GAJENDRANATH Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Criminal Appeal 72 of 1963 is by accused 1,2 and 3 in Sessions Case No.3 of 1963 on the file of the Sessions Court of Trivandrum.They along with three others were charged under S.147,148,149,342 and S.302 I.P.C.read with S.34 for having formed themselves into an unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapons and having caused the death of one Sathian by beating and stabbing him.Accused 4 to 6 were acquitted of all the charges while accused 1 to 3 were convicted under S.325 read with S.34 arid sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years and to pay a fine of Rs.100/ -.In Criminal Appeal 174 of 1963 the State has challenged the acquittal of accused 4 to 6 and the acquittal of the appellants of the charge of murder.

(2.) Accused 1 to 3 are direct brothers and accused 5 and 6 are their first cousins.The fourth accused is a brother inlaw of accused 1 to 3.Accused 1 to 3 were residing with their parents in Kamalalayam House by the side of the Petta - Oruvathikottah Road in Trivandrum.Sathian the deceased was staying nearby.Babu a brother of accused 1 to 3 had been on terms of illicit intimacy with Savithri the sister of Sathian as a result of which she became pregnant.Attempts to get Babu marry Savithri did not succeed.On 5 -11 -1962 Surendranath another brother of accused 1 to 3 filed a complaint against Sathian and his two brothers Viswan and Velappan alleging that he was assaulted by them and a case was charge sheeted by the Vanchiyoor Police on 13 -11 -1962.

(3.) The prosecution case is that at about 7 on the evening of 13 -11 -1962 all the six accused in the case together with two others who are yet unidentified lay in wait in and about Kamalalayam House after having made preparations to attack Sathian when he would be passing by the lane to the north of Kamalalayam House on his way home.Accused 4 to 6 and one of the unidentified persons were seated on a bullock cart on the road side,accused 2 and the other unidentified person were standing at the gate of the Kamalalayam House and accused 1 and 3 were inside the house.When Sathian reached the place in the company of P.W.1 the accused are alleged to have blocked his way,pushed him down and lifted him bodily into the courtyard of the Kamalalayam house.There all of them attacked him mercilessly with the weapons they had kept ready there and one of the unidentified persons also stabbed him with a knife.When Sathian cried out that he was being killed,P.W.1 who had been accompanying him is alleged to have proceeded to the work spot of Viswan a brother of Sathian and after appraising him of the brutal attack on his brother proceeded to the Vanchiyoor Police Station to make a report.He returned in the company of the police to the Kamalalayam House where they found Sathian lying injured on the verandha of the house with hands and legs tied.Sathian was removed to the Medical College Hospital where he succumbed to the injuries the same night.