Indian Penal Code, 1860
Section 34—Common intention—Applicability—Section 34 of the IPC makes a co-perpetrator, who had participated in the offence, equally liable on the principle of joint liability—For Section 34 of the IPC to apply, there should be common intention among the co-perpetrators, which means that there should be community of purpose and common design—Common intention can be formed at the spur of the moment and during the occurrence itself—Common intention is necessarily a psychological fact and as such, direct evidence normally will not be available—Therefore, in most cases, whether or not there exists a common intention, has to be determined by drawing inference from the facts proved—Constructive intention, can be arrived at only when the court can hold that the accused must have preconceived the result that ensued in furtherance of the common intention.
[Para 11]
Section 302—Murder—Appeal against acquittal—Proof of common intention—Common intention to inflict injuries and cause the death of deceased, can be gathered from the conduct and action of accused—Accused had come prepared with ‘lathi’ along with others who had carried ‘toka’, axe and ‘gandasi’—This is corroborated by fact that blood-smeared ‘lathi’ was recovered from possession of accused—Evidence establishes participation of accused, in commission of offence with co-participants/co-convicts—Accused, was the first one to attack and inflict injury on deceased, by hitting him on the feet with a ‘lathi’, who had then fallen down—Accused along with co-convicts, had inflicted 8 incised wounds on head and other injuries on vital and other parts on the person of deceased, as recorded in the post-mortem report—Statement of eye witnesses clearly reveal that accused did not give just one ‘lathi’ blow, as it is being said by the defence, but he continued to give ‘lathi’ blows to deceased, even when he fell down—Facts establish that accused had shared common intention to cause injuries with other co-convicts, and crime was committed in furtherance of common intention, which led to the death of deceased—All of them, including accused, would be responsible for criminal act i.e., the offence under Section 302 of the IPC, irrespective of the part played by them—Impugned judgment passed by the High Court acquitting accused under Section 302 of the IPC is set aside, and he is convicted for murder of deceased under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC—Appeal allowed.
[Para 12]