Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 29: Division Bench of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court comprising Justice Sanjay Dhar and Justice Rajesh Sekhri has upheld life-imprisonment of four accused namely Rattan Lal, Dharam Pal, Bachan Lal and Kamla Devi.
After hearing Senior Advocate MA Goni for the appellants whereas AAG Amit Gupta for the UT, DB observed, “it is not necessary for the prosecution to prove particular acts of the members of an unlawful assembly. Common object of unlawful assembly can be gathered from the nature of the assembly, the kind of arms used by them and the behaviour of assembly at or before the scene of occurrence and inference in this regard can be deduced from the facts and circumstances of the case and overt act or active participation may indicate common intention of the person perpetrating the crime”.
“Mere presence in the unlawful assembly may fasten vicarious criminal liability under Section 149 of the IPC and the time of forming an unlawful intent is not material. An assembly of persons which may at its initiation be lawful, may become unlawful subsequently as it can develop such an object even during the currency of the occurrence”, the DB said, adding “”we don’t find any ground to interfere in the well reasoned and lucid judgment of conviction and order of sentence passed by the Trial Court. The impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence are therefore upheld. Accordingly, the reference made by the Trial Court is accepted and the order of sentence passed by the court is confirmed”.
DB cancelled the bail bonds of the appellants and directed the convicts to surrender before the Trial Court within a period of 15 days from the date of this judgment and Trial Court shall upon their surrender, send the appellants to jail for serving the balance sentence.
Follow our WhatsApp channel