In Brief
The Supreme Court allowed Deep Narayan Chourasia's criminal appeal against the High Court's judgment. The High Court had wrongly convicted him and three others under Section 302/149 IPC (murder with common intention), despite the trial court acquitting them of these charges—they were only convicted under Section 27 of the Arms Act. The High Court also failed to award mandatory sentences for the Section 302 conviction. The Supreme Court held that such fundamental jurisdictional errors, once identified, benefit all co-accused similarly situated, even those who did not file individual appeals. The Court set aside the High Court's order entirely and remanded both criminal appeals for fresh hearing on merits.
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