MYALARAM POCHAIAH Vs. STATE OF A P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE present appeal is directed against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence passed in Criminal Appeal No. 712 of 2005 by the High Court of Judicature of Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad wherein the Division Bench of the High Court affirmed the conviction and sentence passed by the learned Special Judge in SC/ST. SC No. 25 of 2001 in respect of accused-appellant Nos. A-1 to A-3, A-5 to A-7 and A-10 to A-14 whereby he had convicted all the accused persons under Section 148 and Section 302 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code (for short 'the IPC ') and some others exclusively under Section 302 of IPC and, accordingly, had sentenced them for life imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs.200/- each, in default of payment of fine, to suffer six months ' simple imprisonment and also rigorous imprisonment for one year for the offence under Section 148, IPC with the stipulation that all the sentences shall run concurrently, and acquitted A-8, A-9 and A-15 of all the offences. Be it noted, A-4 had expired during the pendency of the appeal before the High Court and hence, the appeal qua him stood abated.

(2.) THE accused-appellants, eleven in number, along with four others were charge-sheeted for offences punishable under Sections 148, 302 read with Section 149 of IPC and Section 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (for brevity 'the Act '). Briefly stated, the case of the prosecution was that on 24.4.1999, Konda Janardhan and Konda Ravinder had murdered one Myalaram Mogulaiah for which they are facing trial for offences punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of IPC. Because of the said incident, the Mudiraj caste people of Surampally village were having inimical terms with those who belong to Madiga (Harijan) community. On 27.7.2000, at about 4.00 p.m., while Konda Mohan and Konda Ravinder were attending work in the field, accused No. 1, namely, Myalaram Pochaiah, entered into a quarrel with Ravinder in connection with release of water, and also there was an altercation pertaining to the murder of Myalaram Mogulaiah. After the same was pacified to some extent by intervention of others, accused No. 1 went to Surampally village and came armed with lethal weapons like axes, knives and sticks along with other accused persons A-2 to A-15 and waited near a culvert of the village. When Konda Mohan and Konda Ravinder were returning from their fields, the accused persons attacked them with deadly weapons and inflicted number of injuries as a result of which they breathed their last on the spot. As alleged by the prosecution, accused Nos. 3, 4, 6 to 10 attacked Konda Mohan and A-1, A-2, A-4 and A-11 to A-15 chased Ravinder and inflicted injuries on him. At that juncture, an auto driven by PW-9, Aladi Raju, was bringing Konda Sudershan, Konda Vardaiah and Konda Janardhan along with some other passengers. The accused persons forcibly pulled them out from the said auto and inflicted severe bleeding injuries on their stomach, throat, neck, etc. as a consequence of which they died spontaneously. An FIR was lodged by Konda Bagaiah which set the criminal law in motion and Crime No. 30 of 2000 under Sections 147, 148, 302 read with Section 149, IPC and Section

(3.) THE prosecution to prove its case examined PW-1 to PW-25, exhibited P-1 to P-50 and got MOs-1 to MOs-44 marked.