D.S.SARAVANAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Inasmuch as both Criminal Appeal and Criminal Revision Petition emerge from one and the same judgment of the trial Court, these cases are considered and decided by this common judgment.

(2.) It is the case of the prosecution that Parandamakannan (PW1) was the Executive Officer, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (for brevity "the Department") of Kumarasamypettai Sri Siva Subramanya Swamy Temple, with his office in one of the rooms of a marriage hall attached to the said temple; the appellant was in occupation of a plot in Door No.24/37 Theerthagiri Street, Dharmapuri belonging to the said temple, on which, his family had built a house; on coming to know that he was doing major repair works without the permission of the Department, Parandamakannan (PW1), along with Selvaraj (PW2) and Kandasamy (PW5), went to the spot and found construction activities going on there; hence, a complaint was lodged in the local Police Station by the officials, based on which, an enquiry was conducted by the Police on 30/9/2007, in which, the appellant gave an undertaking that he will stop further construction activities.

(3.) However, on coming to know that he was continuing the construction work, Parandamakannan (PW1) and Selvaraj (PW2) went to the spot on 2/10/2007 and told the construction workers to stop the work; thereafter, Parandamakannan (PW1) and Selvaraj (PW2) came to their office in the marriage hall; around 11.00 a.m., the appellant came to the office and questioned Parandamakannan (PW1) and abused him in choicest epithets including referring to his caste, Parandamakannan (PW1) being a Dalit; he pulled Parandamakannan (PW1) by his shirt collar, dragged him out of his seat and punched him on his chest; Selvaraj (PW2) and Vadivel (PW3) intervened and rescued Parandamakannan (PW1).