RAVICHANDRAN Vs. YASODHAI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The accused is the revision petitioner herein. The respondent and the accused herein are the residents of Eravangkudi. The respondent herein had three daughters and one son and Meena is her youngest daughter and P.W. 2 Meena during September 1997, lodged a police complaint against the wife of one Kasinathan who is none else than the mother of the accused/appellant Ravichandran. The complaint proceeds as if the accused Ravichandran and the complainant Meena had intimacy with each other, in the course of which, she became pregnant and he advised her to abort the same and she refused to do so and Ravichandran refused to marry her and pending criminal case in connection with the same, the accused mother waylaid her at 4.30 pm on 2.9.1997 while she was grazing her cattle and started shouting at her and hit her by Aruval upon her head and she prevented her with her left hand, but sustained injury. The complaint received was registered as crime no. 423 of 1997 in Meenjuruti Police Station for the offence under Section 324 IPC and within 10 days viz., on 11.9.1997, the wife of Kasinathan i.e., the accused in the earlier complaint, gave a police complaint against Meena and one Chinnapillai Susila and Yasodha as if all the four, due to previous enmity waylaid her and attacked her on 2.9.1997 and the same was registered as Crime No. 450/97 in Meenjuruti police station against the four persons for the offences under sections 341, 324 and 323 IPC and pending the same, the respondent herein during October 1997 filed the complaint arising out of which is the present criminal revision against the accused/revision petitioner.

(2.) The complaint proceeds as if the accused on 15.11.1996 approached her daughter Meena who was grazing her cattles and spoke to her with such intimacy and proposed to marry her and when she refused to pay any heed to his proposal, he followed her and caught hold of her hands in front of Ayyanar koil and promised to marry her and put kumkum on her forehead and tied Thali around her neck to make her to believe that the accused married her and the accused by taking advantage of her confused state of mind, took her to the land of one Balakrishnan nearby casuarina thope and had intercourse with her and thereafter, had frequent intercourse with her in very many places and Meena also believing to be lawfully married to the accused, gave consent for the same and due to the same, she became pregnant and when the accused was informed about the same and was compelled to take her to his house as his wife, he forced her to abort the child and refused to marry her, leading to exchange of wordy quarrel between the two and on being informed about the same, the complainant along with Meena went to the house of the accused and requested his father to accept her daughter and he shouted at them and questioned her character and threatened to kill them with koduval and the mother and the daughter hence, had been to Dr.Kamaladevi and terminated the pregnancy and convened a Panchayat. But the accused and his father did not submit to the decision of the Panchayat to marry Meena. As a result, the complainant lodged a police complaint on 1.5.1997 at All Women Police station and no action was taken upon the same. In the mean while, Meena had hemorrhage due to abortion on 6.5.1997 and she was under treatment in a private hospital. The accused by reason of his deceitfully having intercourse with her by making her to believe that both of them were lawfully married, was charged for the offences under Sections 493, 496 and 417 IPC.

(3.) The prosecution has in order to prove the allegations raised in the private complaint against the accused, examined the complainant, her daughter, eye witnesses, paternal uncle of Meena and panchayathars as P.Ws.1 to 8 and has produced the notice issued by Kasinathan, complaint given in All Women Police Station, receipt issued by AWPS for the same and reply notice as Exs. P1 to P4. The accused and his witnesses were examined as D.W.1 and D.W.2 and has produced the complaint given by Meena and the mother of the accused Chandra against each other as Exs. D1 and D2.