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Mahendran v. The State of Tamil Nadu

Criminal Appeal · 2019 INSC 248Decided 21 Feb 2019
Criminal Appeal No. 1266 of 2010
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul · Justice Hemant Gupta

Background

Following a caste-based dispute in a Tamil Nadu village, a mob of accused persons armed with sickles and kerosene allegedly set fire to a hut and then attacked and killed one Murugaiyan as he fled, inflicting fatal injuries with sickles in front of multiple eyewitnesses. The trial court convicted several of the accused, which was substantially upheld by the Madras High Court (Madurai Bench), and this appeal (along with a connected appeal by other co-accused) challenged that conviction before the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined the eyewitness testimony and found it credible and consistent regarding the common object of the unlawful assembly to attack the deceased and burn the hut over the caste dispute, holding that under Section 149 IPC it is not necessary to prove which specific member of an unlawful assembly struck which blow, only that the common object existed. Relying on settled precedent that mere presence in, and shared purpose of, an unlawful assembly is sufficient to fasten vicarious liability, the Court found no merit in the appellants' challenge to the appreciation of evidence by the lower courts. The appeals were accordingly dismissed, with the surviving appellants (the others had died during the pendency of the appeal) directed to surrender within four weeks to serve the remainder of their sentences.

Lesson Learnt

Under Section 149 IPC, every member of an unlawful assembly sharing a common object can be held criminally liable for an offence committed in furtherance of that object, even without proof of each individual's specific act: mere knowing participation in the mob's shared purpose is enough to establish guilt.

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

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