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Naresh @ Nehru vs The State of Haryana

Criminal Appeal · 2023 INSC 889Decided 9 Oct 2023
Criminal Appeal No. 1786 of 2023
S. Ravindra Bhat · Aravind Kumar

Background

During an altercation stemming from an earlier quarrel between two groups of young men, one person, Ajay, was shot dead by a member of a group riding on motorcycles, some of whom carried batons. Six persons were charged; two of the accused were dealt with separately as juveniles, and the remaining accused (including the appellants) were convicted by the Sessions Court, and the conviction was affirmed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, of murder under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC on the theory that they were part of an unlawful assembly sharing a common object to kill.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined whether the appellants, who had no established personal motive against the deceased and had not been involved in the earlier quarrel, could still be convicted merely for being present with the group, applying the law on "common object" of an unlawful assembly under Sections 141 and 149 IPC. It held that conviction under Section 149 requires the prosecution to prove both that the accused shared the assembly's common object and that they knew an offence like murder was likely to be committed in pursuit of that object; presence alone, without evidence connecting the accused to the motive or to any overt act, is not enough. Noting that a prosecution witness had admitted only one accused fired the fatal shot and that no overt act was attributed to the appellants, the Court found both essential ingredients of Section 149 liability were absent. It therefore held that convicting the appellants amounted to a miscarriage of justice, set aside the judgments of the Trial Court and High Court, and acquitted the appellants, ordering their release.

Lesson Learnt

Merely being present alongside people who commit a serious crime does not automatically make everyone present guilty of "unlawful assembly" liability. The prosecution must specifically prove that each accused shared the group's common criminal object and knew such an offence was a likely outcome of it.

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

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