VELUKKAN Vs. STATE OF TAMIL NADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant is the sole accused who was put on trial in S. C. No. 48 of 2006 on the file of the learned Sessions Judge, Nilgiris at Uthagamandalam, for the offence under Sections 302 and 324 I. P. C. By the Judgment dated 27. 06. 2007 he was found guilty, convicted and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life for the offence under Section 302 I. P. C. and further sentenced to undergo one year rigorous imprisonment for the offence under Section 324 I. P. C.

(2.) THE legality of the above Judgment of conviction and sentence is put in issue in this appeal. The prosecution case as put forth before the court below is as follows: the accused and the deceased are husband and wife. P. W. 1 is the brother of the deceased. The accused had the habit of consuming alcohol and used to demand money from his wife, the deceased. On the fateful day, that is on the evening of 27. 11. 2005, when both the accused and deceased were returning after their routine coolie work, the accused demanded money from the deceased for the purchase of alcohol for his consumption. When the deceased refused to part with the money, the accused appears to have hit the deceased with stone tied in a cloth and caused number of injuries all over the body more particularly on the left forehead, to which the deceased succumbed. The above act of the accused was witnessed by P. W. 1 who also sustained injury when he made an attempt to save the deceased. Thereafter, P. W. 1 fearing his life ran away from the scene of occurrence and on the next day morning i. e. , on 28. 11. 2005 at 11. 00 a. m. when he saw that the deceased was dead, immediately he lodged a complaint to P. W. 9, the Sub-Inspector of Police, Ambalamula Police Station, who registered a case in Cr. No. 171 of 2005 under Section 302 I. P. C. and forwarded the F. I. R. (Ex. P. 13) to the Judicial Magistrate and the copy of F. I. R. to the Inspector of Police. Since, P. W. 1 sustained injuries, he sent him to the Government Hospital for treatment under police memo. On receipt of the F. I. R. , P. W. 10 the Inspector of Police rushed to the scene of occurrence at 2. 00 p. m. on the same day and prepared P. W. 2 Observation Mahazar, Rough Sketch Ex. P. 14 and seized M. Os. 2 and 3, viz. , bloodstained earth and ordinary earth respectively under Ex. P. 3 Mahazar in the presence of the witnesses. He has also taken arrangements to take photographs of the deceased. Further, on the same day, P. W. 10, the Inspector of Police, conducted the Inquest in the presence of the Panchayatdars and prepared Ex. P. 15 Inquest Report. On the requisition of P. W. 10, P. W. 8, the Doctor has conducted the Post Mortem on 29. 11. 2005 at 12. 45 a. m. and issued Ex. P. 12, Post Mortem Certificate. On 29. 11. 2005 at about 6. 00 a. m. , P. W. 10 arrested the accused near Pattavayal Bus Station and recorded his confession statement in the presence of witnesses and seized M. O. 1 the tied with a cloth. He sent the accused to the judicial custody. After examining the witnesses and on receipt of the Chemical Report, P. W. 10 completed the investigation and filed Charge Sheet against the accused for the offences under Sections 302 and 324 I. P. C.

(3.) P. W. 8, the Doctor who conducted the Post Mortem on the body of the deceased has found the following injuries: