VISHNU NARAYANAN Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal filed under Section 14A(2) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act , 1989 (for short 'the Act').

(2.) The appellants are the accused 6 to 8 and 12 in the case registered as Crime No.1682/2020 of the Cherthala police station. The allegation against the accused in the case is that they have committed the offences punishable under Sections 452 , 324 , 326 and 307 read with 34 I.P.C and also under Sections 109 and 120B I.P.C and under Sections 3(2)(va) and 3(2)(v) of the Act.

(3.) The prosecution case, in short, is as follows. The de facto complainant (hereinafter referred to as 'the victim') is a person who belongs to a scheduled caste. Accused 1 to 13 are persons who do not belong to any scheduled caste. The first accused and the victim are neighbours. The victim had caused hindrance to the consumption of narcotic drugs by the first accused and his friends in the nearby area. The first accused entertained enmity towards the victim for this reason. A wordy altercation between them had occurred on 25.07.2020. Accused 1 to 5 hatched a conspiracy to murder the victim. On 25.07.2020, at the road near the house of one Chitrabhanu in Ward No.IX of Vayalar Panchayat, the first and the fifth accused met accused No.9 and informed him of the details of the plan to murder the victim. They wanted accused No.9 to discuss the matter with accused 6 to 13 and to make necessary arrangements to execute the plan. Accused 6 to 13 thereafter entered into a conspiracy for intimating the movements of the victim to accused 1 to 5 to facilitate an attack on the victim. Pursuant to the conspiracies thus hatched, on 27.07.2020, at about 14:30 hours, accused 6 to 8 and 11 to 13 observed the movements of the victim and they gave intimation to accused 1 to 5 regarding the movements of the victim and when the victim was proceeding from the place Nagamkulangara to Kollappally, as a pillion driver on the motorcycle driven by his relative Mahesh, and when they reached the road near Royal Rinse Laundry Centre, accused 2 to 5 attacked the victim with steel pipes. When the victim ran into the house of one Job in fear of his life, accused 2 to 5 chased him and trespassed into that house and made attempt to murder the victim by beating him all over the body with steel pipes and they caused grievous injuries to him.