VEERAN Vs. STATE OF M P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) The perennial question whether accused deserve to be convicted under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter shall be referred as I.P.C.) as held by the trial court and upheld by the High Court or whether the conviction should be converted under Section 304 of the I.P.C, has once again cropped up for consideration before us, in this Appeal.

(3.) In the instant case, eight accused were charged and prosecuted for commission of offences under Section 147, 148, 302 or 302/149 and 325 of the IPC. After trial, giving benefit of doubt, Suresh and Badelal - accused Nos. 6 & 7 respectively, were acquitted by Additional Sessions Judge, Gadarwara, Narsingpur in Sessions Case No. 21/93 vide its judgment and Order dated 21.4.1994. Six convicted accused preferred Criminal Appeal No. 472 of 1994 in the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur. During the pendency of the appeal, Accused No. 3 - Rewaram and Accused No. 4 - Lakhan Lal died. Thus, appeal in respect of these two accused stood abated. However, as regards the remaining four accused, the High Court upheld the conviction and sentence awarded by the Trial Court. Now, in this appeal, it is prayed before us to consider, in the peculiar facts and circumstances of this case, whether, the four surviving convicted Appellants Veeran, Onkar, Ganesh and Ashok deserve to be convicted under Section 302/149, 147 and 148 of the IPC, who have been awarded life imprisonment and one year each respectively for the commission of the aforesaid offences or it deserves to be converted under Section 304 of the IPC.