Indian Penal Code 1860 – Section 34 –For a person to be convicted under section 34, there must be an involvement of two or more persons with common intention to commit the crime. Mere presence of the accused at the scene of occurrence is not sufficient. (Para 17)
Punishment -The object of punishment is not only to deter the accused from committing any further crime, but also to reform and retribute; and the extent of reformation can be derived only by the conduct of the accused exhibited during his days of retribution. (Para 19)
Criminal Trial –The law on minor discrepancies which does not affect the basic case of the prosecution- Referred to C. Muniappan v. State of Tamil Nadu [2010] 10 S.C.R. 262:: 2010 INSC 553: Even if there are some omissions, contradictions and discrepancies, the entire evidence cannot be disregarded. After exercising care and caution and sifting through the evidence to separate truth from untruth, exaggeration and improvements, the court comes to a conclusion as to whether the residuary evidence is sufficient to convict the accused. Thus, an undue importance should not be attached to omissions, contradictions and discrepancies which do not go to the heart of the matter and shake the basic version of the prosecution’s witness. As the mental abilities of a human being cannot be expected to be attuned to absorb all the details of the incident, minor discrepancies are bound to occur in the statements of witnesses. (Para 15)