Holding

The High Court's acquittal of the six accused does not suffer from any infirmity as the prosecution failed to establish a common object under Section 149 IPC.

Summary

The State of Punjab appealed against the Punjab & Haryana High Court's acquittal of six accused persons in a case where nine individuals were charged under Sections 302, 323 read with Section 149 IPC for a violent altercation over photographs that resulted in two deaths. The trial court had convicted all nine, but the High Court held that there was no evidence that the six acquitted respondents shared a common object, and therefore could not be held liable under Section 149. The Supreme Court examined the meaning of "common object" and the requirement of positive knowledge under the second limb of Section 149, emphasizing that mere presence in an unlawful assembly is insufficient without proof of a shared object. Relying on earlier precedents, the Court concluded that the High Court's judgment was sound and that the appeal could not be allowed. Consequently, the appeal was dismissed, leaving the acquittals intact.

Issues considered

Whether the six respondents can be convicted under Section 149 IPC without proof of a common object.
Interpretation of the terms "common object" and "knew" in the second limb of Section 149.
Whether mere presence in an unlawful assembly suffices for liability under Section 149.

Legislation cited

Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 141, s. 149, s. 302, s. 323, s. 324

Subjects

Section 149 IPCcommon objectunlawful assemblyconstructive liabilitymurderinterpretation of statutescriminal law

Judgment

I

~

STATE OF PUNJAB A
)
v.
SANJIV KUMAR@ SANJU AND ORS.

JUNE 14, 2007

[DR. ARJJIT PASAYAT AND B.P. SINGH, JJ.] B

Penal Code, 1860:

s. 149----Common object-Meaning and scope of-Difference between
'common object' and 'common intention '-Explained-On facts, the view of C
the High Court that there wqs no evidence with regard to sharing of common
object by the respondents does not suffer from any infirmity.

ss. 3021149 and 3231149-Nine persons convicted by trial court-High
Court acquitting six of them holding that there was no evidence to show that D
these persons shared the common object-Held : High Court's judgment
directing acquittal of these six persons suffers from no infirmity.

Words and Phrases:

Expression 'common object' and 'knew' occurring in s. 149 !PC- E
Connotation of

The six respondents and their three other companions (all the nine
accused, A-1 to A-9), were prosecuted for offences punishable u/ss. 302/149
and 323/149 IPC. The prosecution case was that the accused and the
complainant party went on a pleasure trip to a hill station. There they had F
some joint photographs which came to be in possession of A-7. A dispute arose
between the parties regarding possession of the photographs. On the day of
occurrence an altercation in this regard took place between the accused
persons on the one side and the complainant party on the other. It is stated
that at that point of time A-3 and A-5 gave an exhortation, whereupon A-7
gave a 'Kirpan' blow on the flank of'H' and A-6 gave a 'Kirpan' blow on chest G
of'R'. Both of them fell down. PW 5 and PW 6 raised an alarm. Thereupon,
A-1 further gave a 'Kirpan' blow on 'R' while A 4 gave a 'Hockey' blow on
him 'H' died at the spot and 'R' succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.
The trial court convicted all the nine accused of the charges. On appeal, the

1025 H
I

i
1026 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2007) 7 S.C.R.

A High Court found that no definite role was ascribed to the respondents and
there was no evidence with regard to sharing of common object by them and, (
therefore, acquitted them. However, conviction of A-6 and A-7 was upheld and
that of A-1 was converted to one u/s. 324 IPC

In the appeal filed by the State against acquittal of the six accused-
B respondents, it was contended for the appellant that presence of the acquitted
accused at the place of occurrence was accepted by the trial court and the
High Court and thus, their conviction with the aid of s. 149 was clearly in
order and the High Court should not have interfered therewith.
-r
Dismissing the appeal, the Court
c HELD: 1.1. Section 149, IPC consists of two parts. The first part of the
section means that the offence to be committed. in prosecution of the common
:. object must be one which is committed with a view to accomplish the common
object In order that the offence may fall within the first part, the offence must
tie connected immediately with the common object of the unlawful assembly
D of which the accused was member. Even if the offence committed is not in
direct prosecution of the common object of the assembly, it may yet fall under
Section 141, if it can be held that the offence was such as the members knew ~

was likely to be committed and this is what is required in the second part of
the section. The purpose for which the members of the assembly sef out or
desired to achieve is the object If the object desired by all the members is the
E same, the knowledge, that is, the object which is being pursued is shared by
all the members and they are in general agreement as to how it is to be
achieved and that is now the common object of the assembly.
[Para 10) (1030-F, G, H; 1031-A)

1.2. The word 'knew' used in the second limb ofs. 149 implies something
F
more than a possibility and it cannot be made to bear the sense of 'might have
been known'. Positive knowledge is necessary. When an offence is committed f
in prosecution of the common object, it would generally be an offence which
the members of the unlawful assembly knew was likely to be committed in
prosecution of the common object. [Para 10) (1031-C, DJ
G
Chikkarange Gowda and Ors. v. State of Mysore, AIR (1955) I SC 731;
Masalti and Ors. v. State of UP., AIR (1965) SC 202; Lalji v. State of UP.,
[1989) 1 sec 437, relied on.
-<'
l.3. A common object may be formed at any stage by all or a few members
H of the assembly and the other members may just join and adopt it Once formed,
STATE OF PUNJABv. SANJIV KUMAR@SANJU [PASAYAT,J.] 1027
it need not continue to be the same. It may be modified or altered or abandoned A
at any stage. The expression 'in prosecution of common object' as appearing
in Section 149 have to be strictly construed as equivalent to 'in order to attain
the common object'. It must be immediately connected with the common object.
by virtue of the nature of the object There must be community of object and
the object may exist only up to a particular stage, and not thereafter. B
!Para 8) 11029-F, G; 1030-A)

1.4. 'Common object' is different from a 'common intention' as it does
not require a prior concert and a common meeting of minds before the attack.
It is enough if each has the same object in view and their number is five or
more and that they act as an assembly to achieve that object. The 'common C
object' of an assembly is to be ascertained from the acts and language of the ·
members composing it, and from a consideration of all the surrounding
circumstances. It may be gathered from the course of conduct adopted by the .
members of the assembly. What the common object of the unlawful assembly
is at a particular stage of the incident is essentially a question of fact to be
determined, keeping in view the nature of assembly, the arms carried by the .D
members, and the behaviour of the members at or near the scene of the
incident. (Para 9) (1030-B, C, DI

1.5. Keeping in view the position in law on the background facts, the
High Court's judgment directing acquittal of the respondent does not suffer
from infirmity. [Para 13) (1032-E) E
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal Nos. 822-
825 of2001.

From the Final Judgment and Order dated 24.0l.2001 of the High Court
of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh in crl. Appeals No. 662-DB/96, 4-DB/97, F
82-DB/97, 145-DB/97.

Ajay Pal for the Appellant.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

DR. ARIJIT PASA YAT, J. I. The State of Punjab is in appeal against
G
the judgment of Punjab and Haryana High Court. While upholding the
conviction of two accused persons, namely, Vishal and Anil Kumar, High
Court directed acquittal of the respondents. In case of co-accused Gangadhar,
conviction was altered to Section 324 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short
the IPC). In all, 9 persons faced trial and the Trial Court had found each to H
1028 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2007) 7 S.C.R.

A be guilty of offences punishable under Sections 302, 323 read with Section
149 IPC.

2. Seven appeals were filed by eight of accused persons. As noted
above, the High Court directed acquittal of the respondents while disposing
of the appeal of Vishal and Anil and altered the conviction of Gangadhar.
B
3. The background facts in a nutshell are as follows:

The accused persons had gone for a pleasure trip to Manali in the year
1994. They had some joint photographs. These photographs were in possession
C of accused Anil Kumar alias Rabba. There was some dispute regarding the
delivery of these photographs. The complainant side wanted to have the
photographs while Babba did not want to part with those photographs.
However, on 16.6.1995, around 9/8.00 P.M. the accused persons, namely,
Sanjiv Kumar alias Sanju, Satnam Singh alias Satta, Parminder Singh alias
D ·Khalsa, Ganga Dhar, Vishal Sharma, Gurpreet Singh Bedi, Sanjiv Kumar and
Anil Kumar alias Babba and Amit Kumar assembled near the S.T.D. booth of
Satnam Singh alias Satta in the area of Krishna Nagar, Hoshiarpur, Harbans
Lal questioned as to what was the problem in returning the photographs. Due
to that an altercation took place in Gali No. 14, Kamlapur and as a result of
that Sanjiv Kumar alias Sanju and Satnam Singh alias Satta raised a lalkara
E that Harbans Lal and his companions should be caught hold of and the matter
should be finished once for all. Anil Kumar alias Babba gave a Kirpan blow
on the flank of Harbans Lal and Vishal Sharma gave a Kirpan blow on the
chest of Rakesh Kumar alias Gori. Both of them fell down on the ground.
Rajinder Kumar PW.5 and Raj Kumar alias Raju PW.6 raised an alarm. Still
Ganga Dhar gave two Kirpan blows on the left side of the forehead and right
F thigh ofRajinder Kumar; Gurpreet Singh Bedi gave a hockey blow on the left
side of the ear of Rajinder Kumar. Parminder Singh alias Khalsa and the owner
of Judge S.T.D. and others boys surrounded them and then Raju and Rajinder
Kumar raised alarm again. Upon this Anil Kumar alias Babba and his
companions ran away from the scene of occurrence. Injured Harbans Lal
G succumbed to the injuries at the spot and Rakesh Kumar in the hospital, the·.
same day. On the basis of information lodged, investigation was undertaken
and on completion thereof charge-sheet was filed. The trial Court found the
accused persons guilty, convicted and sentenced them as aforesaid.

4. The High Court found that no definite role was ascribed to the
H
STATE OF PUNJAB v. SANJIV KUMAR@SANJU [PASA YAT. J.] I029

respondents, and there was no evidence on record with regard to the sharing A
of common object by the respondents.

5. Learned counsel for the appellant-State submitted that presence of
acquitted respondents has been accepted both by the Trial Court and the
High Court. That being so, their conviction under Section 149 was clearly in
order and the High Court should not have interfered with the same. B·
6. There is no appearance on behalf of the respondents in spite of
service of notice.

7. As noted above, the High Court noted that the prosecution has not
even remotely established applicability of Section 149 IPC. C
8. The pivotal question is applicability of Section 149 IPC. Said provision
has its foundation on constructive liability which is the sine qua non for its
operation. The emphasis is on the common object and not on common
intention. Mere presence in an unlawful assembly cannot render a person
liable unless there was a common object and he was actuated by that common
D,,,
objectand that object is one of those set out in Section 141. Where common
object of an unlawful assembly is not proved, the accused persons cann'qt
be convicted with the help of Section 149. The crucial question to determine
is whether the assembly consisted of five or more persons and whether the
said persons entertained one or more of the common objects, as specified in E
Section 141. It cannot be laid down as a general proposition of law that
unless an overt act is proved against a person, who is alleged to be a member
of unlawful assembly, it cannot be said that he is a member of an assembly.
The only thing required is that he should have understood that the assembly
was unlawful and was likely to commit any of the acts which fall within the
purview of Section 141. The word object means the purpose or design and, F
in order to make it common, it must be shared by all. In other words, the
object should be common to the persons, who compose the assembly, that
is to say, they should all be aware of it and concur in it. A common object
may be formed by express agreement after mutual consultation, but that is by
no means necessary. It may be formed at any stage by all or a few members G
of the assembly and the other members may just join and adopt it. Once
formed, it need not continue to be the same. It may be modified or altered
or abandoned at any stage. The expression in prosecution of common object
as appearing in Section 149 have to be strictly construed as equivalent to in
order to attain the common object. It must be immediately connected with the
H
-,
1030 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2007) 7 S.C.R.

A common object by virtue of the nature of the object. There must be community
-(
of object and the object may exist only up to a particular stage, and not-
thereafter. Members of an unlawful assembly may have community of object
up to certain point beyond which they may differ in their objects and the
knowledge, possessed by each member of what is likely to be committed in
prosecution of their common object may vary not only according to the
B information at his command, but also according to the extent to which he
shares the community of object, and as a consequence of this the effect of
Section 149, IPC may be different on different members of the same assembly.

9_ Common object is different from a common intention as it does not
C require a prior concert and a common meeting of minds before the attack. It
is enough if each has the same object in view and their number is five or more
and that they act as an assembly to achieve that object. The common object
of an assembly is to be ascertained from the acts and language of the
members composing it, and from a consideration of all the surrounding
circumstances. It may be gathered from the course of conduct adopted by the
D members of the assemQly. What the common object of the unlawful assembly
is at a particular stage of the incident is essentially a question of fact to be
determined, keeping in view the nature of the assembly, the arms carried by
the members, and the behaviour of the members at or near the scene of the
incident. It is not necessar; under law that in all cases of unlawful assembly,
E with an unlawful common object, the same must be translated into action or
be successful. Under the Explanation to Section 141, an assembly which was
not unlawful whe~ it was assembled, may subsequently become unlawful. It
is not necessary that the intention or the purpose, which is necessary to
render an assembly an unlawful one comes into existence at the outset. The
time of forming an unlawful intent is not material. An assembly which, at its
F commencement or even for some time thereafter, is lawful, may subsequently
become unlawful. In other words it can develop during the course of incident
at the spot eo instante.

10. Section 149, IPC consists of two parts. The first part of the section
means that the offence to be committed in prosecution of the common object
G must be one which is committed with a view to accomplish the common
object. In order that the offence may fall within the first part, the offence must
be connected immediately with the common object of the unlawful assembly
of which the accused was member. Even if the offence committed is not in
direct prosecution of the common object of the assembly, it may yet fall under
H Section I 4 I, if it can be held that the offence was such as the members knew
r

STATE OF PUNJAB v. SANJIV KUMAR!{]' SANJU (PASAYAT. J.) 1031

was likely to be committed and this is what is required in the second part of A
the section. The purpose for which the members of the assembly set out or
desired to achieve ios the object. If the object desired by all the members is
the same, the knowledge that is the object which is being pursued is shared
by all the members and they are in general agreement as to how it is to be
achieved and that is now the common object of the assembly. An object is
entertained in the human mind, and it being merely a mental attitude, no direct B
evidence can be available and, like intention, has generally to be gathered
from the act which the person commits and the result therefrom. Though no
hard and fast rule can be laid down under the circumstances from which the
common object can be culled out, it may reasonably be collected as noted
above from the nature of the assembly, arms carried and behaviour at or· C
before or after the scene of occurrence. The word knew used in the second
limb of the section implies something more than a possibility and it cannot
be made to bear the sense of might have been known. Positive knowledge is
necessary. When an offence is committed in prosecution of the common
object, it would generally be an offence which the members of the unlawful
assembly knew was likely to be committed in prosecution of the commor:i. D
object. That, however, does not make the converse proposition true; there
may be cases which would come within the second part but not within the .
first part. The distinction between the two parts of Section 149 cannot be
ignored or obliterated. In every case it would be an issue to be determined,
whether the offence committed falls within the first part or it was an offence E
such as the members of the assembly knew to be likely to be committed in
prosecution of the common object and falls within the second part. However,
there may be cases which would be within first part of the offences committed
in prosecution of the common object would also be generally, if not always,
within the second part, namely, offences which the parties knew to be likely
committed in the prosecution of the common object. (See Chikkarange Gowda F
and Ors. v. State of Mysore, AIR (1956) SC 731 ).

11. A 4-Judges Bench of this Court in Masalti and Ors. v. State of U.P.,
AIR ( 1965) SC 202) observed as follows:'

"Then it is urged that the evidence given by the witnesses conforms G·
to the same uniform pattern and since no specific part is assigned to
all the assailants, that evidence should not have been accepted. This
criticism again is not well-founded. Where a crowd of assailants who
are members of an unlawful assembly proceeds to commit an offence
of murder in pursuance of the common object of the unlawful assembly, H
1
i

1032 SUPREME COURT REPORTS 12007] 7 S.C.R.

A it is often not possible for witnesses to describe accurately the part
played by each one of the assailants. Besides. if a large crowd of
persons anned with weapons assaults the intended victims. it may not
be necessary that all of them have to take part in the actual assault.
In the present case, for instance, several weapons were carried by
different members of the unlawful assembly, but it appears that the
B guns were used and that was enough to kill 5 persons. In such a case,
it would be unreasonable to contend that because the other weapons
carried by the members of the unlawful assembly were not used, the
story in regard to the said weapons itself should be rejected.
Appreciation of evidence in such a complex case is no doubt a
c difficult task; but criminal courts have to do their best in dealing with
such cases and it is their duty to sift the evidence carefully and
decide which part of it is true and which is not.

12. To similar effect is the observation in Lalji v. State of UP. [1989] 1
sec 437. It was observed that: ..
D
"Common object of the unlawful assembly can be gathered from the
nature of the assembly, anns used by them and the behaviour of the
assembly at or before the scene of occurrence. It is an inference to
be deduced from the facts and circumstances of each case."

E 13. Above being the position in law on the background facts, the High
Courts judgment directing acquittal of the respondent does not suffer from
infirmity.

14. The appeals are dismissed.

F R.P. Appeals dismissed.