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Surendra Singh vs The State of Rajasthan and Anr.

SLP (Crl.) · 2023 INSC 354Decided 11 Apr 2023
SLP (Crl.) No. 4241 of 2019
M.R. Shah · C.T. Ravikumar

Background

Five named persons were accused in an FIR of beating up two brothers with lathis, one of whom (Bhawani Singh) died of his injuries. The police initially charge-sheeted only two of the five; the other three were added later as accused, absconded, and were tried separately. The trial court convicted the accused Vijendra Singh for murder with the aid of Section 149 IPC (which allows every member of an "unlawful assembly" of five or more to be held guilty of an offence committed by any member in pursuit of their common object), but the Rajasthan High Court downgraded this to simple hurt, reasoning that because charges had originally been filed against only two people, an "assembly of five" was not properly established. The original complainant (the deceased's family) appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held the High Court was wrong: the FIR itself specifically named all five accused, and the fact that three were charge-sheeted later (and were being tried separately after absconding) did not undo the fact that five persons formed the unlawful assembly: a person can be convicted under Section 149 even if fewer than five are ultimately convicted, so long as the evidence shows the incident was carried out by an assembly of five or more, identified or not. The Court restored the trial court's conviction for murder under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC, holding that even though the fatal blow was struck by another accused who died during trial, Vijendra Singh was equally liable as a member of the same unlawful assembly. He was ordered to surrender within three weeks to serve his life sentence.

Lesson Learnt

Being part of a group that commits a violent crime can make a person legally guilty of the group's most serious act (like murder), even if that individual did not personally strike the fatal blow, and the fact that some group members are tried separately or later does not reduce this liability.

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

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