MOHAMMED Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CRL. A. 128 of 1985 is filed by the accused challenging the conviction and sentence under S. 201 of the IPC. and CRL. A. 101 of 1986 is filed by the State on the ground that the proper conviction and sentence ought to have been under S. 302 of the IPC.

(2.) THE accused stood charged under S. 302 and 201 of the ipc. Accused is alleged to have committed the murder of his wife Kochaisha and daughter Safiyath in the night of 6-12-1982 and concealed the corpses by dumping them in a well close to his house. THE prosecution case is that accused and his relatives used to abuse and scold Kochaisha almost everyday, that in the eventful night the accused killed his wife by strangulating her, that he had also killed Safiyath by smothering her and that the dead bodies were stealthily removed and thrown into a neighbouring well. THE dead. bodies were taken out of the well and were removed to the Government Medical College Hospital , kottayam for postmortem examination. Though the first information statement was registered as unnatural death, investigation by Pw. 19 revealed it to be a case of homicide and accordingly a report was sent for altering the Section of offence as 302 of the IPC.

(3.) THE evidence of Pws. 12 and 13 conclusively established that Kochaisha died due to ligature strangulation and Safiyath died due to smothering. On going through the evidence we bold that the learned Sessions judge was justified in holding that death of Kochaisha and Safiyath was not at all on account of suicide as suggested by the defence but it was really a case of homicide.