MUTHURAMALINGAM AND ORS. Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted in SLP (Crl.) No. 5351 of 2014. These appeals arise out of a common judgment and order passed by the High Court of Madras, whereby criminal appeals filed by the Appellants against their conviction and sentence of life imprisonment awarded to each one of them have been dismissed.

(2.) When the appeals came up for hearing before us, Mr. K.K. Mani, learned Counsel for the Appellants, confined his submissions to the validity of the direction issued by the trial Court and affirmed by the High Court that the sentence of imprisonment for life awarded to each one of the Appellants for the several murders allegedly committed by them would run consecutively and not concurrently. It was contended by Mr. Mani that in terms of Section 31 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the sentence of life imprisonment awarded to the Appellants even for different murders they were alleged to have committed could run but concurrently and not consecutively as has been ordered by the trial Court and the High Court. In support of his submission Mr. Mani placed heavy reliance upon the decision of a three-Judge Bench of this Court in O.M. Cherian @ Thankachan v. State of Kerala and Ors., 2014 4 RCR(Cri) 922, in para 13 whereof, this Court has observed:

(3.) Reliance was also placed upon the decision of another two-Judge Bench of this Court in Duryodhan Rout v. State of Orissa, 2014 3 RCR(Cri) 700, in which this Court, in para 27, has observed: