Allahabad High Court
Sundar Lal And Ors. vs State Of U.P. on 15 May, 1997
Equivalent citations: 1998CRILJ1058
Author: G.P. Mathur
Bench: G.P. Mathur
JUDGMENT Kundan Singh, J.
1. This appeal has been preferred against the judgment and order dated 15-12-1979 passed by Sri M.N. Asthna, the then II Additional Sessions Judge, Jalaun at Orai in Sessions Trial No. 176 of 1979 whereby Devi Deen has been convicted under Section 302, I.P.C. simpliciter and sentenced to imprisonment for life. Sunder Lal Swarup alias Kalyan Singh, Narain Das, Ram Adhar, Murlidhar, Shiroman Singh and Narain Das Swarnkar have been convicted under Sections 302/149, I.P.C. and sentenced to imprisonment for life. Budh Singh has been convicted under Section 302 read with Section 109, I.P.C. and sentenced to imprisonment for life. He has also been convicted under Section 29(b) of the Arms Act and sentenced to 3 months' R.I. Sunder Lal, Devi Deen, Ram Swarup alias Kalayan Singh, Narain Das, Ram Adhar, Mulidhar, Shiroman Singh, Narain Das Swarnkar have also been convicted under Section 307, I.P.C. and sentenced to undergo 5 years R.I. Sunder Lal, Devi Deen, Ram Swarup, Narain Das, Shiroman Singh and Narain Das Swarnkar have further been convicted under Section 148, I.P.C. and sentenced to (sic) years' R.I. Ram Adhar and Mulidhar have also been convicted Under Section 147, I.P.C. and sentenced to one years' R.I. Ram Swarup alias Kalyan Singh has also been convicted under Section 27 of the Arms Act and sentenced to two years' R.I.
2. The prosecution case, as revealed in the F.I.R., is that Bhagwan Das informant is resident of Village Titra Khalilpur, Police Station Konch, District Jaluan. There is a Gautam Junior High School in the village. Narain Das Swarnkar was Manager of that School. He was removed and Bhanu Singh was elected by the Committee of the School as Manager last year. Narain Das Swarnkar with the help of his companions Sunder Lal and others started another school in the village. Students in both the schools were studying. Both the schools were approved by the Educational Authorities. About 20 Bighas of cultivable land was attached with the old school. Both the managers Bhanu Singh as well as Narain Das Swarnkar were considering that the cultivable land to be their own property and hence the proceedings under Section 107, Cr.P.C. took place between them regarding that property. Last year that landed property was cultivated by Bhanu Singh and this year also. On the fateful day, i.e. 30-8-1974 Halke Kachhi ploughman of Bhanu Singh had gone to plough the field, situated near the school. Narain Das Swarnkar and Narain Das Kurmi armed with country made pistols, Sunder Lal, Devi Deeen, Ram Swarup alias Kalyan Singh armed with guns, Ram Adhar and Mulidhar having lathis formed unlawful assembly and they were going to the fields for restraining the other side from cultivating the land of the school. Yashwant Singh, younger brother of Bhanu Singh, was returning after serving breakfast to the ploughman. The informant was also accompanying him at that time. At about 11.00 A.M. both of them met the accused persons. Narain Das Swarnkar and Sunder Lai asked them as to why they were cultivating the field of the school and they would not permit them to cultivate the same that year. Yashwant Singh replied that the field belonged to the old school of which his brother was the Manager, who were they to inter-fere in the cultivation. Then Sunder Lal exhorted his companions to beat them and told them who they were. Yashwant Singh went to the other side of minor canal after crossing the same through the knee deep water of it. Narain Das Swarnkar challenged him in abusive language if he was a man why he was running away. Yashwant Singh and Narain Das started exchange of abuses. There- upon the complainant due to fear turned towards Birora minor and saw the incident. Narain Das Swarnkar fired a shot towards Yashwant Singh (P.W. 9) which hit on his chest. After sustaining gunshot injury he fell down in the water of Rajwaha from its patri. Then Ram Adhar and Murlidhar assaulted him with lathis. The complainant and Yashwant Singh raised alaram which attracted Bhallo P.W. 3 and Khimole who were grazing their cattle nearby. Makhole and Dhandhoo (P.W. 4) who were going to village from their fields, Latore, Meva Lal, Daya Ram, who was aged about 14 years, came there running from the village side reprimanding the accused to save Yashwant Singh. Devi Deen on the exhortation of Sunderlal fired a shot with his gun towards them and challenged them. The shot fired by Devi Deen hit on the body of Daya Ram. Daya Ram took a turn and fell down. When Bhalloo (P.W. 3) came foreward to rescue him Shiroman fired a shot with country made pistol which hit him. He returned and ran away. Kalyan Singh who was armed with gun of his father Budh Singh fired a shot which hit Dhandhoo (P.W. 4). Narain Das caused fire arm injuries with his country made pistol on the person of Khimole and Makhole. Daya Ram, Yashwant Singh, Bhalloo and Dhandhoo sustained serious injuries in the incident and they were taken to Konch Hospital where Daya Ram succumbed to his injuries while he was being taken down at the Hospital. The informant, leaving dead body of Daya Ram in the care of his uncle Tulsi went to police station. Other injured persons were also following him to the police station. He apprehended danger to his and other's life from Sunder Lal and others. He lodged an F.I.R. at 3.15 p.m.' on 30-8-1974 at police station Konch, which is at a distance of 7 miles from the place of occurrence.
3. The case was registered in the presence of P.W. 13 Lal Singh, Station Officer, who took up the investigation in his hand. He recorded the statement of informant Bhagwan Das at the police station itself. He proceeded to the place of occurrence where he reached at 6 p.m. and recorded the statement of Mewa Lal, Latore, Khimole, Makhole and others under Section 161 Cr.P.C. He took the shirt of Khimole as he found the sign of gunshot on it. He remained in the village throughout the night. He did not conduct further investigation that day due to paucity of light. Next day i.e. 31-8-1974 he again started investigation at 7.30 a.m. and inspected the venue and prepared a site plan. He collected 5 discharged cartridges of 12 bore from the spot. He collected 12 tiklies and 5 wads and prepared relevant memos thereof. He recorded the statement of Balwan, Parmanand, Brindawan, Veer Singh, another Brindawan son of Shyam Lal, Kunji and others under Section 161, Cr.P.C. He went in search for the accused persons. He recovered a licensed gun of 12 bore of Budh Singh in the presence of Babu, Ghan Lal, Janak Dulari wife of Budh Singh and relevant memo was prepared. Next day he reached the Hospital about 6.00 p.m. where he interrogated Yashwant Singh, Bhalloo, Dhandhoo. Their blood stained clothes were also taken into custody and relevant memos thereof were prepared. On 2-9-1974 he again went to the village of occurrence where he arrested Budh Singh.
4. P.W. 2 Dr. S. A. Zaman examined the injured persons on 30-8-1974. On the person of Bhalloo he found 15 gunshot wounds and one contusion at 4.10 p.m. On the body of Dhandhoo one gun shot wound of entry with its wound of exit was found at 5.15 p.m. On the body of Yashwant Singht the doctor found 89 gun shot wounds, one lacerated wound, six contusions and one abrasion at 4.50 p.m. The injuries of Khimole and Makhole were examined by the same Doctor at 1.00 p.m. and 1.10 p.m. on 31-8-1974 respectively. He found two gunshot wounds of entry on the chest of Khimole and one gunshot wound on head of Makhole. Mohd Farid P.W. 7 S.I. held the inquest and prepared other relevant documents. The dead body was sent to the Mortuary through constables Ram Lakhan and Pratap Singh for post mortem examination. Dr. S. A. Zaman P.W. 2 conducted the post -mortem examination on the body of Daya Ram at 10-30 a.m. on 31-8-1974. The Doctor found 3 gunshot wounds of entry on the body of Daya Ram.
5. Five discharged cartridges recovered from the spot and the gun of Budh Singh which was recovered from his house used by his son Ram Swarup alias Kalyan Singh in the crime were sent for Ballistic opinion. Shiv Prasad Misra (P.W. 14) gave his opinion that 2 of the 5 cartridges collected from the spot were fired from the gun (of Budh Singh) sent to him. The Investigating Officer after completing other formalities submitted charge-sheet in Court against all the accused persons.
6. The prosecution examined as many as 14 witnesses and filed affidavits of Constable Kishan Kumar, Pratap Singh and Baij Nath Singh to prove its case. Out of them Bhagwan Das P.W. 1, Bhalloo P.W. 3, Dhandhoo P.W. 4 and Yashwant Singh P.W. 9 were the witnesses of factum of the incident. The prosecution examined Shiv Prasad Misra Ballistic Expert to prove that two cartridges out of 5, recovered from the spot by the I.O., were fired from the gun (which was licensed gun of Budh Singh and recovered from his house by the Investigating Officer). Rest witnesses were of formal nature.
7. The accused persons denied the prosecution version and pleaded false implication due to previous enmity. They stated that Narain Das and Sunder Lal are still Manager and Chairman of the School. No election was held of the Executive Committee in the year 1973. Cultivatory land in area 20 Bighas belonged to school was in the possession of Sunder Lal and not Bhanu Singh. They further stated that no other school was started. In the appeal the decree was set aside and the possession of Sunder Lal was confirmed. Bhanu Singh and Yaswant Singh had been removed from the Manager ship from I 973. Sunder Lal also stated in his statement recorded under Section 313, Cr.P.C. that he advanced loan to Ghan Lal, Kunji, Ayodhya and Din Dayal. He filed a suit for the recovery of the amount of loan which was decreed. Due to this reason he had been named as an accused in the present case. Ram Swarup alias Kalyan Singh stated that Ghan Lal, Baldhar, Phar Chander uprooted his crops. In that connection his father reported the matter to the police. Baldhar is father of Dhandhoo injured and Ghan Lal is uncle of Daya Ram deceased while Phar Chander is also uncle of Daya Ram. They have falsely involved him due to long standing previous enmity. Devi Deen stated that his brother Raghu Nath was a member of the school, hence he has been implicated in the case. Narain Das Kurmi stated that there had been a litigation between him on one side, Bhallo and Makholey injured persons on the other and also between him and Balwant Singh, due to which he has been falsely implicated. Narain Das Swarnkar stated that he contested an election of Pradhan against Balwan father of Yaswant. He removed Veer Singh brother of Bhanu from the post of Assistant Teacher. He also removed Bhanu Singh from the post of Manager. He also removed Brindavan, brother of Daya Ram from the post of Teacher. He continued depositing land revenue of agricultural land of the school development and irrigation charges from 1966 to 1979. The approval of school had been granted from 1976 in his favour and continued till 1979. He is still holding the charge of Manager of the School. Murlidhar stated that there had been a litigation in revenue Court between him and Makhole injured. In that case Balkrishna was the witness. Bhalloo witness of the present case is son of Bal Krishna. He succeeded in the revenue litigation. In that litigation Ghan Lal uncle of Daya Ram deceased was also a witness against him. Budh stated that he reported the matter regarding the damage of his crops by the cattle against Paramanand, Baladhar, Ghan Lal. He was called by the Inspector at the police station on second of the month with his gun and belt of cartridges. His gun and belt of cartridges were taken into custody by the Inspector at the police station. That belt contained some discharged and some live cartridges. He was lodged in the lock up of the Police Station. The defence also examined Mohd. Rafi, Arm Clerk Orai as D. W. 1 who stated that he summoned special report of the police station regarding the present crime with the permission of the District Magistrate. In practice special reports after perusal of District Magistrate were sent to him, but in the present case he had not received the special report of the present case. It was possible that the special report might have been consigned in the office.
8. The learned Additional Sessions Judge after considering the entire evidence on record held the appellants guilty of the offences charged with and convicted and sentenced each of them as stated above. The appellants have come up before this Court in this appeal against their conviction and sentence.
9. We have heard Sri P. N. Misra, learned counsel for the appellants, Sri O. P. Singh for accused Sunder Lal and Sri S. P. Tiwari, learned A.G.A. for the State.
10. Learned counsel for the appellants has not disputed the factum of incident. He mainly contended that in the present case Section 149, I.P.C. is not applicable as there was no prearranged plan or common object of assembly for the commission of murder of Daya Ram. As such all the accused cannot be convicted under Section 302 vicariously with the aid of Section 149, I.P.C. At the most each accused could be held responsible for his own act individually. Learned counsel for the appellants relied on various case law including Alauddin Mian v. State or Bihar reported in 1989 ACC 400 : AIR 1989 SC 1456, Nawab Ali v. State of U.P. reported in 1974 ACC 208 : 1975 All LJ 143 (SC), Nawab Ali v. State of U.P. reported in 1974 All CC 208 : 1975 All LJ 143 Shambhu Nath Singh v. State of Bihar reported in AIR 1980 SC 725 (sic), Ahermulu Laxman v. State of Gujarat reported in 1969 All CC 198, Santosh v. State of M.P. reported in 1975 All CC 174 : AIR 1975 SC 654 Gajjan Singh v. State of Punjab reported in 1976 All CC 104 : AIR 1976 SC 2069. Fatta v. State of U.P. reported in 1979 All CC 151 : 1979 All LJ 901 and Division Bench cases of this Court State of U.P. v. Kallu Lal reported in 1985 ACP 234, Khem Karan v. State of U.P.
11. Before adverting to the submission advanced on behalf of the appellants and applicability of the case law referred by their counsel, we would like to examine the evidence on record.
12. Bhagwan Das informant P.W. 1 narrated the whole episode in detail. He deposed that there is a Gautam Junior High Court Titra, Khalilpur which was started in 1966 and Narain Das, Sunder Lai and Bhanu Singh were members of the Managing Committee of this school. Narain Das Swarnkar was Manager while Sunder Lal was Chairman and Bhanu Singh was Manager. Bhanu Singh is elder brother of Yashwant Singh P. W. 9. The election of the Managing Committee was held in 1973, in which Bhanu Singh was elected as Manager. Sunder Lal and Narain Das were removed from their posts. Narain Das and Sunder Lal started another Gautam Junior High School in the village. The old school had 20 bighas of land which does exist today also. Sunder Lal and, Narain Das wanted to take the possession of the land of the school after the new school started. The witness had gone in search of she-buffalo which was missing previous day. He reached towards Naria searching for the buffalo in the har (sic) of village Byona Manthara. He met Halke Kachhi, who was ploughing the land of the school. Yashwant Singh came there to serve the break fast to the ploughman. The witness went with Yashwant Singh after serving the breakfast towards the village and when he reached near the Byora minor he saw Narain Das S warnkar, Narain Das Kurmi, Shiroman Singh armed with country made pistols, Devi Deen, Sunder Lal and Kalyan Singh alias Ram Swarup were armed with guns, Ram Adhar, Murlidhar holding lathis coming near the electric pole. It was 11.00 a.m. Narain Das Swarnkar and Sunder Lal asked Yashwant Singh as to why he was getting the land of the school ploughed. Yashwant Singh replied that it was the land of old school, of which Bhanu Singh his brother was Manager. Who were they to interrupt, thereupon Sunder Lal exhorted to assault and told him as to they were. Yashwant Singh went towards southern patri after crossing the Rajwaha. The witness also apprehended danger and reached towards bridge of Birauna minor. The hot words were exchanged between Narain Das Swarnkar and Yashwant Singh. Narain Das Swarkar told as to why he was running and Narain Das fired a shot towards Yashwant Singh which hit on his chest. After receiving injuries Yashwant Singh fell down in the canal. Ram Adhar, Murlidar jumped into the water of the canal with their lathis and assaulted him. Bhallo was grazing his sheep towards southeren side of the Rajwaha and Khimole was also grazing his cattle there. Dhandhoo and Makhole were returning from the western side. When they reached the field of Ram Das, Mewa Lal, Latore and Daya Ram who, were coming from the village side, also reached there. Yashwant Singh and the witnesses raised alarm, on which Daya Ram came forward to rescue Yashwant Singh. On exhortation of Sunder Lai, Devi Deen fired a shot, which hit Daya Ram, who took a turn and went towards Souht-West and fell down. Bhallo P.W. 3 also went towards them. Shiroman fired a shot with his country made pistol towards Bhalloo who after receiving gunshot injuries returned and after taking some steps sat down in the field of Ram Das. Then Dhandhoo went to rescue' Yashwant Singh. Kalyan Singh alias Ram Swarup fired a shot with his gun which hit Dhandhoo. He also after sustaining injuries sat in the field. Makhole and Khimole advanced to rescue them. Then Narain Das fired a shot which hit Makhole and Khimole. They also after sustaining injuries sat down there. The accused persons went towards the village. Ram Adhar and Murli after assaulting Yashwant Singh joined their companions. The witnesses found Yashwant Singh alive in the Rajwaha and he was taken near Daya Ram, who was also alive but was crying in pain. He sustained injuries on his chest. Makhole bandaged the injury of Daya Ram with a piece of Dhoti. The informant and other witnesses took the injured persons in the shed of mango tree, which is near the old school. Kunji and Brindavan also reached there. Daya Ram was taken to Hospital Khonch, which is at a distance of 7 miles, on a bullock cart. He succumbed to his injuries when he was being lifted in the hospital. He left Daya Ram in the care of his uncle Kunji. He took a piece of paper from the shop and wrote down a report. He went to police station and lodged an F.I.R. During the cross-examination he located the place of occurrence at a distance of about 3 furlongs from the old school. In the present case Bhallo P.W. 3, Dhandhoo P.W. 4, Yashwant Singh P.W. 9 are injured witnesses. Their presence cannot be doubted i n any manner and they have corroborated the testimony of the informant in toto. Learned counsel for the appellants could not point out any thing from their lengthy cross- examination to discredit the testimony of the witnesses.
13. All the witnesses have consistently deposed that the accused persons having armed with guns, country made pistols and lathis were going from the village side towards the place of occurence. In the way Yashwant Singh and informant met, all the 8 accused persons who were armed with deadly weapons and had formed an unlawful assembly, were going either to dispossess or to restrain the persons ploughing the field of the school with the intention that whosoever would intervene, they will kill him and they fired shots one after the other. First of all, Yashwant Singh was injured. On the exhortation of Sunder Lal, Narain Das Swarnkar fired a shot which hit on the chest of Yashwant Singh. 89 Gun shot wounds were found. When he fell down in the water of Rajwaha, Murli and Ram Adhar assaulted him with lathis when he was dying as a result of fire arm injuries. Bhalloo, Khimole and Makhole, Dhandhoo Daya Ram came forward to rescue him. Devi Deen fired a shot on the exhortation of Sunder Lal which hit Daya Ram and when Bhallo tried to rescue him, he was also shot down by Shriroman. Kalyan Singh shot down Dhandhoo and Narain Das Kurmi shot down Khimole and Makhole. The evidence of the witnesses is consistent through- out on the point of forming of unlawful assembly and firing by accused persons and assault by Murli and Ram Adhar. We are unable to find any inconsistency in the testimony of the witness. The learned defence counsel drew attention of the Court to a previous statement so-called dying declaration of Yashwant Singh which was recorded by Tahsildar, Magistrate II Class in which Sunder Lal was said to have been armed with Panchphera which he fired. He also involved one more person namely Lal Singh in firing shots on the injured persons. The witness, when confronted with his dying declaration, stated that he was unconscious at the time of recording of such statement. He had no knowledge as to whether any statement was recorded by the Magistrate. Even if it is assumed that the witness stated some thing before the Magistrate in the so-called dying declaration, that is only a previous statement. We are unable to discredit the testimony of the witnesses only on the basis of the so-called dying declaration of Yashwant Singh. It is possible that in painful condition something might have been stated and due to pain he could not understand, what he was stating before the Tahsildar. That is only a previous statement which cannot be a substantive piece of evidence. The gun of Budha Singh which was allegedly used in the commission of the crime by Kalyan Singh alias Ram Swarup was taken into custody by the police with the belt of cartridges in the presence of Parmanand P.W. 12. The gun along with the fired cartridges recovered from the place of occurrence by the Investigating Officer were sent to the Ballistic Expert. P.W. 14 Shiv Prasad Misra. Ballistic Expert, deposed that two cartridges out of 5 cartridges recovered from the spot by the Investigating Officer were fired from both barrels of the gun of Budh Singh. It means besides gun of Budha Singh other firearms were also used in the commission of the crime. It has strengthened the prosecution story regarding use of various fire arms by the accused persons in the incident.
14. Now we revert to consider the submission of the learned counsel for the appellants. We have thoroughly examined the facts and circumstances of the cases referred to above but the facts and circumstances of those cases are entirely different and none of them applies to the facts and circumstances of the present case. In the present case it has to be seen whether Section 149, I.P.C. is applicable in connection with the murder committed. We found a case Mizaji v. State of U.P. reported in AIR 1959 SC 572 : 1959 All LJ 408 the facts and circumstances of which more or less are identical to those of the present case, wherein the common object was to dispossess the complainant at any cost. The accused of that case Mizaji armed with country made pistol, Tej Singh with spear and other three with lathis reached the plot in dispute, started upturning and cutting the crop, when Ram Swarup, Rameshwar along with some other persons reached and asked why they were doing so, some altercation took place. On the exhortation of Tej Singh, Mizaji took out the pistal and fired hitting Rameshwar who succumbed to gun shot injuries sustained by him within half an hour. No injury was caused by Tej Singh or any other person. Even then all the accused except Mizaji whose sentence of death was confirmed, were held guilty of murder with the aid of Section 149, I.P.C. In the present case six accused well equipped with firarms i.e. guns and country made pistols while two with lathis and forming an unlawful assembly started for the plot in dispute which was being ploughed by Halke ploughman of Bhanu Singh, brother of Yashwant Singh injured witness. They found Yashwant Singh in way and as asked to why the complainant party was cultivating the plot of the school whereupon some altercation took place and they resorted to fire causing injuries one after the other on the persons whosoever came to rescue Yashwant Singh. 6 persons sustained injuries out of them one died in the hospital when he was lifted there. The accused holding lathis also inflicted lathi injuries on one of the injured who had already sustained gun shot injuries. All the accused came with preplan, premeditation armed with deadly firearms with the common object to dispossess Bhanu Singh at any cost and in prosecution of their common object they committed offence of murder. As such each of accused is guilty of murder with the aid of Section 149, I.P.C. The relevant portion of the case Mizaji (supra) as follows at Page 413; of All LJ:-
Both the Court below have found that the Pistol was fired by Miaji and thus he was responsible for causing death of Rameshwar which would be murder and also there is no doubt that Tej Singh would be guilty of abetment of that offence. But the question is whether Section 149, I.P.C. is applicable in this case and would cover the case of all the respondents ? This has to be concluded from the weapons carried and conduct of the appellants. Two of them were armed - one with spear and the other with a pistol. The rest were armed with lathis. The evidence is that when the complainants' party objected to what the appellants did, they all collected together and used threats towards the complainants, party telling them to go away otherwise they would be finished and this evidence was accepted by the High Court. From this conduct it appears that members of the unlawful assembly were prepared to take forcible possession at any cost and the members must be held to be immediately connected with the common object and therefore the case falls under Section 149, I.P.C. and they are all guilty of murder. That evidence of Hansram and Matadin which relates to a point of time immediately before the firing of the pistol shows that the members of the assembly at least knew that the offence of murder was likely to be committed to accomplish the common object of forcible possession.
15. In the case of Bhajan Singh v. State of U.P. reported in AIR 1974 SC 1564 : 1974 Cri LJ 1029 the Apex Court has laid down a Rule of law that the common object of the unlawful assembly might be only beating but subsequently in pursuance of common object if any member of the assembly committed murder, every member thereof would be guilty of the offence of murder with the aid of Section 149, I.P.C. The relevant portion of the case Bhajan Singh (supra) is reproduced in the following lines at Page 1567; of AIR __ Section 149, I.P.C. constitutes per se a substantive offence although the punishment is under the Section to which it is tagged being committed by the principal offender in the unlawful assembly known or unknown. Even assuming that the unlawful assembly was formed originally only to beat, it is clearly established in the evidence that the said object is well knit with what followed as the dangerous finale of, call it, the beating. This is not a case where some thing foreign or unknown to the object has been placed all of a sudden. It is the execution of the same common object which assumed the fearful character implicit in the illegal action undertaken by the five accused. (See also K.C. Mathew v. The State of Travancore-Cochin (1955) 2 SCR 1057 : AIR 1956 SC 241 : 1956 Cr LJ 444.
16. We cannot lose sight that each case is decided on the basis of its own facts and circumstances. The inference is drawn from the various factors including the circumstances in which the murder was committed, the circumstances leading to the common intention of the unlawful assembly, the arms and weapons used, the injuries found on the person of the deceased or any other injured person, as in the case of Lal Ji v. State of U.P. reported in AIR 1989 SC 754 : 1989 Cri LJ 850 the Supreme Court held as under :-
Common object of the unlawful assembly can be gathered from the nature of assembly, arms used by them and the behaviour of assembly at or before scene of occurrence. It is an inference to be deduced from the facts and circumstances of each case.
17. The scope and ambit of unlawful assembly and common object has been described by the Supreme Court in the case Lalji (supra) as under:-
Section 149 provides that if any offence is committed by any member of an unlawful assembly in prosecution of the common object of that assembly, or such as the members of the assembly knew to be likely to be committed in prosecution of that object, every person, who at the time of committing of that offence is a member of the same assembly, is guilty of that offence. As has been defined in Section 141, I.P.C. an assembly of five or more persons is designated an "Unlawful Assembly"...if the common object of the persons comprising that assembly is to do an act or acts stated in Clause First, Second, Third Fourth and Fifth of that Section. An assembly, as the explanation to the Section says, which was not unlawful assembly when it assembled, may subsequently become an unlawful assembly. Whosoever being aware of facts which render any assembly an unlawful assembly intentionally joins that assembly, or continues in it, is said to be a member of unlawful assembly. Thus, whenever as many as five or more persons meet together to support each other, even against possession, in carrying out the common object which is likely to involve violence or to produce in the minds of rational and firm men any reasonable apprehension or violence, then even though they ultimately depart without doing any thing whatever towards carrying out their common object, the mere fact of their having thus met will constitute an offence.... The two essentials of Section are the commission of an offence by any member of an unlawful assembly and that such offence must have been committed in prosecution of common object of that assembly knew to be likely to be committed not every person is necessarily guilty, but only those who share in common object. The common object of the assembly must be one of the five objects mentioned in Section 141, I.P.C.
18. Harijan Dahana Badha v. State of Gujarat reported in 1996 (6) JT (SC) 124, the Supreme Court maintaining the rule of law preponderate in the case of Masalti held as under :-
The crucial question to determine in such a case is whether the assembly consisted of five or more persons and whether the said persons entertained one or more of the common objects as specified by Section 141. While determining this question, it becomes relevant to consider whether the assembly consisted of some persons who were merely passive witness and had joined the assembly as a matter of idle curiosity without intending to entertain the commom object of the assembly...it would not be correct to say that before a person is held to be a member of unlawful assembly, it must be shown that he had committed some illegal over tact or had been guilty of some illegal omission in pursuance of common object of the assembly. In fact Section 149 makes it clear that if an offence is committed by any member of an unlawful assembly in prosecution of the common object of that assembly, or such as members of that assembly knew to be likely to be committed in prosecution of that object, every persons who at the time of committing of that offence is a member of the same assembly, is guilty of that offence, and that emphatically brings out the principle that the punishment prescribed by Section 149 is in a sense vicarious and does not always provide on the basis that offence has been actually committed by every member of an unlawful assembly.
19. In case Ranbir Yadav v. State of Bihar reported in AIR 1995 SC 1219 : 1995 AIR SCW 1980, the Supreme Court has not approved principle laid down in the case of Baladin reported in AIR 1956 SC 181 : 1956 Cri LJ 345 wherein it was laid down that it was necessary to establish that some illegal overt act or some illegal omissions in pursuance of the common object of the assembly had been committed to bring the case under Section 149 IPC which is under :-
It is in that context that the observations made by this Court in the case of Baladin AIR 1956 SC 181 : (1956 Cri LJ 345) assume significance; otherwise in law, it would not be correct to say before a person is held to be a member of an unlawful assembly, it must be shown that he had committed some illegal overt act or had been guilty of some illegal omission in pursuance of common object of the assembly. In fact Section 149 makes it clear that if an offence is committed by any member of an unlawful assembly in prosecution of the common object of that assembly, or such as members of that assembly knew to be likely to be committed in prosecution of that object, every person who, at the time of committing of that offence, is a member of the same assembly, is guilty of that offence and emphatically brings out the principle that punishment prescribed by Section 149 is in a sense vicarious does not always proceed on the basis that the offence has been actually committed by every member of the unlawful assembly. Once the case of a person falls within the ingredients of section the question that he did nothing with his own hands would be immaterial. He cannot put forward the defence that he did nothing with his own hands committed the offence committed in prosecution of common object of the unlawful assembly or such as the members of the assembly knew to be likely to be committed in prosecution of that object. Every one must be taken to have intended the probable and natural results of the combination of the acts in which he joins. It is necessary that all the persons forming an unlawful assembly must do some overt act. When the accused persons assembled together, armed with lathis and were parties to the assault on the complainant party, the prosecution is not obliged to prove which specific overt act was done by which of the accused.
20. From the propositions of law laid down by the Apex Court in the latest cases stated above, it is clear that if any person joins an unlawful assembly, the prosecution is not obliged to prove his overt act and he can be vicariously liable for the punishment of the offence with the aid of Section 149 IPC. If a person is only silent spectator he would not be a member of the unlawful assembly or he ceases to be a member of the unlawful assembly before the actual commission of the offence would not be liable vicariously with the aid or Section 149, IPC though overt act or ommission is not necessary for bringing him in the ambit of Section 149.
21. In the present case, all the accused except Budh Singh formed an unlawful assembly with the object to commit mischief or to take or obtain possession of the property of the old school and to deprive of Bhanu Singh, brother of Yaswant Singh injured, which falls under Section 141 IPC. All the 8 persons (out of them two armed with lathis) armed with fire arms were going from the village to the place of occurrence. In the way when they found Yaswant Singh, brother of Bhanu Singh, and informant, they asked the informant and Yaswant Singh as to why they were cultivating the land of the school. The hot words were exchanged and they resorted to firing. Firstly, Narain Das Swarnkar fired shot on Yaswant Singh who sustained gunshot injuries and fell down in the water channel. Then Ram Adhar and Murli Assaulted Yaswant Singh (who was dying as a result of the injuries) with lathis, Daya Ram, Bhallu, Dhandhoo, Makhole and Khimole went to rescue him. Devi Din on the exhortation of Sundar Lal, fired shot on Daya Ram. Shiroman fired shot on Bhallo. Kalyan Singh also fired shot on Dhandhoo, Narain Das Kurmi fired shot on Makhole and Khimole and as a result of firing by the accused persons, six persons sustained injuries. Out of them Daya Ram died. The conduct, arms and the facts and circumstances of the case lead to the only inference that they were members of an unlawful assembly in pursuance of the common object, as specified in Clause Third and Fourth of Section 141, IPC., resorted to firing and Ram Adhar and Murli assaulted with lathis a dying person and committed the offence. No doubt Sunder Lal is said to have exhorted Narain Das Swarnkar to fire shot and he did not actually fire shot but in the back ground of the facts that he was one of the main persons for taking the possession over the land of the school and dispossessing Bhanu Singh, he was armed with a gun at the time of incident and also exhorted his companion Narain Das Swarnkar to fire shots, his act falls within the mischief under Section 149, IPC.
22. So far as Budh Singh accused is concerned, no doubt the prosecution has examined Parmanand P.W. 12, who deposed that Budh Singh handed over his licensed gun with the belt of cartridges to his own son Ram Swarup Singh alias Kalyan Singh saying that the quarrel is not done with the lathi and to go with the gun, which will be used on what day. But we are not convinced that a father would hand over a gun to his son for firing shots or to injure the complainant party with his gun. If son had intended to join the unlawful assembly, he could have taken away the gun of his father even without consent of his father and Budh Singh did nothing in the commission of the offence except to handover a gun and cartridges to his son for committing offence, particularly, when the witness admitted in his statement that he did not inform or tell the informant of handing over of gun to his son by Budh Singh. He disclosed this fact for the first time on the next day to the I. O. only. It is also admitted that Daya Ram, who died as a result of the injuries caused in the incident, was his nephew. We do not find the testimony of Parmanand to be reliable regarding participation of Budh Singh in the crime and as such he is entitled to the benefit of doubt.
23. On the discussions above, the appeal of Sundar Lal, Narain Das Swarnkar, Devi Deen, Ram Swarup alias Kalyan Singh, Narain Das Kurmi, Shiroman Singh, Ram Adhar and Murli Dhar fails and is hereby dismissed. The conviction and sentence awarded by the Court below is affirmed. They are on bail. They shall be taken into custody to serve out their sentences.
24. The appeal of Budh Singh succeeds and is allowed. His conviction and sentence awarded by the Court below are set aside. He is acquitted of the charges levelled against him. He is on bail. He need not surrender. His bail bonds are cancelled and sureties discharged.