JEYABHARATHI Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE sole accused who faced trial before the Additional district and Sessions Judge, Periyakulam, in S. C. No. 530/2003, on being found guilty as per the charge of murder under Section 302 IPC and awarded life imprisonment along with fine and default sentence, has brought this appeal before this Court.

(2.) THE short facts necessary for the disposal of this appeal can be stated thus: (a)THE deceased Prithviraj was employed in THEni Municipality . His marriage with one Prema, the sister of the accused took place and as a result, they got a female child. Seven months prior to the occurrence, due to strained relationship, the marriage bond was broken and there was a procedural divorce. THE deceased Prithviraj went for a second marriage. THE accused was aggrieved over the same and that he was often adumbrating that the deceased would face dire consequence. A few days prior to the date of occurrence, the accused went to the house of P. W. 1, father of the deceased, and informed that he would finish off his son and with that intimidation, he went away. On the date of occurrence, i. e. , 29. 5. 2003, the deceased went over to attend a function at E. S. Mahal. Since the deceased did not return home till 10. 00 p. m. , entertaining fear over his mind, P. W. 1 accompanied by P. W. 2, went over to e. S. Mahal. P. W. 3 was also present at that time. When the deceased was going in front of E. S. Mahal, the accused suddenly appeared and threw chilli powder on the face of the deceased and stabbed him on the left abdomen and immediately, the accused went away from the place of occurrence. P. Ws. 1 to 3 and others took the deceased in an auto to THEni Government Hospital where P. W. 7, the doctor attached to the said hospital admitted the deceased and medically examined him. THE statement given by the deceased was recorded by P. W. 7, the doctor, and the accident Register copy is marked as Ex. P. 6. Within a short span of time, the deceased died and P. W. 7, the doctor, declared him dead. Immediately, P. W. 1 proceeded to THEni Police Station where P. W. 11, the Sub Inspector of Police, was on duty on the day of occurrence. P. W. 1 gave a complaint, which is marked as Ex. P. 1, on the strength of which a case came to be registered in Crime no. 115/2003 under Section 302 IPC. THE F. I. R. which was marked as Ex. P. 13, was sent to the Court. On receipt of the copy of F. I. R. , P. W. 13, the Inspector of police, took up investigation, proceeded to the scene of occurrence, made inspection in the presence of witnesses and prepared Ex. P. 3-the Observation Mahazar and ex. P. 15-the rough sketch. He sent requisition for taking photographs. P. W. 11, the Sub Inspector of Police, conducted Inquest on the dead body in the presence of witnesses and panchayatdars and prepared Ex. P. 14-the Inquest Report. (b) Following the Inquest, the dead body was sent for postmortem along with a requisition. P. W. 7, the doctor, attached to THEni government Hospital, conducted autopsy on the dead body and has opined in ex. P. 7, the postmortem certificate, that the deceased would appear to have died out of shock and haemorrhage due to the injuries sustained by him. (c) Pending investigation, the Investigating Officer arrested the accused and he came forward to give a confessional statement and the same was recorded in the presence of witnesses, the admissible part of which is marked as Ex. P. 4. Pursuant to the confessional statement, the accused produced M. O. 1, the knife, under a cover of Mahazar. THE accused was sent for judicial remand. All the material objects recovered from the place of occurrence and from the dead body, and also the knife, M. O. 1, produced by the accused, were subjected to chemical analysis by the Forensic Sciences department pursuant to a requisition forwarded by the Sub Inspector through the concerned Court which resulted in two reports, viz. , the Chemical Analyst's report-Ex. P. 11 and the Serologist's Report-Ex. P. 12 respectively. On completion of the investigation, the investigating officer filed the final report.

(3.) ON completion of evidence on both sides, the Trial court heard the arguments advanced on either side, made thorough scrutiny of the available materials, took the view that the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, found the accused guilty as per the charge and awarded life imprisonment, which is the subject matter of challenge before this Court in this appeal.