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Badal Murmu and Others v. State of West Bengal

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal No. 1502 of 2004)Decided 5 Feb 2014
Criminal Appeal No. 1502 of 2004
Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai · Justice Madan B. Lokur

Background

A village dispute over a stolen hen escalated after a local settlement. A group tied up and beat two men, and one died from his injuries. Eleven participants received life sentences for murder committed in pursuit of a common unlawful purpose and challenged that finding.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court accepted the eyewitness accounts establishing the group's responsibility for the fatal beating. But it found that the evidence did not establish a shared purpose to murder: sharp weapons available to some participants were not used, and neither the witnesses nor the doctor identified individual fatal blows. In the particular circumstances, the offence was culpable homicide based on knowledge of the likely consequences rather than murder. The Court substituted that conviction, treated nearly fourteen years already spent in custody as the sentence, and ordered release unless another case required detention.

Lesson Learnt

Responsibility for a fatal group attack does not automatically prove that the group shared a purpose to murder. The court must examine the weapons actually used, the injuries and the circumstances before choosing the offence and punishment.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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