MANU Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The sole accused in S.C. No.1009 of 2015 on the files of the Additional Sessions Court, Kollam who stands convicted for the offence punishable under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life has come up with this appeal, challenging his conviction and sentence in the said case.

(2.) The accused is none other than the son-in-law of the sister of the deceased, Rajendran. The accused was residing with the family of his wife during the period when the occurrence took place. The relationship between the accused and his wife was not cordial, and prior to the occurrence, the wife of the accused had left the company of the accused. The accusation in the case is that in the morning hours of 9/5/2015, the accused went to the house of the deceased in search of his wife alleging that his wife has been harboured there; that when the wife of the deceased required the accused to leave their house, the accused pelted a stone at the wife of the deceased and that at about 2 p.m. on the same day, when the deceased went to the house of the accused to talk to him about the incident in which the accused pelted stone at his wife, the accused struck on the head of the deceased with a chopper at the northern courtyard of his house. It is also the accusation in the case that when the deceased warded off the strike with an aluminium bucket and secured the chopper from the accused, the accused took a wooden rod from the kitchen and hit the deceased using the same multiple times; that when the deceased managed to secure the wooden rod from the accused, the accused struck on the right leg of the deceased using an iron rod, as a result of which the right leg of the deceased was fractured and he fell down. It is also the accusation in the case that the accused then struck on the head of the deceased with the aluminium bucket, thrusted on the fractured leg using the iron rod and thereafter took a coconut grater from the kitchen and threw it over the head of the deceased and fled away from the scene, as by the time, people in the locality gathered at the scene hearing the hue and cry. Though the deceased was taken initially to the Government Hospital, Kottarakara and then to Gokulam Medical College, Vengaramoodu on a reference from the Government Hospital, he passed away on the way to the Medical College.

(3.) On the same day, on the basis of the information furnished by Radhika, one of the younger sisters of the deceased, the Ezhukone Police registered a crime, arrested the accused and after investigation, laid a final report against him alleging commission of the offence punishable under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).