- (1.) Leave granted in both the appeals.
(2.) Both the appeals are preferred against the judgment dated 14.7.2011 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay, Nagpur Bench at Nagpur in Criminal Appeal No.284 of 1998, whereby the High Court partly allowed the said Criminal Appeal filed by respondents 2 to 4 herein/accused 1 to 3 and thereby set aside their conviction and sentence under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC and instead convicted them for offence under Section 304 Part-II read with Section 34 IPC and sentenced them to imprisonment for period already undergone and directed them to pay jointly and severally a sum of Rs.1,05,000/- to PW1 Narayan Patil and family members of the deceased as compensation in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and the High Court maintained the conviction of the accused persons under Section 324 read with Section 34 IPC but reduced the sentence to the period already undergone. Aggrieved by the same the State has preferred Criminal Appeal No. 443 of 2015 (@ SLP(Crl.) No.1505 of 2012. The complainant Tukaram Dnyaneshwar Patil also preferred appeal in Criminal Appeal No. 442 of 2015 (@ SLP(Crl.) No.1506 of 2012. Since both the appeals have been preferred against the same judgment, they are heard together and a common judgment is rendered.
(3.) Briefly the facts are stated as follows : The accused and the deceased belonged to village Tuljapur Tah. Wardha. PW1 Narayan Patil is the brother of deceased Dnyaneshwar Patil and he was also residing in the same village. Tukaram is the son of the deceased. There was a dispute between the deceased Dnyaneshwar Patil and accused A1-Dipak, A2-Prashant and A3-Pawan over the boundary of the field and on 22.10.1997 accused no.1 assaulted Dnyaneshwar Patil by means of sickle on the left ear and A2 and A3 assaulted him by means of sticks on his head and mouth. When PW1 Narayan Patil intervened, accused nos.1 to 3 assaulted him with sticks on his arm and head. PWs 2 to 4, PW8 and PW9 witnessed the occurrence. The injured were taken to Sewagram Hospital.;