K PONNUVEL Vs. STATE OF TAMILNADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ALL the above appeals arise out of a common judgment of the learned First Additional Sessions Judge, Salem dated 29. 4. 2005 made in S. C. No. 96 of 2004. By the said judgment, the appellant in Crl. A. No. 425 of 2005, who was tried as A-3, was found guilty of the offence under Section 323 IPC (2 counts) and sentenced to undergo six months simple imprisonment for each count and also to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- each, in default to undergo simple imprisonment for three months on each count and the sentences are to run concurrently. The appellant in Crl. A. No. 513 of 2005, who was tried as A-4, was found guilty of the offence under Section 323 IPC and sentenced to undergo three months simple imprisonment and also to pay a fine of Rs. 500/-, in default to undergo simple imprisonment for two months. The appellants in Crl. A. No. 918 of 2005, who were tried as A-1 and A-2, were found guilty of the offence under Section 302 IPC and each was sentenced to undergo life imprisonment and also to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/-, in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months. So far as the other charges, A-1 to A-4 were acquitted. Hence they are taken up together for disposal by this judgment.

(2.) BEFORE the learned First Additional Sessions Judge, Salem, in all, seven accused were put on trial for various charges. The learned Judge acquitted A-5 to A-7 after holding that the prosecution has not established its case against them, but found the appellants/a-1 to A-4 guilty, convicted and sentenced them for the offence as stated above. For convenience, the appellants are referred to as A-1 to A-4 as arrayed in the sessions case.

(3.) THE prosecution case in brief is as follows:-The prosecution party belongs to AIADMK political party and the accused party belongs to DMK political party. P. Ws. 1,2,3,6 and 7 are all the residents of Mecheriyampalayam village within the Mallur police limits in Salem District. A-1 is also a resident of the same village and A-2, A-4 to A-6 are all the residents of a nearby village called Sandhaiyur. A-3 is a resident of K. Mookkuthipalayam and A-7 is a resident of Kottaivalavu village which is also a nearby village to Mecheriyampalayam. During the elections to the legislative assembly as well as to the local bodies that took place prior to the occurrence, both the parties worked for the respective party candidates and due to the elections, there was political rivalry between both the groups. On 21. 10. 2001, when P. W. 2, Arumugam was taking some goats to Panamarathupatti shandy at about 6. 30 a. m. , at the same time, P. W. 1, Raja @ Sengoda Gounder, who is the father of P. W. 2, was also taking some goats to the same shandy keeping some distance from P. W. 2. At that time, A-7 waylaid P. W. 2 and attacked him with hands by saying that even when his party was defeated in the elections, why does he require a place in the shandy. To escape from further attack, P. W. 2 ran away from the place and informed P. W. 1.