In Brief
This case involved the conviction of nine appellants for the murder of Murugaiyan, a member of a Scheduled Caste, in a caste-based mob lynching in 1994. The appellants, part of an unlawful assembly of Backward Class Hindus armed with sickles and stones, attacked Murugaiyan and set his hut ablaze. The Supreme Court upheld their conviction under Sections 141, 149, and 302 IPC, rejecting arguments that the entire prosecution case should be discarded because some co-accused were acquitted. The Court held that credible eyewitness testimony cannot be wholly rejected merely because parts of it regarding other individuals were disbelieved, and that common object of an unlawful assembly can be inferred from the facts and circumstances of the case. The appeals were dismissed."
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