VIJAYALAKSHMI K.S Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Whether a trial court or an appellate court, as the case may be, having exercised the option under clause (a) of Sec. 335(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (referred to as 'Cr.P.C.' hereinafter) at the time of delivery of judgment of acquittal on the ground of unsoundness of mind, can re-exercise the option under clause (b) at a later point of time on the application of a relative/friend, is the question involved in the above Criminal Miscellaneous Application. The petitioner, the wife of the accused, who seeks an answer in the affirmative, places heavy reliance upon the judgment of a learned Single Judge of this Court in In re : Saji v. [OP No.16667/1996], reported in 2009 (2) KLT 892.

(2.) The attendant facts:-

(3.) The Division Bench delivered the judgment on 10/1/2020. On 3/12/2021, the petitioner, the wife of the accused, filed the instant Criminal Miscellaneous Application under Sec. 335(1)(b), Cr.P.C. seeking to release the accused to the legal custody of the petitioner. The petitioner, essentially, relies on Annexure-A2 report on the mental condition of the accused, issued by the second respondent (Superintendent, Government Mental Health Centre, Kozhikkode). The petitioner contends that as per Annexure-A2 report, the accused is fit to be released from hospital, as also, for out- patient management. The petitioner is ready and willing to take care of her husband at her house, to which course, their children, a son aged 26 years and a daughter aged 19 years, have no objection.