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The State of Rajasthan vs. Gurbachan Singh & Others

Criminal Appeal · 2022 INSC 1260Decided 7 Dec 2022
Criminal Appeal No. 2201 of 2011
Sanjiv Khanna · Sudhanshu Dhulia

Background

Teja Singh was killed following a land dispute with his relatives Gurbachan Singh, Balvir Singh, Manjeet Singh and Darshan Singh. The four accused, armed with a lathi, an axe, a "toka" and a "gandasi" respectively, confronted and beat Teja Singh, causing his death from 8 bone-deep head injuries. The trial court convicted all of them for murder; on appeal, the High Court upheld the murder convictions of the other three but downgraded Gurbachan Singh's conviction to only simple hurt (Section 323 IPC), reasoning that he had only struck the victim's feet with a lathi and did not share the common intention to kill.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court restored Gurbachan Singh's murder conviction. It held that "common intention" under Section 34 IPC does not require every participant to inflict the fatal blow. It is established by the whole course of conduct. Here, Gurbachan Singh came armed alongside the others, was the first to strike and fell the victim, and continued hitting him even after he fell, while the co-accused inflicted further wounds; a blood-stained lathi was recovered from him. This showed he shared the common intention to attack, making him equally liable for the murder under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC, regardless of which specific blow proved fatal. His life sentence was restored, though the Court agreed with the High Court that the separate "unlawful assembly" charges (Sections 148/149) could not be sustained.

Lesson Learnt

In a group attack, a person who joins the assault armed and continues participating throughout can be convicted of murder alongside those who struck the fatal blow. The law does not require proof that a particular accused personally caused the fatal injury, only that he shared the common intention behind the attack.

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

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