VELAYUDHAN NILAKANTAN Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The two accused in Sessions Case No. 46 of 1959 of the Sessions Court of Quilon are the appellants. Appeal 279 is by the 2nd accused and 291 by the 1st accused. Both of them were tried for the murder of one Parameswara Kurup. The 2nd accused was convicted under S.302 and sentenced to suffer death subject to confirmation by this Court and the 1st accused was convicted under S.326 I.P.C. and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 5 years.

(2.) The accused are tree-climbers by caste and they are brothers inlaw The 1st accused and the deceased were neighbours. The 1st accused was staying with his family in Kunnel purayidom as a tenant of the deceased who lived with his wife Pw. 2 in Kunnel House to the south of the purayidam. The accused and his people were cropping coconuts from the compound unauthorisedly and cultivating the land without the permission of Pw. 2 the owner of the property. The 2nd accused though he stayed elsewhere used to frequent the 1st accuseds house and was an active party to the depredations of his brother inlaw. Pw. 2 had filed petitions before the Magistrate and the Police and also instituted a civil suit against the 1st accused and his family and in one of the criminal complaints the 2nd accused also figured as an accused. The feelings between the parties were very much strained on this account. On the date of incident, that is, 6th June 1959 the deceased Parameswara Kurup on his way back from Karunagappally where he had gone in connection with one of the suits filed against the 1st accused and others, alighted from the bus stand at Kochumavin Moodu Junction at about 1-30 P. M. After purchasing some fish and handing it over to his servant who was waiting for him, Kurup followed him. On the way he was joined by Pw. 3. They entered the Kunnel compound and when they reached the front yard of the 1st accuseds house, Kurup stopped and plucked some maize plants that were cultivated by the 1st accused and handed them over to his servant to be given to his cattle. The prosecution alleges that the 1st accused and his wife who saw this from the courtyard abused Kurup for having destroyed their cultivation. Fearing that something untoward might happen Pw. 2 came out and took away her husband to his house. The 1st accused and his people continued to abuse Kurup and it is alleged that hearing the abuses Kurup came out and advised them to stop doing it. The 1st accused and his wife were then standing at a distance of about 25 feet to the north-east of their house. The 1st accused was armed with a chopper. Just at that time the 2nd accused who also had a chopper with him ran up from the nearby paddy field shouting out to his brother inlaw cut him, dont leave him, The prosecution alleges that the 1st accused then rushed towards Kurup and gave him a cut on the head with the chopper. Kurup attempted to ward off the cut. The 1st accused gave him three or four more cuts. Then the 2nd accused who had come up to the spot gave a deadly cut on the shoulder of Kurup. Kurup fell down and died at the spot. The accused are then alleged to have escaped from the place with their choppers. Pw. 3 immediately went to Kurups father Pw. 1 and reported the matter. He first went to the scene and then proceeded to the Karunagappally Police Station and gave Ext. P-1 statement. The accused were arrested on the 8th by Pw. 17 the Sub-Inspector of Police and the chopper used by the 1st accused was recovered from his sisters house and the chopper of the 2nd accused was recovered from the house of his sister.

(3.) In the preliminary enquiry court both the accused denied the charge, but before the Sessions Court the 1st accused admitted having cut Kurup with a chopper and pleaded that he did so in exercise of the right of self defence. He stated that Kurup had come in a quarrelsome mood and destroyed his maize cultivation and when his wife protested Kurup got exasperated and abused her and got into his house and belaboured his aged mother who was on her bed. Kurup pulled her out into the courtyard. He himself was ill and was sleeping by the side of his little child who was also in bed. Kurup kicked the child and caught hold of him and beat him. Seeing the child being kicked he intervened and was beaten again. Pw. 3 who was with Kurup intervened and took Kurup to the Kunnel house, but a little later Kurup returned with a dagger. When the women of the house tried to obstruct him he belaboured them. The accuseds mother inlaw was caught hold of and forcibly kept under the armpit of Kurup. Kurup then rushed towards him to stab him. It was at that juncture that he picked up the chopper that was lying there and dealt some cuts on Kurup. He admitted the ownership of M. O.1 chopper and the recovery of it from his sisters house. The existence of civil and criminal cases between him and Kurup was admitted by him, but according to him there was no estrangement of feelings on that account. He denied that the 2nd accused had anything to do with the incident. The 2nd accused completely denied the charge and his presence at the scene of incident He denied that the chopper M. O. II belonged to him.