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The State of Madhya Pradesh v. Killu @ Kailash and Ors.

Special Leave Petition (Criminal) · 2019 INSC 1264Decided 19 Nov 2019
Special Leave Petition (Criminal) Nos. 2497-2498 of 2019
Justice Uday Umesh Lalit · Justice Indu Malhotra

Background

Five men, armed with an axe, a spear ("Ballam"), and sticks ("lathis"), entered the deceased's home at midnight in 2005 following a family dispute; two of them struck him with the axe, killing him, while the other three allegedly stood by with their weapons and exhorted the attack. The trial court convicted all five, but the High Court acquitted three of the accused, the respondents here, who were armed only with a spear and sticks and had not themselves struck the fatal blows, reasoning that doubt existed as to whether they truly shared the group's criminal intent. The State of Madhya Pradesh appealed that partial acquittal to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court had wrongly given the three respondents the benefit of the doubt. Applying the principle of vicarious liability for members of an "unlawful assembly" under Section 149 IPC, the Court explained that a person need not personally strike the fatal blow to be held equally liable: it is enough that they were a member of a group formed with a shared criminal purpose, especially where (as here) five armed men together entered a home at midnight, a setting where an innocent bystander explanation is implausible. Since the evidence of the victim's wife and son clearly placed all five accused at the scene, armed, acting together, the acquittal of the three unarmed-with-deadly-weapons respondents was unjustified. The Court allowed the State's appeal, set aside the High Court's acquittal of the three respondents, and restored their conviction and sentence from the trial court, directing them to surrender within three weeks or be arrested.

Lesson Learnt

Under the law of unlawful assembly, a person who knowingly joins a group sharing a common violent purpose can be held equally criminally liable for the group's acts even without personally inflicting the fatal injury, "I didn't strike the blow" is not, by itself, a defence.

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

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