RAVEENDRAN @ RAVI Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant was convicted under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and he was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rupees ten thousand and in default, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year. The appellant died on 27.7.2011 pending the appeal before this Court. No application has been filed by any of the near relatives of the appellant seeking leave to continue to prosecute the Criminal Appeal.

(2.) The learned Public Prosecutor as well as the learned counsel for the appellant brought to our notice that in view of the decision in Suo Motu v. M. P. Ismail and another,2014 2 KHC 82, it is doubtful whether the Criminal Appeal can be dismissed on the ground that the appellant is dead and that no near relative has come forward to prosecute the appeal. In Suo Motu v. M. P. Ismail and another,2014 2 KHC 82, two sentences occurring in paragraph 8 of the judgment caused the suspicion whether the appeal has to be disposed of on the merits. Those sentences read as follows:

(3.) In the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, Section 431 dealt with the provision on the subject. Section 431 of the 1898 Code was to the following effect: