RAVI Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal has been brought forth by the sole accused, who stood tried and found guilty as per the charge of murder, by the Court of sessions, Salem , in S. C. No. 59 of1999.

(2.) THE short facts necessary for the disposal of this appeal can be stated thus:- i. P. W. 1 is the mother of the deceased. THE appellant/accused is the husband of the deceased. P. W. 2 is their son aged about 8 years at the time of occurrence. P. W. 1 had two daughters. THE second daughter was given in marriage to the appellant/accused herein. THE deceased was employed as a permanent worker in Idapadi Municipality , while the appellant/accused was a daily wage earner in that Municipality. P. W. 1 was living with her daughter, the deceased, during the relevant time. ii. One day prior to the date of occurrence, i. e. , on 16. 4. 1998, a quarrel arose between the spouses, since the appellant was insisting for a separate residence and later, all of them went for sleeping. P. W. 1 was lying out the house. On 17. 4. 1998 at about 4. 30 a. m. , the deceased went to attend calls of nature and later, came back to the house. At that time, P. W. 1 heard the distressed cries of her daughter inside the house. When she looked inside, she found the accused sitting on the chest of his wife and cutting her neck with M. O. 1 knife. This was also witnessed by P. W. 2. P. W. 3, the neighbour of the spouses, on hearing the distressed cries of the deceased, went to her house and saw the appellant running from the house with a blood-stained knife in his hand. iii. On seeing the death of her daughter, P. W. 1 rushed to idapadi Police Station at 6. 00 a. m. , where P. W. 9, the Sub Inspector of Police, was on duty at that time. She gave a complaint under Ex. P-1 to P. W. 9, on the strength of which, a case came to be registered in Crime No. 414 of 1998 under Section 302 IPC. THE express first information report under Ex. P-14 was sent to Court. iv. P. W. 10, the Inspector of Police, Magudanchavadi Police station, took up investigation in the case. He proceeded to the scene of occurrence, made an inspection in the presence of two witnesses and prepared an observation mahazar under Ex. P-1 and drew a rough sketch under Ex. P-15. He conducted inquest over the dead body in the presence of witnesses and panchayatdars and prepared the inquest report under Ex. P-16. He recovered m. O. 5, blood-stained earth and M. O. 6, sample earth, under a Ex. P-3 mahazar. THEreafter, he sent the dead body along with a requisition to the doctor for conducting autopsy. v. On receipt of the requisition, P. W. 6, Assistant Surgeon attached to Government Hospital, Idapadi, Salem, conducted autopsy on the dead body of Saraswathy and found the following injuries:- "an incised wound in the front of the neck from left to right below larynx with 10 cm x 3 cm to bone depth. Wound lapse in the right side. Trachea is cut, open. Neck muscles and neck blood vessels incised. Lower cervical vertebra exposed. " THE doctor has issued the post-mortem certificate under ex. P-7, wherein he has opined that the deceased died out of shock and haemorrhage. vi. During investigation, the investigating officer arrested the appellant/accused on 17. 4. 1998 at 4. 30 p. m. He volunteered to give a confessional statement, which was recorded in the presence of two witnesses. THE admissible part is marked under ex. P-4, pursuant to which, the accused produced M. O. 1, knife, which was recovered in the presence of the same witnesses under Ex. P-5 mahazar. THEreafter, the accused was sent to Court for remand. vii. Further investigation was taken up by P. W. 11, the inspector of Police, Idapadi Police Station, on 3. 5. 1998. All the material objects recovered from the place of occurrence, from the dead body, and M. O. 1, knife, recovered from the accused pursuant to his confession statement were all subjected to chemical analysis by the Forensic Department with a requisition by the concerned Judicial Magistrate, as a result of which, Ex. P-10, the report of the Chemical Analyst, and Ex. P-11, the report of the Serologist, were received by the Court. THE investigating officer questioned the doctor and P. W. 6 on 7. 6. 1998 and after the completion of investigation, the final report was filed against the accused/appellant on the same day.

(3.) THE Court heard the learned Additional Public prosecutor appearing for the State on the above contentions.