A O THOMAS Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The sole accused in S.C. No. 58/99 on the file of the court of Assistant Sessions Judge, Ernakulam is the appellant herein. He challenges the order of his conviction and sentence under Sections 306 and 376 of the Indian Penal Code imposed by the trial court as per its judgment dated 28-7-2001 in the above case.

(2.) The prosecution case is that Sandhya, a girl aged 18 years, committed suicide on 29-10-1992 as a result of rape committed on her by the accused and on his instigation for committing suicide. The prosecution case can be summarised as follows:

(3.) Sandhya, 18 years old girl, who is the victim in this case, committed suicide by consuming a poisonous fruit namely, 'Odallam'. She took the poisonous fruit on 28-10-1992 and died on the next day. At the relevant time, Sandhya was preparing for S.S.L.C. examination and was attending classes in a tutorial college. She was the third among the four children of her parents. According to the prosecution case, she was suffering from the sickness of vomiting blood till two years of age but the same was cured by treatment. It is the specific case of the prosecution that after about two years from the death of Sandhya, her father discovered a letter of Sandhya, while he was dismantling the makeshift wall of his house made up of palm leaves to replace it with a stone wall. The said letter contained several startling revelations. According to the said letter, Sandhya was raped by the accused two days before her death and it was the said incident at the hands of the accused instigated her to commit suicide.