In Brief
A man was killed in a mob attack over a land dispute. The appellant was convicted by the High Court for pointing out the victim's hiding place to the armed mob. The Supreme Court acquitted him, holding that merely pointing out a location—while unarmed, not assaulting anyone, and not being part of the original mob—cannot constitute participation in an unlawful assembly under Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code. The Court found the conviction rested on hearsay testimony and inconsistent witness statements, including omission by the victim's family members to implicate the appellant. The Court emphasized that constructive liability cannot be stretched to criminalize reluctance to shelter a person when an armed mob is hunting them.
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