JOY DEVARAJ Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This criminal appeal, by special leave, calls in question the judgment and order dtd. 28/9/2011 of the Kerala High Court(High Court, hereafter) dismissing the appellant's appeal(Criminal Appeal No. 12 of 2007) under sec. 374(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The impugned judgment upheld the conviction of the appellant by the Sessions Court, Thalassery(Sessions Court, hereafter) under Sec. 143, 147, 148, and 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ("IPC", hereafter) and, inter alia, the sentence of imprisonment for life together with fine.

(2.) Bare reading of the impugned judgment reveals that the appellant, who was part of an unlawful assembly, murdered Bobby("victim", hereafter) in the evening of 26/12/1999 due to a dispute which arose on 24/12/1999 between Sufras @ Rinku("A4", hereafter) and Bennet Ignatius("PW5", hereafter). Since we are considering this appeal which is at the instance of the appellant, being accused no.1, the discussion in this judgment is proposed to be confined to the role of the appellant only; however, the role of the other accused may be discussed tangentially, if required.

(3.) The sequence of events preceding the death of the victim, according to the prosecution case, reveals that the victim and PW5 were members of an 'Anti-Liquor Movement'. They attempted to persuade the public to give up drinking alcohol. On 24/12/1999, PW5 got into an altercation with A4 who allegedly was an illicit liquor vendor. The victim had supported PW5 in that altercation and, thus, had a run-in with A4. During the course of the argument, A4 had threatened the victim with danger to his life and this, according to the prosecution, formed the genesis for the attack on the victim in the evening of 26/12/1999. On that day, Dikson Jerry("PW1", hereafter) was standing near the victim's house with K.T. Varghese("PW2", hereafter) and Byju("CW2", hereafter) . At this time, the victim was standing on the street, at a distance of about 5 metres from PW1, talking to K.R. Rainold Suresh(PW3) and Jerry Mariyadas(PW6), when Renjith T.M.("PW4", hereafter)arrived on his scooter and joined the group of the victim. Around 7:40 PM, all the accused persons including the appellant armed with deadly weapons were seen approaching the victim. Sensing danger, the victim tried to flee on PW4's scooter but the scooter was cut off immediately. The appellant, armed with a dagger, grabbed the victim, and pulled him to the ground and proceeded to stab him with the dagger on the left side of his lower chest. The other accused persons hit the victim with hockey sticks. Further, after the conclusion of the attack on the victim, the accused while retreating hurled a bomb at the door of PW1's house. PW1, PW2 and CW2 rushed the victim to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.