RAMASWAMI GOUNDER Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal and referred trial arise out of S.C. 26 of 1957 on the file of the Sessions Judge, Palghat.

(2.) There were seven, accused persons at the trail. Of these, one, namely the 4th accused, has been acquitted. Of the remaining six accused, accused 1, 3 and 6 have been convicted under S.3.02 read with S.34 I. P. C.; accused 2 and 5 have been convicted under S.302 read with S.149 I.P.C., and all have been convicted under S.147 I.P.C Accused 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 have each been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for two years for the offence of rioting and the 1st accused has been sentenced to death and accused 2, 5 and 6 to rigorous imprisonment for life for the offence of murder. (We might here remark that the liability of accused 2 and 5 on the charge of murder being under S.149 I. P. C. no separate sentence ought to have been awarded to them for the offence under S.147 I. P. C.). The 3rd accused being below the age of 16 has not been awarded any sentence but has been dealt with under S.27 (1) of the Madras Childrens Act, IV of 1920.

(3.) The prosecution case is briefly as follows: Accused 1 and 2 who are divided brothers are rich and influential landlords of the village of Moongalmada in the Chittur Taluk of this State bordering on the Pollachi Taluk of the Madras State. They have a brother by the name of Chinnaswami Goundan who, about one and a half years before the occurrence which took place on the night of be 1st February 1957, eloped with Pw. 2 the married daughter of Pw. 1 (a labourer dependent on the 1st accused) who had left her husband and was living with her parents. He lived with her in Palani for about three or four months. Then her mother went to Palani and fetched her back and, Apparently with a view to keep her out of Chinnaswami Goundans reach, took her to the house of her (the mothers) brother, the deceased Velayudhan Ezhuthessan, aged 28 in Kannadi about ten miles away and left her there. There Pw. 2 was living until about four days before the occurrence when she came back to her parents in Moongalmada. It is said that it was the apprehension on the part of accused 1 and 2 that this would result in the renewal of the intimacy between Pw. 2 and their brother that led to the events culminating in the murder of the deceased.