RAJAN Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant the accused in S. C. No. 16/1978 of the Sessions Court, Kottayam was convicted under Section 302 I. P. C. and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. The conviction and sentence are under challenge in this appeal.

(2.) THE charge against the appellant Rajan (30) an agricultural labourer was that he committed murder by causing the death of Biju the three year old son of his elder brother Chellappan (P. W. 5) by cutting the child with a sickle and severing the head, at about 4. 30 P. M. on 6-11978 at the courtyard of the house of P. W. 5 in the presence of P. W. 1 Narayani the maternal grandmother of the child, while P. W. 5 and his wife were away in the farm. According to the prosecution the aroused who had some grudge against P. W. 5 has wreaked his revenge in thus causing the death of the child.

(3.) THE prosecution case briefly stated is this: