LexSTATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH versus K. VENKATA REDDY & OTHERS
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• ' STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH v. K. VEN.KATA REDDY & OTHERS March 26. 1976 (R. S. SARKARJA AND P. N. SHINGHAL, JJ.] 929 . Evidence Act (l of 1872), s. 9-ldentification of accused a: test identifica- tion parad(;:-Use of. ' h Indian Penal Code (Act 45 of 1860), ss. 34 and 302-Conviction under w en named co-accused are acqulfted-When permissible. ' Whe1~ the bus in which the deceased and P.Ws. 1 to 3 were travelling, alone with other passengers, halted at a bus stop, a number of persons sur- roun~ed. the bus, ~orced all the passengers out of the bus except the deceased, and znfiicted multiple st!lbs on the deceased causing his death. Thirteen persons were charged with offences under s. 302, 34 and 149 I.P.C. The trial cc;>u-!1 convicted ~ome and acquitted the others. In appeals against the con- v1~tion and acqmttal, the High Court acquitted all the accused. In appeal to this. Court against the acquittal of seven accused, including A-7, HELD: Confirmihg the acquittal of others, A-7 is guilty of an offence under s. 302, read with s. 34, I.P.C. ( 1) The evidence of the intereited eye-witnesses PWs 2 and 3 was suffi- ciently corroborated as against A-7 by the testimony of PWs 9 and 11 the conductor and driver of the bus. They had identified A~7 at an identification parade. It is true that while picking out this accused at the parade these witbesses did not say anything w1th regard to the specific part played by hin1 in the commission of the crime. That, however, does not render the evidence of such idenofication inadmissible. From the fact that P\V 9 while testifying as to the fact of identification was referring: to this ·accused as A-7 in1pEes that he had identified him in court. He had in that connectioh eluci- dated why he had picked out A-7 at the identification parade. The evidence given by the witness in court was substantive testimony, while the identifica- tion made by him at the parade was confinnatory of that fact. As regards PvY' 11 his evidence was more clear. The Magistrate who held the parade had mixed up 12 other persohs at this parade with the four accused, includ- ing A-7. It could not therefore be said that the number of other persons mixed with the accused was inadequate. [936H; 937F; 938B-F, G-H; 939C] A B c D E (2) The result is that excepting A-7, the participation of the other 12 F named accused in the commission of the crime has not been established. There is also no evidence to show as to which of the assailants dealt the fatal blow on the deceased. The medical evidence, however, shows that there were hot less than 44 incised injuries including penetrating wounds upon the body of the deceased. The extremelv large number of injuries on the body of the -deceased lends assurance to the testimony of PWs 2 ahd 3 that the number of assailants was more than 13 including some unnamed and unidentified persons. Therefore, apart from the accused named in the charge, there \\''ere at least one or n1ore unidehtified person who participated in the fatal assault on the G deceased conjointly with A.7. A~7 can, therefore, be convicted under s. 302 read with s. 34, l.P.C. [940B, G-941B] Maina Singh v. State of Rajasthan [1976] 3 SCR 651, followed. CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 155 ()f 1971. Appeal by Special Leave from the Judgment and Order dated 31-7-70 of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 45/69 and Criminal Revision Case No. 391/ 69. H 930 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1976] 3 S.C.R. • A P. Ram Reddy and P. P. Rao for the Appellants. Govind Das, Mrs. Sunanda Bhandare, A. K. Mathur, A. K. Sharma "- ,. and M. S. Narasimhan for the Respondents. B c The Judgment of the Court was delivered by SARKARIA, J .-This appeal by special leave is directed against a judgment of acquittal rendered by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh. The facts may now be stated. There are three villages, Konda Kala Vatala, Konda Papaya Palli and Govinda Palli situated at a short· distance from each other There were warring factions in these villages One was led by Vellugoti Pedda Eswara Reddy deceased and Mumagala Narayana Reddy, the Sarpanch of Konda Kala-Vatala. The rival faction was headed by Akkanunareddigari Venkata Kondareddy, Accused No. 1 (for short, -1 A-1)_. There was bad bloq_d between the two factions. Both the fac- tions were proceeded against under ss. 107 /151, Cr.P.C., also The deceased was a resident of Kon
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