SATHYAMURTHY Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CONVICTED accused viz., Sathyamurthy for life imprisonment under section 302 IPC by the Additional Sessions Judge, Nagapattinam is the appellant. Challenging the said life sentence, he has preferred this appeal. The case of prosecution, in brief, can be stated as follows:-

(2.) WHILESO, on 11.7.2000 at about 5.45 pm, PW1, her husband Kannan the deceased and their child were returning to their house after worshipping Muni Ayya temple. The wife of the accused viz. Geetha was abusing PW1 and it was informed to the deceased Kannan by PW1. The deceased, in turn, informed the conduct of Geetha to the accused Sathyamurthy. Thereafter, at 8.00 pm, the accused Sathyamurthy was beating his wife Geetha in front of his house and immediately, the deceased Kannan went and questioned the accused as to why he is beating his wife Geetha. Consequently, the accused got irritated and with remarks "cd; gpur;ridia cd; tPl;oy; itj;Jf;bfhs;/ cd;dhy;jhd; gpur;rid tUfpwJ/" brought a stick marked as M.O.1 and attacked upon the head of the deceased Kannan and on sustaining injury, the deceased Kannan fell down and thereafter, he died on the spot and the accused ran away from the occurrence place. Thereupon, PW1 Valarmathy proceeded to Kudavasal Police Station and gave statement of complaint marked as Ex.P1 to PW16 Inspector of Police viz., Santhanam. He registered FIR marked as Ex.P2 and took up investigation and proceeded to the occurrence place and prepared observation mahazar and rough sketch in the presence of PW6 and then conducted inquest upon the dead body of Kannan and prepared inquest report marked as Ex.P18 and made arrangements for sending the body for post mortem and examined witnesses and recovered blood stained clothes from the body and sent them under Form 95 to the Magistrate. In the meanwhile, PW12 Uthirapathy, Head Constable handed over the original FIR to the Judicial Magistrate and PW13 Vedhaian Grade I Constable entrusted the dead body of Kannan to PW10 Doctor Bala Kumaravelu for post mortem and the said doctor conducted post mortem and furnished post mortem report marked as Ex.P9 with his opinion that death was due to injuries sustained upon the head and corresponding internal injuries and shock and haemorrhage and the injuries found as 1 and 2 are capable of causing death. At that stage, the succeeding Inspector of Police viz., PW17 Jayaraman continued the investigation and arrested the accused on 23.7.2000 and recorded his confessional statement and recovered M.O.1 and remanded the accused and also sent M.O.1 to court and examined the witnesses for mahazar for M.O.1 viz., PW7 and another and gave requisition to the Magistrate for sending the M.Os recovered in this case for chemical analysis. Thereafter, PW14 Prabavathi, Head Clerk of the Magistrate Court sent the M.Os for chemical analysis in response to the requisition. The Magistrate also received the chemical analysis report marked as Ex.P13 and serologist report marked as Ex.P14. Thereafter, PW18 Krishnamurthy, another succeeding Inspector of Police continued the investigation and examined some witnesses and completed investigation and filed charge sheet.

(3.) ACCORDINGLY, the conviction of the accused under section 302 IPC is set aside and instead, the appellant/accused is convicted under section 304 Part II IPC and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for five years. The appeal is partly allowed to the extent indicated above. The Trial Court is directed to secure the custody of the accused to enable him to undergo the remaining period of sentence.