In Brief
A practicing advocate was attacked by 11 persons armed with deadly weapons (swords, dastars, baseball bats) at the instance of a Cabinet Minister, allegedly to punish him for instituting cases against the Minister. The victim suffered 11 injuries including 2 grievous injuries; his brother and employee were also injured. The Sessions Judge framed charges under Section 307 IPC (attempt to murder), but the High Court deleted that charge, finding insufficient proof of intention to kill at the charge stage. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, holding that intention to kill is a factual question for trial, not for final determination at charge-framing. When multiple armed attackers target unarmed persons with deadly weapons, the Court may reasonably presume intention to cause death.
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