Summary
The Supreme Court upheld murder convictions arising from a dispute over a right of way. Although the appellants had sustained injuries and lodged a cross-case, their first account did not attribute weapons to the deceased. Injured eyewitnesses and medical evidence established spear attacks causing multiple fatal chest wounds. On these facts, the plea of private defence failed, and the number and location of the wounds also defeated the alternative request to reduce the conviction to culpable homicide.
Issues
- Whether the appellants’ injuries and cross-case established private defence extending to causing death.
- Whether the fatal attacks warranted reduction from murder to culpable homicide.
Held
- The plea of private defence extending to death was not established on this evidence. The deceased were unarmed according to the appellants’ first version, while injured eyewitnesses and post-mortem findings supported attacks by the armed appellants. (¶ 13–17)
- The appellants’ injuries did not establish the claimed justification. Who among any accompanying persons inflicted those injuries, with what weapons and in what circumstances was not established in this trial; the cross-case was being tried separately. (¶ 17)
- Multiple stab wounds to vital chest organs defeated the alternative contention of an unpremeditated sudden encounter without undue advantage or cruel or unusual conduct. The convictions and sentences for murder required no interference. (¶ 18)
Result
Criminal appeal dismissed. Convictions and life sentences under Section 302 IPC upheld; the existing conviction under Section 324, for which no separate punishment had been imposed, remained undisturbed.