STATE OF KERALA Vs. NAZAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appeals had been filed by accused 1 and 2 against the judgment dated 27/2/2013 in SC No.6/2012 by which they were found guilty for committing the offence u/s 120(b), 364, 201, 397 and 302 IPC and convicted to undergo rigorous imprisonment (RI) for 7 years each and to pay fine of Rs. 5,000/- for offence u/s 120(b), RI for 10 years and fine of Rs. 5,000/- for offence u/s 364, RI for 7 years and fine of Rs. 5,000/- for offence u/s 201, RI for 7 years for offence u/s 397 IPC and the accused to be hanged till death and fine of Rs. 25,000/- for offence u/s 302 IPC. The death sentence had been suspended till confirmation by the High Court and sentence of imprisonment and those imposed on default clauses were to run consecutively.

(2.) Anitha, aged 20 years was found missing from her house since 9/8/2011. She had gone to attend her college at about 9 am. Later, her decomposed dead body was found out in a forest area. Investigation revealed that accused 1 and 2 hatched out a criminal conspiracy to commit rape and murder and in the process, the victim was taken to a dense forest area of Thirunelly forest section. She was taken to an isolated place in Appapara, intoxicated and was subjected to rape. Thereafter, she was strangulated to death using her own shawl and a bath towel. Her face was mutilated by hitting her with a granite block. Her gold ornaments and mobile phone were robbed. Her body was carried to a dense forest and the corpse was abandoned after covering it with a plastic sheet. The 2nd accused took her dress materials, vanity bag, books and other belongings and it was concealed beneath mud in a nearby pond. Investigation revealed that after committing the crime, accused 1 and 2 contacted PW14 to pledge the gold ornaments. The gold ornaments were pledged and the amount was shared between them. PW14 was given a short term loan of Rs. 1,000/-. First accused went to the house of the third accused who gave shelter for him. Third accused kept the mobile phone in an almirah in his bedroom. It is in the said circumstances that crime was registered against accused 1 to 3. Police after conducting investigation submitted the final report and the case went into trial. Accused pleaded that they were not guilty. Before the Trial Court, prosecution examined 46 witnesses and marked Exts.P1 to P54. MOs1 to MO92 were identified. The accused were questioned u/s 313 Cr.P.C. Court below acquitted the third accused and convicted accused 1 and 2 as stated above.

(3.) Crl.Appeal No.769/13 has been filed by the first accused and Crl.Appeal No. 948/13 has been filed by the second accused. Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that there is no evidence worth mentioning to find the accused guilty of any of the offences alleged against them. It is submitted that the entire evidence has to be reappreciated in order to find out whether the accused were involved in any of the alleged crimes. The Court below had erroneously came to a finding regarding the guilt of the accused which is liable to be set aside. It is further submitted that as far as the D.S.R. is concerned, even assuming that the accused had committed the crime, there are several mitigating circumstances which had not been considered by the court below and at any rate, the alleged offence cannot be treated as a rarest of rare care warranting capital punishment.