Holding

The Supreme Court held that the High Court misinterpreted Section 174 CrPC and wrongly disbelieved the FIR and eyewitness evidence, so the convictions under Sections 302/34 stand, with the death sentence commuted to life imprisonment.

Summary

The State of U.P. appealed the Allahabad High Court’s acquittal of four accused who had been convicted for the murder of Shanker Lal under IPC sections 302 and 34. The High Court had set aside the trial court’s conviction, relying on an inquest report under Section 174 CrPC that omitted mention of a ‘banka’ weapon, and consequently disbelieved the FIR and eyewitness testimony. The Supreme Court held that an inquest report need not record every detail of the assault and that the FIR, which detailed the weapons and roles of each accused, was reliable; the eyewitness accounts of the deceased’s brother and uncle were credible and unblemished. The Court found the High Court’s interpretation of Section 174 CrPC and its appraisal of evidence to be erroneous, thereby restoring the convictions. While upholding the life sentences for all four accused, the Court commuted the death sentence of the principal accused to life imprisonment due to the lapse of time. The appeal was allowed and the High Court’s acquittal set aside.

Issues considered

The correct scope and purpose of an inquest report under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code
Whether the High Court erred in disbelieving the FIR and eyewitness testimony on the basis of the inquest report’s omissions
Whether the convictions under IPC sections 302 and 34 can be upheld despite the High Court’s acquittal
Whether the death sentence should be confirmed or commuted given the passage of time

Legislation cited

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973s. 174, s. 366
Indian Evidence Act, 1872s. 145
Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 302, s. 34

Subjects

Criminal lawSection 174 CrPCInquest reportFIREvidence appraisalMurderIPC 302IPC 34Death sentence commutationConviction upheldAppeal

Judgment

A STATE OF U.P.
v.
j
ABDUL AND ORS.

MAY 5, 1997

B [M.K. MUKHERJEE AND S.P. KURDUKAR, JJ.]

Criminal law :

Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 : Section 174.

C Inquest rep01t-FIR mentioned deceased was assaulted by banka but
inquest report did not make say reference to banka-High Court disbelieved
co"ectness of FIR and evidence of eyewitnesses on ground that their evidence
was inconsistent with recitals in inquest report-Held : It is not necessary to
record all the details of the incident in the inquest repo1t-Judgment of High
D Court totally unsustainable.

Penal Code, 1860: Sections 302/34.

Evidence-Appreciation of-FIR mentioned all necessmy details about
assault including role and weapon used by each accused-Evidence of brother ·
E of deceased was found reliable and absolutely no mate1ial brought out to
discredit him-Uncle of deceased c'o"oborated his evidence and na"ated
entire story in the same sequence without any omission or mistake-Held :
In the circumstances of the case, High Court not justified in reversing convic-
tion of all four accused-Judgment of trial court restored-However, in view
of passage of time death sentence imposed on one of the accused commuted
F to imprisonment for life-Criminal. Trial.

Acquittal-Appeal against-Held : Supreme Cowt would interfere with
judgment of acquittal when it is based on a misconception of law and
e"oneous appreciation of evidence-High Court erroneously discarded
G prosecution story on an erroneous interpretation of S.174 CrPC.-Judgment
of High Court is totally unsustainable.

The respondents-accused were convicted under Section 302/34 of the
Indian Penal Code, 1860. The first accused was awarded death sentence
whereas the other three accused were sentenced to suffer imprisonment
H for life.
62
STATE v. ABDUL 63

According to the prosecution, the deceased received a notice relating A
to the 'No Confidence Motion' being moved against him as Pradhan. It was
alleged that A-1 and his associates were instrumental in moving this 'No
Confidence Motion'. The deceased, therefore, along with his brother (PW-
1) and uncle (PW-2) reached the house of DW-1, to discuss about the 'No
Confidence Motion'. As soon as the deceased left the house of DW-1, A-1 B
armed with his double barrel gun, A-2 and A-3 armed with katta and A-4
armed with banka suddenly appeared on the scene of offence and encircled
the deceased. A-1 then suddently fired at the deceased. A-4 assaulted the
deceased with banka whereas A-2 and A-3 fired from their katta (country
made pistol). The deceased died at the spot. A First Information Report
was lodged and an inquest was held under Section 174 of the Criminal C
Procedure Code, 1973. The FIR mentioned that the deceased was also
assaulted by banka but the inquest report did not make any reference to the
banka.

<l'he High Court on reappraisal of the evidence and other materials D
on record, acquitted all the accused. The High Court disbelieved the cor-
rectness of the FIR and the evidence of PWs 1 and 2 on the ground that
their evidence was inconsistent with the recitals in the inquest report. Being
aggrieved the appellant-State preferred the present appeal.

• Allowing the appeals, this Court E

HELD : 1. The First Information Report mentioned all necessary
details about the assault including the role and weapon used by each
accused. The evidence of the brother (PW-1) of the deceased is reliable and
there is absolutely no material brought out during the cross-examination F
to discredit his testimony. The uncle (PW-2) of the deceased corroborated
the evidence of PW-1 in all material particulars and he narrated the entire
story in the same sequence without any omission or mistake. If this be so,
the High Court had committed a serious error in not appreciating the
evidence of these two eye witnesses in a proper perspective and had er- G
roneously discarded the prosecution story on an erroneous interpretation
of Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. It is not necessary to
'1 .record all the details of the incident in the inquest report. The judgment of
the High Court is totally unsustainable and is set aside. However, in view
of passage of time death sentence awarded to A-1 is commuted to imprison-
ment for life. [72-A-E; 71-F-HJ H
'\
64 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1997] SUPP.1 S.C.R.

A Pedda Narayana & Ors. v. State of A.P., [1975] Suppl. SCR 84, relied
on.

2. This Court would not interfere with the judgment of acquittal
unless the impugned judgment is based on a misconception of law and
erroneous appreciation of evidence on record. In the instant case the im-
B pugnedjudgment of the High Court is not only erroneous on the interpreta-
tion of Section 174 Cr.P.C. but it suffers from serious infirmity as regards
appreciation of evidence on record in proper perspective. [72-D-H; 73-A-B]

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal No.
C 174-176 of 1990.

From the Judgment and Order dated l.12.88 of the Allahabad High
Court in Crl. A Nos. 506, 517 and 518 of 1988.

Arvind Mathur for (AS. Pundir) for the Appellant.

D Sunil K. Jain Vijay Hansaria, Jitendra K. Batra and Jain Hansaria &
Co., for the Respondents.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

S.P. KURDUKAR, J. The village Tilokpur consists of several hamlets,
E of which Kurthara is one where Abdul Ali son of Maikoo (A-1) was
residing but lateron he shifted to village Tilokpur. Mustaffa (A-2) was also
residing at village Kurthara but thereafter shifted to village Tilokpur.
Vikram (A-3) and Ramanuj (A-4) are the residents of village Kurthara. All
these four accused persons happened to be close friends of each other, of
F whom, Abdul Ali (A-1) was the Pradhan of Tilokpur Gram. Panchayat for
about fifteen years until he lost the election to the post of Pradhan to
Shanker Lal (since deceased). At the time of incident which took place on
December 24, 1983, undisputedly Shanker Lal was the Pradhan who
belonged to the opposite group. The accused and in particular Abdul Ali
(A-1) did not cherish the success of Shanker Lal as the Pradhan of village
G Tilokpur. The victory of Shanker Lal as the Pradhan was celebrated by his
supporters in the village which added an additional insult to the ego of A-1.
According to the prosecution, these factors led to the strained and inimical
relations between the two groups, one headed by A-1 and the other by
Shanker Lal.

· H· 2. It is alleged by the prosecution that a year prior to the incident in
STAIB v. ABDUL (S.P.KURDUKAR,J.j 65

question, A-1 and his associates had attempted to commit the murder of A
Shanker Lal, but he survived and at the material time a criminal case under
Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code was pending against them. A case
under Section 107 of the Criminal Procedure Code was also pending
against A-1.

3. According to the prosecution, a day before the incident in ques-
B
tion, Shanker Lal received a notice relating to the 'No Confidence Motion'
being moved against him. It was alleged that A-1 and his associates were
instrumental in moving this 'No Confidence Motion'. Shanker Lal, there-
fore, on December 24, 1983 i.e. the date of incident left his house at about
7.30 a.m. along with his brother Mangal (PW-1) and uncle Chhote Lal (PW C
2) and reached the house of Dwarih Prasad (DW~l) to discuss about the
'No Confidence Motion'. In the said meeting, it was decided to challenge
the validity of the 'No Confidence Motion' before an appropriate forum
and to obtain a stay order; for that purpose, they were to go to Lucknow.
Dwarika Prasad (DW 1) told Shanker Lal and his associates to go ahead
and he would join after a short time. Accordingly Shanker Lal, Mangal and D
C!thote Lal left the house of Dwarika Prasad and when they reached near
the house of Dhanendra Jain, A-1 armed with his double barrel gun, A-2
and A-3 armed with katta (country made pistol) and A-4 armed with banka
suddenly appeared on the scene of offence and encircled Shanker Lal. A-4
,. . used filthy language against Shanker Lal. A-1 then suddenly fired at
Shanker Lal. A-4 assaulted Shanker with banka whereas A-2 and A-3 fired E
from their katta (country made pistol). Shanker Lal on receiving a gun shot
and other injuries fell down and died at the spot. This incident happened
at about 8.45 a.m. The sound of fire arms and the cries raised by Mangal
and Chhote Lal attracted the attention of a couple of persons including
Mahadin and Mahabir. All the accused thereafter fled away. F

4. Mangal (PW-1) dictated the report of the incident to his uncle
Chhote Lal (PW-2) and was signed by both of them. They carried the
report to the police station Masauli, Distt. Barabanki and handed it over
to HC Shukhanta Ram (PW-3) who prepared the FIR (Ex. Ka-2) and G
registered the case at about 1.00 p.m. Mohan Lal Pandey (PW-6), the SHO
along with police force reached the place of incident for necessary inves-
tigation. After drawing up an inquest panchanama (Ex. Ka-5) on the dead
body, it was sent for post mortem examination through constable J agdish
Pandey and village Chowkidar Rahmat Ali. Dr. Ram Mohan (PW-4) held
the autopsy on the dead body on 25th December, 1983. Mohan Lal Pandey H
66 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1997] SUPP. 1 S.C.R.

A (PW-6) then prepared several panchanamas and recorded the statements
of various witnesses. During the course of investigatiqn, Mohan Lal Pandey
reliably learnt that A-1 had deposited his fire arm on December 24, 1983
at about 9.30 a.m. in the shop of Waheb Ali. The said weapon came to be
seized under seizure panchanama on 6th January, 1984. During the course
of investigation, the accused persons came to be arrested. After completing
B the investigation, all the four accused were put up for trial for an offence
punishable under Sections 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code for committing
the murder of Shanker Lal.

5. The accused denied the allegations levelled against them. and
C pleaded that they have been falsely implicated in the present crime out of
enmity. They are innocent and they be acquitted.

6. The prosecution in support of its case principally relied upon the
evidence of two eye witnesses, namely, Mangal (PW-1) and Chhote Lal
(PW 2) in addition to the evidence of Dr. Ram Mohan, M. 0. (PW-4) and
D panch witnesses and various panchanamas. The accused in support of their
defence examined Dwarika Prasad (DW 1).

7. The IVth Addi. Sessions Judge, Barabanki, on ·appraisal of oral
and documentary evidence on record by his judgment and order dated 31st
E August, 1988 convicted all the four accused persons under Sections 302/34
of the Indian Penal Code for committing the murder of Shanker Lal. The
trial judge awarded death sentence to Abdul Ali (A-1) and made a
reference under Section 366 Cr. P.C. to the Allahabad High Court, Bench
at Lucknow. Ac2 to A-4 were sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life.
F The reference made by the trial court came to be numbered being Capital
Sentence Reference No. 3 of 1988. In the meantime, all the four accused
persons filed Criminal Appeals to the High Court challenging the legality
and correctness of the judgment and order of conviction and sentence
passed against them. All these criminal appeals along with aforesaid refer-
ence were heard together. The High Court, on re-appraisal of evidence
G and other materials on record vide its judgment dated 1st December, 1988
allowed all the three appeals filed by the accused persons, rejected the
reference and acquitted each one of them of the charges levelled against
him. It is this judgment and order of acquittal passed by the High Court
which is sought to be challenged by the State of U.P. in these criminal
H appeals. Since these criminal appeals arise out of a common judgment, they
STATE v. ABDUL [S.P.KURDUKAR,J.] 67

are being disposed of by this judgment. A

8. We heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the oral
evidence and other materials on record. We have also gone through the
judgments of the courts below and in our considered view the impugned
judgment of the High Court is not only erroneous on interpretation of B
Section 174 Cr. P.C. but it suffers from serious infirmity as regards ap-
preciation of evidence on record in proper perspective. We are conscious
that we are dealing with the judgment of acquittal passed by the High
Court. Unless, we find that the impugned judgment is based on miscon-
-- .... ception of law and erroneous appreciation of evidence on record, this
Court would not interfere with the judgment of acquittal. We may, there- C
fore, point out how the findings recorded by the High Court are unsus-
tainable.

9. While disbelieving the correctness and reliability of the FIR, the
High Court heavily placed reliance upon the contents of the inquest D
panchanama (Panchayatnama) prepared under Section 174 of the Criminal
Procedure .Code and contrasted with the recitals in the FIR. The High
Court held that in the inquest panchanama, it was recorded that Shanker
Lal was shot dead by fire arm but it did not make any reference to the fact
that Shanker Jal was also assaulted by banka. The investigating officer had E
failed to record any injury on the person of Shanker Lal having been caused
.. by banka. The High Court then observed as under :

"The primary purpose of holding an inquest is to ascertain the
cause of death and to find out whether it is homicidal, suicidal or
F
accidental. The law therefore, requires a Police Officer to make
an investigation and prepare a report describing the wounds and

-- indicating by what weapon such wounds appear to have been
caused. The inquest report, though a document of limited scope
and nature, can nevertheless be utilised under section 145 of the
G
, Evidence Act.

As pointed out earlier, in the instant case, the inquest report
is silent as to the use of banka. Why has the use of banka not been
mentioned in the "Panchayatanama" is a question which immedi-
ately crops up for consideration in view of the recitals in the F.I.R. H
68 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1997) SUPP. l S.C.R.

A mentioning in unambiguous words that the deceased was also
· •· assaulted by banka which was wielded by Ramanuj. What is the
answer of the above question is the next question?"

The High Court then went on to observe :

B "Once it had come to the knowledge of the investigating officer
that the deceased had also been assauhed by banka which was
allegedly used by one of the appellants, there was no occasion for
him not to mention the use of banka in the inquest report unless
it can be attributed to him that he, from the very beginning of the
c investigation attempted to screen out or shield Ramanuj, but,
according to the allegations in the FIR was armed with 'banka'.

10. The interpretation of Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code
sought to be given by the High Court is apparently contrary to the law laid
down by this Court in Pedda Narayana & Ors. v. State of Andhra Pradesh,
D [1975) Suppl. S.C.R. 84. We may usefully reproduce the relevant observa-
tions which are as under :

"Another point taken by the learned Addi. Sessions Judge was
that in the inquest report details of the overt acts committed by
the various accused have not been mentioned in the relevant
E
column. The learned Judge in fact has assumed without any legal
justification that because the details were not mentioned in the
requisite column of the inquest report, therefore, the presumption
will be that the eye witnesses did not mention the overt acts in
their statements before the police. To begin with it seems to us
F that the learned Additional Session Judge's approach is legally
erroneous. A statement recorded by the police during the inves-
tigation is not at all admissible and the proper procedure is to
confront the witnesses with the contradictions when they are ex-
amined and they ask the Investigating Officer regarding those
contradictions. This does not appear to have done in this case.
G
Further more, proceedings for inquest under Section 174 of the
Code of Criminal Procedure have a very limited scope."

It was then observed :

H "A perusal of this provision would clearly show that the object
STAIB v. ABDUL [S.P.KURDUKAR,J.j

of the proceedings under Section 174 is merely to ascertain A
whether a person has died under suspicious circumstances or an
unnatural death and if so what is the apparent cause of the death.
The question regarding the details as to how the deceased was
assaulted or who assaulted him or under what circumstances he
was assaulted appears to us to be foreign to the ambit and scope B
of the proceedings under Section 174. In these circumstances,
therefore, neither in practice nor in law was it necessary for the
police to have mentioned these details in the inquest report."

In view of this settled position of law, in our considered opinion, the
very foundation of the judgment of the High Court is rendered unsus- C
tainable. The High Court disbelieved the evidence of Mangat (PW 1) and
., . Chhote Lal (PW 2) on the ground that their evidence is inconsistent with
the recitals in the inquest Panchanama. The observations of the High Court
in this behalf are as under :
D
"It may be contended that according to the recitals in the FIR, the
deceased had caught hold of the banka and, therefore, there was
no injury caused on the person of the deceased which could be
attributed to the use of banka.. Banka, which is a heavy sharp
cutting weapon, was in the hand of Ramanuj and he had attempted '
to give a blow on the person of the deceased. Since the intention E
was to commit the murder, it can be reasonably inferred that the
banka was used with considerable force. If in that situation it was
caught hold of by the deceased, serious wounds would have been
caused on the hand of the deceased. Such an injury has not been
noticed by the Investigating officer on the person of the deceased F
which also would indicate that Ramanuj was sought to be screened
out from the scene of occurrence."

- It is this basic foundation in the impugned judgment which has
resulted into erroneous appreciation of prosecution evidence on record.
We may briefly set out the reasons for acquittal recorded in the impugned G
judgment, (1) the-witnesses are close relatives of Shanker Lal; (2) Dwarika
Prasad although shown as a witness in the charge sheet, was given up at
the trial; (3) if Shanker Lal was to go to Lucknow for obtaining the stay
order against the 'No Confidence Motion', surely he would have carried
some money with him but in fact what was recovered from his person was H
70 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1997] STJPP.1 S.C.R.

A only 70 paise; (4) the incident took place in a busy locality but the
prosecution did not examine any person from the said locality; (5) Shanker
Lal was a history sheeter and involved in many crimes; that he had many
enemies in the village and, therefore the possibility of assault on Shanker
Lal by some other persons other than the accused cannot be ruled out.
B The High Court then observed :

"A person would go to Court specially t.he High Court after
having arranged for the money to meet the expenses involved in
the institution of the case. Three persons, namely, Shanker Lal
(deceased), his brother Mangal (PW-1) and uncle Chhote Lal
c (PW-2) were to go either to Barabanki or Lucknow, which would
mean that apart from litigation expenses, travelling and other
sundry expenses for three people should have been with the
deceased. But the investigating officer recovered only 70 paise
from the pocket of the deceased vide recovery memo (Ex. Ka-12)
which was sealed in an envelop (Ex. 3)."
D
11. The above referred findings in our considered view are totally
unsustainable for the following reasons :

It is not and cannot be disputed that Shanker Lal met with a
homicidal death. Dr. Ram Mohan (PW 4) held the autopsy on the
E
dead body of Shanker Lal and noticed the following injuries ;

1. Lacerated wound on the left side of neck 4 c.m. x 1/1.4 c.m. x
muscle deep 2 c.m. above left collar bone.

2. Gun shot wound of entry 3 c.m. x 3 c.m. x chest cavity deep,
F
circular in shape surrounding skin is blackened and hairs are
signed. The wound is situated on the left side of chest. 3 c.m. is
above and lateral to the left nipple. Margins are inverted.

3. Gun shot wound of entry on the right side of abdomen 2 c.m. x
G 1/1.2 c.m. x abd. cavity deep 3 c.m. right to the umblicus. Margins
are inverted surrounding skin is blackened and hairs are signed.

4. Incised wound on the point of right thumb on the pulp 1 c.m. x
0.4 c.m. x muscle deep.

H 5. Gun shot wound of exit on the right side of lower back (limber
STAIB v. ABDUL [S.P.KURDUKAR,J.] 71

area) 5 c.m. x 3 c.m. x abd. cavity deep. Margins are inverted. The A
wound is corresponding with injury No. 3.

6. Contusion on the right scapular region 1 c.m. x 1 c.m. in size.

7. Two sub-cutaneous swelling 1 c.m. x 1 c.m. on the left side of
chest 5 c.m. below and lateral to the left nipple. Some rounded· B
foreign body is felt under the skin.

The Medical Officer opined that the cause of death was shock and
haemorrhage as a result of fire arm injuries. We, therefore, unhesitatingly
conclude that Shanker Lal met with a homicidal death.
c
12. Coming to the culpability of the accused persons, the evidence of
two eye witnesses, namely, Mangal (PW-1) and Chhote Lal (PW2) in our
opinion is totally unblemished and can be safely accepted as credible one.
Mangal is the brother· of Shanker Lal. He has stated that on December 24,
1983, he along with Shanker Laland Chhote Lal (PW 2) left the house at D
7.30 a.m. and went to tk house of Dwarika Prasad (DW-1) to discuss
about the 'No Confidence Motion'. The copy of the notice of 'No Con-
fidence Motion' was being carried by Shanker Lal. After a brief halt at the
house of Dwarika Prasad (DW-1), they left his house in order to go to
Lucknow for taking appropriate legal proceedings and. to obtain a stay E
order. When they reached near the house of Dhanendra Jain, all the four
accused appeared on the scene of offence. A-1 was armed with double
barrel gun, A-2 and A-3 were armed with katta and A-4 was armed with
banka. A-4 uttered a few abusive words and immediately thereafter A-1
fired at Shanker Lal. A-2 and A-3 also fired from their katta causing bullet
injuries to Shanker Lal. A-4 assaulted with banka. The incident took place
F
at out 8.45 a.m. and the First Information Report came to be lodged at
Masauli police station at about 1.00 p.m. The FIR lodged by Mangal
(PW-1) in all material particulars corroborated his evidence. All necessary
details about the assault including the role and weapon used by each
accused persons had been referred to in the FIR. Mangal (PW 1) then G
........ stated that his brother Shanker Lal 'died on the spot. The witness was
although cross-examined at a great length but there is absolutely no
material brought out during the cross-examination to discredit his tes-
timony. We, therefore, see no hesitation in accepting the evidence of
Mangal (PW 1) as credible one. Chhote Lal (PW 2), the uncle of Shanker H
72 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1997) SUPP. 1 S.C.R.

A Lal again corroborated the evidence of Mangal (PW 1) in all material
particulars and he narrated the entire story in the same sequence without !
any omission or mistake. In addition to the above evidence, Chhote Lal
(PW 2) has stated that he was carrying with him Rs. 1400 to Rs. 1500 for
court expenses. There is some inconsistency as regards who was carrying
B the said money but in our opinion the said inconsistency does not demolish
the substratum of the prosecution case. It is also relevant to note that
during the inquest panchanama, a notice of 'No Confidence Motion' was
recovered from the person of Shanker Lal. This is an independent cir-
cumstance which speaks about the truthfulness of the prosecution case that
C Shanker Lal, Mangal (PW 1) and Chhote Lal (PW 2) then decided to go•
to the Court to obtain the stay order against the 'No confidence Motion'.
There is no serious challenge to the evidence of Mangal (PW 1) and
Chhote Lal (PW 2) that they were going along with Shanker Lal to
Lucknow. The presence of both these witnesses, therefore, cannot be
doubted. If this be so, in our opinion, the High Court had committed a
D serious error in not appreciating the evidence of these two eye witnesses
in a proper perspective and had erroneously discarded the prosecution
story on an erroneous interpretation of Section 174 Cr. P.C. We •are,
therefore, of the considered view that the judgment of the High Court is
totally unsustainable and needs to be set aside.
E
13. Consequent upon conviction of all the four accused persons
under Section 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code, the trial court awarded a
capital punishment to Abdul Ali (A-1) and imprisonment for life to A-2 to
A-4 vide its judgment and order dated 31st August, 1988 and made a
Reference to the High Court. The High Court, however, rejected the
F
reference; allowed the criminal appeals filed by the four accused persons
and acquitted each one of them vide its order dated 1st December, 1988.
Present appeals were filed in 1990 and they are being disposed of in April,
1997. Having regard to the passage of time, we do not think it proper to
confirm the death sentence awarded to Abdul Ali (A-1) by the IVth Addi.
G Sessions Judge. We reject the reference. We uphold the conviction of A-1
to A-4 under Section 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code and sentence each
of the accused persons to suffer imprisonment for life.

14. For the aforesaid conclusions, the appeals filed by the State of
H U.P. is allowed. The judgment and order of acquittal dated December '1,
STATE v. ABDUL [S.P.KURDUKAR,J.] 73

1988 passed by the High Court are set aside and the judgment and order A
of conviction dated 31st August, 1988 passed by the trial court against
accused A-1 to A-4 under Section 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code are
restored. However, the death sentence awarded by the IVth Addi. Sessions
Judge, Barabanki to Abdul Ali (A-1) is commuted to imprisonment for life.
Capital Sentence Reference No. 3 of 1988 is rejected. A-1 to A4 who are
on bail shall surrender to their bail bonds forthwith to serve out the B
sentences.

v.s.s. Appeals allowed.