Sentence/Sentencing - Death sentence - Propriety of - Conviction u/s. 302/34 IPC of 3 accused - Death sentence to two of the accused - Confirmed by High Court - On appeal, held: Death sentence is not warranted - But in view of the fact that they caused death of 4 persons and nature of injuries inflicted, they deserve no sympathy - Death sentence is modified to life imprisonment for a minimum period of thirty years without remission - Penal Code, 1860 - s. 302/34.

Death Sentence - Award of- Principles to be followed - Held: To award death sentence, aggravating circumstances (crime test) have to be fully satisfied and there should be no mitigating circumstance (criminal test) favouring the accused - Even thereafter test of rarest of rare case has to be applied.

Death sentence - Rarest of rare case test - Criteria - Held: Test of rarest of rare case depends on the perception of the society and not Judge-centric'.

Appellants-accused, along with 2 other accused were prosecuted for causing death of 4 people of a family. Trial court convicted the appellants and one other accused u/s. 302/34 IPC. Fourth accused was below 18 years of age and hence was sent to Juvenile Board. Appellants were sentenced to death and the other accused was awarded file imprisonment. High Court confirmed their conviction and sentence. Hence the present appeal by the appellants. The accused confined their contention on the question of sentence and stated that death sentence was not justified as in view of their age i.e. 34 and 22 years, there is possibility of their reform and rehabilitation; that antecedents of the appellants were unblemished and that since they had already undergone number of years in jail they may be set free.