VIJAYANPILLAI Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The sole accused in S.C.No.550 of 2017 on the files of the Court of the Additional Sessions Judge-III, Kollam, is the appellant in the appeal. He stands convicted and sentenced for the offence punishable under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

(2.) The victim is one Sivankutty Pillai. The accused is his younger brother. The occurrence which is the subject matter of this case took place on 12/5/2013. The victim was not residing with his family at the time of occurrence owing to the strained relationship he had with his wife. The victim was residing in a shed in a property belonging to his family right in front of the house where his wife and son were residing. There is a road in between the properties. The accused was also residing in the shed with the victim. On 14/5/2013, the dead body of the victim was found with clogged blood in the shed. The matter was informed to the police by the son of the victim. A case was registered on that basis by Thekkumbhagom Police. The investigation in the case revealed that it was the accused who caused the death of the victim. Final report was accordingly filed against the accused alleging commission of the offence punishable under Sec. 302 IPC. The accusation in the final report is that on 12/5/2013, there occurred a quarrel between the accused and the victim over the consumption of liquor kept by the accused in a bottle in the shed and in the midst of the said quarrel, the accused took a wooden plank and beat the victim a few times on his head and thereby caused his death.

(3.) On the accused being committed to trial, the Court of Session framed charge against him to which he pleaded not guilty. Thereupon, the prosecution examined 21 witnesses as Pws.1 to 21 and proved through them 20 documents as Exts.P1 to P20. MOs 1 to 14 were the material objects in the case. When the incriminating evidence was put to the accused in terms of the provisions contained in Sec. 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (the Code), he denied the same and maintained that he is innocent. Since the trial court did not find the case to be one fit for acquittal under Sec. 232 of the Code, the accused was called upon to enter on his defence. The accused did not adduce any evidence. Thereupon, on an appraisal of the materials on record, the Court of Session found the appellant guilty of the offence punishable under Sec. 302 IPC, convicted him and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life and pay a fine of Rs.1,00,000.00. The appellant is aggrieved by his conviction and sentence in the said case, hence this appeal.