SIVAN PILLAI Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The above Criminal Appeal arises from the judgment of the Additional Sessions Judge (Ad hoc) - I, Pathanamthitta in S.C. No. 443 of 2006. The appellant/accused is alleged to have torched his wife resulting in her death by reason of the 36% burns suffered by her. The death of the injured, according to the prosecution, was an inevitable conclusion of a sad life plagued with financial depravity and marital discord.

(2.) The prosecution case is initiated on the statement of the deceased recorded by P.W.20, on the strength of which F.I.R. (Exhibit P14) was initially registered under Sections 307 and 498A IPC on 17.10.2005. The deceased was under treatment in the Medical College Hospital while the First Information Statement Exhibit P12 was recorded by P.W.20. Subsequently, on her death at about 8.30 p.m. on the very same day, Exhibit P18 report was made deleting Section 307 and including Section 302 IPC. The case of the prosecution is built on the above statement recorded by P.W.20 as also the circumstances spoken to by the various witnesses and inter alia the scientific evidence that came to the fore on the investigation conducted by P.W.22.

(3.) On the fateful day, according to the statement (Exhibit P12) of the deceased, while she had returned home from work, her husband, the appellant, was in an inebriated condition and on her refusal to accede to his demand for money, picked up a quarrel with her. When the appellant assaulted her physically, the deceased went inside the house and at about 8.00 hours in the night, the husband came inside the house taunting her and taking a lighted kerosene lamp, opened the cap, threw the kerosene on her body and torched her with a match stick. The deceased thus having suffered burns on the face, chest, shoulders and back, rushed to her neighbor's (P.W.13) house. When the deceased came to the neighboring house, P.W.13, his wife (D.W.1) and their relative (P.W.7) were available in the house. On seeing the severely burnt neighbor, P.W.13 and P.W.7 ushered her in, informed her father over telephone and, immediately rushed to get a car. It is the case of the prosecution that the deceased was taken from the house of P.W.13 to Community Health Centre (CHC) at Adoor, where she was given first aid by P.W.18, who also prepared Exhibit P11 wound certificate dated 16.10.2005. P.W.5, the father's brother of the deceased and P.W.12, the brother-in-law of the deceased had reached the house of P.W.13 on hearing of the mishap and had accompanied her to the CHC, Adoor. The CHC being not equipped to deal with the severe burns inflicted on the patient, P.W.18 referred her to the Medical College Hospital. On reaching the CHC, the relatives of the deceased, her sister (P.W.4), and her father (P.W.6) joined the deceased and it was they along with P.W.5 and P.W.12 who took the deceased to the Medical College Hospital at Thiruvananthapuram. As per Exhibit P13 medical case record, the deceased was admitted at about 10.30 a.m. in the Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram and while continuing on treatment, her condition deteriorated by around 7.30 p.m. and she breathed her last at 8.30 p.m. The accused was arrested on 19.10.2005. Investigation was carried on and final report was filed before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Adoor, which committed the case to the Sessions Court. This, in brief, is the facts of the incident which led to the registration of the crime, the arrest of the accused and the final charge sheet being filed on completion of investigation.