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Indrapal Singh & Ors. v. State of Uttar Pradesh

Criminal Appeal · 2021 INSC 513Decided 21 Sept 2021
Criminal Appeal Nos. 313-314 of 2020
Justice L. Nageswara Rao · Justice B.R. Gavai · Justice B.V. Nagarathna

Background

Three accused were convicted for the murder of three members of a rival family (Atar Singh and his two sons/nephews) during a land/irrigation-related dispute, allegedly rooted in prior property and election rivalry. The trial court convicted them under Section 302 (murder) read with Section 34 IPC (acts done with common intention), and the Allahabad High Court upheld the conviction on appeal. The accused then approached the Supreme Court, arguing that the two eyewitnesses' testimony was inconsistent and improved upon over time, and that one accused (Surender Pal Singh) had no specific overt act attributed to him in the original complaint.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court re-examined the eyewitness testimony and found it consistent and credible, rejecting the argument that it had been improved or exaggerated compared to the original complaint and FIR. The Court held that the accused arriving together, armed, and acting in a coordinated manner against the victims was sufficient to establish "common intention" under Section 34 IPC, even for the accused (Surender Pal Singh) not named as having fired a specific shot in the initial complaint, since eyewitnesses later specified his role. Distinguishing the precedents cited by the defense (where sole eyewitnesses had given genuinely contradictory or improved accounts), the Court found no such infirmity here and dismissed the appeals, upholding the convictions. It also recorded that one appellant (Inder Pal Singh) had already received state remission and need not surrender, while directing another appellant (Ram Pal Singh) to surrender to serve his remaining sentence.

Lesson Learnt

When multiple armed people act together in a coordinated attack, courts can hold all of them equally liable for murder under "common intention," even if the original police complaint did not spell out exactly which person fired which shot: consistent eyewitness testimony at trial can fill that gap.

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

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