AMIRTHAVALLI Vs. STATE BY THE INSPECTOR OF POLICE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant is the accused in S.C. NO.78/09 on the file of the Principal Sessions Judge, Namakkal. She was charged for the alleged commission of the offence punishable u/s 302 r/w 34 IPC. THE trial court, vide judgment dated 31st Aug., 2010, convicted and sentenced her to undergo life imprisonment together with a fine of Rs.5,000/= with a default sentence of two months. THE trial court further ordered to set off the period of incarceration already undergone by appellant u/s 482 Cr.P.C. Aggrieved by the said conviction and sentence passed by the trial court, the appellant has preferred this appeal.

(2.) THE facts in a nutshell are as follows :- THE deceased, Ganesan, is the husband of the accused, Amirthavalli. THE case of the prosecution is that the deceased was addicted to alcohol and used to have illicit relationship with other women and enraged over the same, the appellant, along with her elder son, namely, Manju @ Akilarasan (juvenile accused), by tying the hands and legs of the deceased, while he was asleep under the influence of alcohol, on the night of 13th April, 2009 / early morning hours on 14th April, 2009, poured petrol over the deceased Ganesan and set him on fire. THE deceased, on account of the injuries sustained by him, died at abut 9.45 a.m. on 15th April, 2009 at the Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Hospital at Salem.

(3.) P.W.10 took up further investigation and in the presence of witnesses conducted inquest on the body of the deceased between 1200 hours and 1300 hours on 15th April, 2009 and prepared the inquest report, Ex.P-14. P.W.10 proceeded to the scene of occurrence and recorded the statement of P.W.9 and since he repeated the events that took place after the registration of FIR, P.W.10 did not record any separate statement from others. P.W.10, through secret investigation, got information with regard to the truthfulness of the events that took place on the night hours on 13/14th April, 2009 and fixed the appellant, the wife of the deceased and Manju @ Akilarasan, the son of the deceased as the perpetrators of the crime. P.W.10 arrested both the accused in the presence of P.W.7 and another and each of them voluntarily gave a confession statement. The admissible portion of the confession statement given by the accused, Amirthavalli is marked as Ex.P-7, based on which the matchbox, M.O.8, used to set the deceased on fire was recovered from below the roof of the house of the accused. Pursuant to the admissible portion of the confession statement given by the juvenile accused, Manju @ Akilarasan, the son of the deceased, a petrol can was recovered. P.W.10 also recovered M.O.s 1 to 7 and the material objects were sent to the jurisdictional court in Form-95, which is marked as Ex.P-16. The accused were sent to judicial custody.