SAJAN Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal has been filed by accused nos. 1, 2 and 4 to 8 challenging the judgment of the First Additional Sessions Judge, Kollam in S.C. No. 56 of 2007 by which all of them were convicted and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/- (Rupees Five Thousand only) each and in default to undergo simple imprisonment for one year each under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ( for short, ' IPC '), also to undergo rigorous imprisonment for five years with fine of Rs.2,000/- (Rupees Two Thousand only) each and in default to undergo simple imprisonment for two months each under Section 307 of IPC, further sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of three months each under Section 143 of IPC, again to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months each under Section 147 of IPC and also to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year each under Section 148 of the IPC.

(2.) The case of the prosecution is that on 28.01.2002, accused nos. 1 to 9, in furtherance of their common object for rioting, formed an unlawful assembly with dangerous weapons, at the courtyard of the house of eighth accused, with the intention to commit murder of Udayarajan and CW2 Jayaprakash (PW2). A1 was armed with a sword, A2 with a dagger, A4 to A6 with bamboo sticks and A8 with a chopper. When the deceased and PW2 went to the house of A8 to enquire about the incident occurred in the temple compound in which the brother of PW2 was assaulted, the deceased Udayarajan was forcibly taken to the kitchen of the house of A8 and A1 inflicted cut injuries on several parts of the body of the deceased Udayarajan, A2 stabbed him with dagger, and A8 cut him with a chopper and due to all these attacks, Udayarajan succumbed to the injuries subsequently. The accused also voluntarily caused injuries to PW2 with dangerous weapons with the intention of causing his death. A4, A5 and A6 beat PW2 using bamboo sticks and injured him. The appellants thereby committed offences punishable under Sections 143 , 147 , 148 , 302 , 307 , 323 r/w Section 149 of the IPC.

(3.) After trial, A3 and A9 were acquitted. The rest of the accused were convicted as mentioned above.