MARIMUTHU Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal is directed against the judgment of the 1st additional District Judge, Dharmapuri at Krishnagiri made in S. C. No. 229 of 2004 dated 16. 11. 2005 convicting the accused/appellant under Sections 447 and 302 i. P. C. The accused was sentenced to undergo life imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs. 5000/-, in default to undergo R. I. for one year for the offence under section 302 I. P. C. and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/-, in default to undergo R. I. for 15 days for the offence under Section 447 I. P. C.

(2.) THE case of the prosecution is as follows: (a) P. W. 1 is the son of P. W. 2 and Sambu, the deceased in the case. P. W. 3 is the brother of P. W. 2. Both the families of the accused and deceased belong to Aralkundi village. (b) One day prior to the date of occurrence i. e. on 21. 1. 2002, the accused indulged in a quarrel with the deceased Sambu as the deceased Sambu conveyed the conversation of the accused, with her, criticizing his son-in-law Anbazhangan regarding not taking care of the cow in his absence and that why should he offer milk to his child, which led to a quarrel between the accused and his son-in-law Anbazhagan also. (c) On 22. 1. 2002, at about 8. 00 a. m. when the deceased sambu went to pluck'kollu' (Horsegram) from her field. At that time, P. W. 1 and p. W. 2 were also irrigating in their land. After some time, P. W. 1 also left to pluck'kollu" by joining with his mother. When he was proceeding towards kollu field, P. W. 1 heard the shouting of his mother "btl;uh';f btl;uh';f@/ immediately, he ran towards the scene of occurrence, where he saw the accused was pulling down her mother, holding her hair and then cut on her back side of the neck with Koduval " M. O. 1. and thereafter on her hands. When he cut on her cheek, the knife had broken. Before P. W. 1 reached the spot, the accused ran away with M. O. 1. P. W. 2 who was irrigating the land and P. W. 3, who was also irrigating in his adjacent land also came to the spot on hearing the shouting of the deceased Sambu and also saw the accused attacking the deceased Sambu. P. W. 4, son of P. W. 3, who was on the top of a palmyrah tree also came to the spot on seeing the accused holding the hair of the deceased inflicted a cut on her hand. THEy all found the said Sambu with injuries and struggling for her life. Later she died there itself. (d) P. Ws. 1 and 3 went to Ariyur Police Station, leaving the body of the deceased and made a statement before the Sub Inspector of police, P. W. 10, who recorded the same into writing under Ex. P. 1-Complaint and registered a case in Cr. No. 29 of 2002 for the offences under Sections 447 and 302 I. P. C. THEn he sent the printed F. I. R.- Ex. P. 14 through P. W. 9 to the judicial Magistrate, Pennagaram and also forwarded the same to the Inspector of police, P. W. 11. (e) P. W. 11, the Inspector of Police on receipt of the information through V. H. F. at 11. 45 a. m. went to the Station at 1. 15 p. m. and took up the investigation of the case and left to the scene of crime at 2. 00 p. m. He caused the scene of crime and the dead body to be photographed through p. W. 8. THE photographs and the negatives are M. Os. 12 and 13 series respectively. He prepared observation mahazar-Ex. P. 11 and rough sketch-Ex. P. 15 in the presence of P. W. 5, Village Administrative Officer, who came there on information along his Assistant Ayyamuthu. He recovered blood stained earth-M. O. 4. and sample earth -M. O. 5 from the scene of occurrence under the cover of Mahazar Ex. P. 3 in the presence of the same witnesses. THEn he held inquest over the body of the deceased from 3. 00 p. m. to 6. 00 p. m. and the inquest report is Ex. P. 16. He examined the witnesses and others and recorded their statements. THEreafter, he sent the body for postmortem with requisition ex. P. 6 through Head Constable, Madhu to the Government Hospital Dharmapuri. (f) On receipt of the requisition for postmortem, P. W. 6, dr. Govindaraj, Civil Assistant Surgeon attached to Dharmapuri Government hospital conducted autopsy on the body of the deceased Sambu on 23. 1. 2002 at 12. 30 p. m. He found the following external injuries on the body of deceased, which are incorporated in Ex. P. 7-Postmortem Certificate: 1)A incised wound left side of occipital region 3x2x1cm 2)An incised wound with smooth margin left side of the back of the neck 23x53 cm bone deep with vessels, muscles, nerves incised. I cervical vertebra fractured. 3)An incised wound just below the injury No. 2 13 cm x 3 cm bone deep with vessels, nerves, muscles cut with fracture of the left side of mandible. 4)An incised wound 2 cm below the wound No. 3 about 8 cm x 3 cm bone deep with muscles nerves, vessels cut with fracture of the C5 vertebra. 5)A stab wound over the left cheek entering into oral cavity, with 3 x 1 cm dimension. 6)A stab wound over the centre of lower lip 3 x 1 cm oral cavity. 7)A stab wound below the wound No. 6 on the left cheek 3x1xbone deep. 8)An incised wound left shoulder 6 cm x 2 x 1cm. 9)An incised wound left side of back 3 x 1 x 1 cm. 10)An incised wound left forearm 10x4cmx5cm wit both bones fracture. 11)An incised wound left elbow 11cmx7cmxbone deep with elbow joint opened with upper end of radius fracture. (g) In furtherance of the investigation, P. W. 11 searched for the accused and on 23. 1. 2002 at 6. 00 a. m. , he arrested the accused near perumpalai Canal, Samakkal Village in the presence of the VAO and his assistant. He recorded the statement of the accused and in pursuant to the admissible portion of the confession statement viz. , Ex. P. 5, he recovered the broken weapon and its handle concealed in a shrub 1km near the scene of occurrence as produced by the accused under Mahazar Ex. P. 4. THEreafter, he took the accused to the Station and examined him. He recovered his blood stained inner wear viz. , baniyan-M. O. 6 under Ex. P. 17. THEn he sent the accused for remand. He also recovered personal apparels and the jewels of the deceased viz. , M. Os. 8 to 15 as produced by the Constable, Madhu, under Special Report ex. P. 18. He examined the said constable and recorded his statement. He also examined the doctor and other witnesses and recorded their statements. He gave requisition-Ex. P. 8 to the Court to send for the recovered objects for chemical examination, which was carried out under the original of Ex. P. 9 and Exs. P. 10 and 11 are the chemical examination report and serologist's report. By examining all the necessary witnesses and others and also gathering all relevant materials, P. W. 11 concluded his investigation and filed a charge sheet against the accused under Sections 447 & 302 IPC.

(3.) HOWEVER, the learned Judge after evaluating the oral and documentary evidence came to the conclusion of holding the accused guilty of the charges framed and he had convicted and sentenced the accused as aforementioned.