BAIJU Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These are the two appeals preferred by accused Nos. 1 and 2 respectively against the judgment in S.C. No. 499 of 2006 dated 09/12/2010 rendered by the Additional Sessions Judge II, Thiruvananthapuram.

(2.) The short facts of the case are as follows: One Kamala Bai, the deceased in the case, met with a sad death in the hands of accused No. 1, who is her son, and accused No. 2, who is her grandson, while she was residing along with her another son, PW4, in Thekkinkara Puthen Veedu, Aruvottukonam, Karikamadakodu desom, Vellarada Village, Thiruvananthapuram. The alleged incident took place on 02/03/2004. On that day, at about 1.30 p.m., accused No. 2 along with his two friends came to the house of the deceased and had some chatting with her. They returned after a short while and on the way they met with accused No. 1. Then again they came back to the house of the deceased and accused Nos. 1 and 2 approached the deceased and had some discussions with her. Accused Nos. 1 and 2 demanded re - assignment of 6 cents of land earlier gifted to accused No. 1 and subsequently revoked by her. It has resulted in the alleged attack on the deceased by accused Nos. 1 and 2. Accused No. 1 hit on the head of the deceased with a cradle stick (MO1) and accused No. 2 caught hold of the throat of the deceased by his hands and fisted on her chest. Hearing the screaming of the deceased, PW1 rushed to the kitchen and saw the entire incident through the window of kitchen. Thereon, PW1 went out of the house to call PW11 Jestus, another son of the deceased. In the meanwhile, accused Nos. 1 and 2 ran away from the house. On the way, accused No. 1 threw the MO1 cradle stick in a rubber estate. The deceased, after the attack, came out of the house, but fell on a nearby earthen road and vomited. PW11, who came to the spot on getting information, took the deceased in an auto rickshaw and removed her to the hospital at Anappara and from there, as insisted by the doctors, to the Medical College Hospital. On the same day at about 1.20 a.m., (mistakenly written as 1.20 p.m. in the impugned judgment in paragraph 4) she succumbed to the injuries at the Medical College Hospital. On the next day, PW3, the son of the deceased, went to the Vellarada Police Station and gave Ext.P1 First Information Statement, based on which, PW13, the Assistant Sub Inspector of Vellarada Police Station, registered Ext.P1(a) First Information Report alleging offence under S.449 and S.302 read with S.34 of Indian Penal Code against accused Nos. 1 and 2 and their two friends. Subsequently, the two friends of the accused including PW2 were deleted from the party array as there was no material to proceed against them in connection with the alleged incident.

(3.) After completion of investigation, PW14 laid charge against accused Nos. 1 and 2 before the Judicial Magistrate of the First Class II, Neyyattinkara and it was duly committed by the learned Magistrate to the Sessions Court. After trial, the Sessions Court found accused No. 1 guilty of offence punishable under Sections 302 and 449 Penal Code and accused No. 2 guilty of offence punishable under S.304 part II and S.449 IPC. The first accused was convicted and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life for the offence under S.302 of Penal Code and to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years for the offence punishable under S.449 of IPC. The second accused was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of five years for the offence punishable under S.304 part II of Penal Code and to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years for the offence punishable under S.449 of Penal Code by the impugned judgment.