Justice Subramonium Prasad said that it cannot assume that every member of an unlawful assembly would be guilty of murder and the Supreme Court has consistently held that in order to convict an accused with the aid of Section 149, a clear finding needs to be given by the Court regarding the nature of the unlawful common object.
If this finding is absent, then the mere fact that the accused was armed will not be sufficient to prove the common object, the Court said.
“When there is a crowd involved, at the juncture of grant or denial of bail, the Court must hesitate before arriving at the conclusion that every member of the unlawful assembly inhabits a common intention to accomplish the unlawful common object. It cannot be assumed that every member of the unlawful assembly could be found guilty of the offence of Section 302 of the IPC and, therefore, every decision on an application of bail must be based on a careful consideration of the facts and circumstances in the matter therein,” the Court held.
Source: Barandbench
