In Brief
A man was stabbed and beaten to death at a bus junction during political clashes between CPI (Marxist) and BJP supporters in Kerala in 1993. The trial court convicted several accused of murder under Section 302/149 IPC, but the High Court acquitted most of them, holding no common object to murder existed. The Supreme Court held that members of an unlawful assembly formed to attack opposing political party members share liability for the fatal consequences. The Court convicted five accused under Section 326/149 IPC for seven years, finding they participated in the assembly's common object to attack BJP supporters, even though they inflicted only non-vital injuries.
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