NDLI: Chhota Ahirwar Vs. The State of Madhya Pradesh

Content Provider	Supreme Court of India
e-ISSN	30484839
Language	English
Access Restriction	NDLI
Subject Keyword	Murder Penal Code
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Law Judgement
Jurisdiction	India
Act(s) Referred	Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860)
Case(s) Referred	Referred Case 0 Referred Case 1 Referred Case 2 Referred Case 3 Referred Case 4 Referred Case 5
Case Type	Appeal
Court	Supreme Court of India
Disposal Nature	Appeal Allowed
Headnote	Penal Code, 1860: ss.307/34 – Attempt to murder with common intent – Applicability of s.34 – Prosecution case was that PW-3-complainant, the accused appellant and the main accused were related to each other – There was previous enmity between them over land dispute – On the fateful day, when PW-3 was on his way, he was stopped by accused appellant and told not to cultivate his land – Quarrel started between PW-3 and accused appellant – The main accused also came and intervened, whereupon PW-3 told him, not to interfere and to go home, as he was in no way concerned with the dispute – Thereafter, the main accused took out a pistol from the right pocket of his pants and pointed it at him – PW-3 told the main accused not to open fire, whereupon the accused appellant urged the main accused to kill PW-3 – Thereafter, the main accused fired the pistol, causing injury to PW-3 with the splinters – Trial court convicted the accused appellant under ss. 307/34 and main accused under s.307 – High Court upheld the same – On appeal, held: To attract s.34, no overt act is needed on the part of the accused if they share common intention with others in respect of the ultimate criminal act, which may be done by any one of the accused sharing such intention – Common intention implies acting in concert – Existence of a prearranged plan has to be proved either from the conduct of the accused, or from circumstances or from any incriminating facts – Prosecution was not able to establish a pre- arranged common intention between the accused appellant and the main accused to kill PW-3 in pursuance of which the main accused open fired from his pistol – The circumstances established suggested that intervention by the main accused was by chance – There were some notable discrepancies between the evidence of PW-3 and PW-4 which raised serious doubts with regard to the truth and/or accuracy of their evidence particularly in view of the enmity and pre-existing family disputes between the parties – Prosecution miserably failed to establish any common, premeditated or prearranged intention jointly of the accused appellant and the main accused to kill PW-3, on the spot or otherwise – Prosecution also failed to prove that the pistol was fired at the exhortation of the accused appellant – Trial court and High Court both fell in error in convicting the accused appellant – Accused appellant entitled to acquittal. Penal Code, 1860: s.34 – Common intention – It is a settled principle of criminal law that only the person who actually commits the offence can be held guilty and sentenced in accordance with law – However, s.34 lays down a principle of joint liability in a criminal act, the essence of which is to be found in the existence of common intention, instigating the main accused to do the criminal act, in furtherance of such intention – Even when separate acts are done by two or more persons in furtherance of a common intention, each person is liable for the result of all the acts as if all the acts had been done by all of these persons.
Judge	Hon'ble Ms. Justice Indira Banerjee
Neutral Citation	2020 INSC 138
Petitioner	Chhota Ahirwar
Respondent	The State Of Madhya Pradesh
SCR	[2020] 3 S.C.R. 776
Judgement Date	2020-02-06
Case Number	238

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