IN RE: SUBRAMANIAM ALIAS ALLABAKSH Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant (Subramaniam alias Allabaksh} is a young man of 23 years, described as a Hindu converted to Islam, generally living by mendicancy. He has been convicted of the very brutal murder of a girl named Syed Sultan Beevi, aged about 7 years, within the premises of the Nagore Durga, at about 9-30 a.m. on 19th March 1961. The case for the prosecution is that the accused suddenly caught hold of this girl, gagged her, and cut her rock with a razor almost severing the head from the trunk. About the facts themselves, there is no dispute, and they are established beyond challenge, though, at the trial, the accused asserted his innocence. The real question is whether the accused was of such unsound mind at the time of committing this murder as would entitle him to the benefit of the exception enacted in Section 84, I. P. C.

(2.) We shall first set forth the brief and Indisputable facts of the occurrence. On that day, Mohideen (P. W. 1) was proceeding near the peer mandapam. Thangachi Ummani (P.W. 2) a girl aged about 9, was then going along with the deceased girl and both took a few steps to proceed Inside the Durga, after purchasing fruits. At that time the accused, who was there, first tried to catch hold of the hand of P. W. 2. P. W. 2 evaded his grasp. Immediately, the appellant caught hold of the deceased Syed Sultan Beevi, gagged her mouth with one hand, and, wielding the razor (M. 0. 1) with the other hand, cut her neck. As this was in broad day-light, and on the immediate alarm raised by P.W. 2, several persons gathered. P.W. 1 swears that he saw the murderous assault from a distance of about 40 feet or less, and was the first to rush up to the spot. These persons caught hold of the accused, and there can be no doubt that the accused was tied up, and was manhandled and beaten by the crowd that gathered. The girl (deceased) died practically instantaneously, and the medical evidence proves that she could not have survived more than a few moments.

(3.) The village headman (P.W. 7) came later to the Durga, and recorded a complaint from P.W. 1, Ex. P-1 upon which the usual reports were sent. When the accused was examined by the Woman Assistant Surgeon, later that day, he was found to have some superficial injuries and the accused admitted that they were caused by his having been beaten at 10 a.m. that day with sticks and hands. The accused originally adhered to the plea that he was of unsound mind, and did not know what happened. Later, in his memorandum of appeal, he has suggested that them was a faction and that the case is a fabrication by the police.