Having gone through the reasoning given by the High Court,
we are of the opinion that the High Court has unnecessarily given
weightage to some minor contradictions. The contradictions, if any, are          E
not material contradictions which can affect the case of the prosecution
as a whole. PW6 was an injured eye-witness and therefore his presence
ought not to have been doubted and being an injured eye-witness, as per
the settled proposition of law laid down by this Court in catena of decisions,
his deposition has a greater reliability and credibility.                        F
       13. Now so far as the finding recorded by the High Court in the
final conclusion that the same reasoning which was adopted by the court
below for acquitting accused Nos. 4 to 11 will also be equally applicable
to accused Nos. 1 to 3 is concerned, it is to be noted that the roles
attributed to Accused Nos. 1 to 3 and Accused Nos. 4 to 11 are different.        G
Accused Nos. 1 to 3 are the main assailants. They are identified by the
eye-witnesses/injured eye-witnesses. The overt acts of Accused Nos. 1
to 3 are different than that of Accused Nos. 4 to 11. Therefore, the case
of Accused Nos. 4 to 11 is not comparable with the case of Accused
Nos. 1 to 3.
                                                                                 H
512              SUPREME COURT REPORTS                        [2022] 2 S.C.R.


A           14. In view of the above discussion and for the reasons stated
      above, the High Court has committed a grave error in reversing the
      judgment and order passed by the learned trial Court convicting Accused
      Nos. 1 to 3 for the offences under Sections 148 & 302 IPC and the High
      Court has erred in acquitting Accused Nos. 1 to 3. Therefore, the
      impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court insofar as
B
      acquitting Accused Nos. 1 to 3 deserves to be quashed and set aside
      and the judgment and order passed by the learned trial Court convicting
      Accused Nos. 1 to 3 for the offences under Sections 148 & 302 IPC
      and sentencing them to life imprisonment is to be restored.
             15. Accordingly, Criminal Appeal No. 72/2022 preferred by the
C     original complainant and Criminal Appeal No. 74/2022 preferred by the
      State, challenging the impugned judgment and order acquitting Accused
      Nos. 1 to 3 are allowed and the impugned judgment and order dated
      21.02.2018 insofar as acquitting Accused Nos. 1 to 3 for the offences
      under Sections 148 & 302 IPC is hereby quashed and set aside. The
D     judgment and order passed by the learned trial Court convicting Accused
      Nos. 1 to 3 for the offences under Sections 148 & 302 IPC and sentencing
      them to life imprisonment is hereby restored. Accused Nos. 1 to 3, namely,
      Kasireddy Ramakrishna Reddy, S/o Venkata Reddy, Kasireddy Rambhupal
      Reddy, S/o Kasireddy Pulla Reddy and Kasireddy Venkateswara Reddy,
      S/o Sankarananda Reddy are hereby directed to surrender to undergo
E     the remaining sentence, within a period of four weeks from today.
            Insofar as Criminal Appeal No. 73/2022, preferred by the original
      complainant challenging the acquittal of Accused Nos. 4 to 11 is
      concerned, as observed hereinabove, the same stands dismissed for the
      reasons stated hereinabove.
F

      Devika Gujral                                           Appeals disposed of.




G




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