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PETITIONER: SUKHA AND OTHERS
Vs.
RESPONDENT: THE STATE OF RAJASTHAN.
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 05/04/1956
BENCH: BOSE, VIVIAN BENCH: BOSE, VIVIAN JAGANNADHADAS, B. AIYAR, N. CHANDRASEKHARA
CITATION: 1956 AIR 513 1956 SCR 288
ACT: Unlawful Assembly-"Common intention" and "Common object" -Distinction-Duty of a Court of fact-Indian Penal Code (Act XLV of 1860), ss. 34,149.
HEADNOTE: Common intention required by s. 34 of the Indian Penal Code and common object set out under s. 149, though they sometimes overlap, are used in different senses and should be kept distinct. In a case under s. 149 there need not be a prior concert and meeting of minds, it is enough that each has the same object in view and their number is five or more and they act as an assembly to achieve that object. When a crowd assembles and there is an uproar and people are killed and injured, it is only natural for others to rush to the scene with whatever arms they can snatch. Some may have an unlawful motive but others may not, and in such circumstances it is impossible to say that they were all motivated by a common intention with prior concert. What a court of fact should do in such a case is to find from the evidence which of them individually had an unlawful object ...