In Brief
In this 2009 criminal appeal, the appellant was convicted of murder under Sections 302 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly stabbing a deceased person in common intention with a co-accused. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal and acquitted the appellant. The Court found that while the actual fatal blow was struck by the co-accused, the prosecution failed to establish prior concert or pre-arranged plan necessary for Section 34 liability. The non-examination of two material eye witnesses who were present and privy to conversations between the accused warranted an adverse inference. Merely brandishing a knife and threatening to obstruct did not establish the requisite common intention without proof of meeting of minds before the criminal act.
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