VANATHAIYAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A-1 (Vanathaiyan) and A-3 (Arokkiasamy) in SC No. 162 of 1981 on the file of the First Additional Sessions Judge, Tiruchirapalli, are the appellants. The appellants along with three others were tried in the said Sessions case for offences under Sections 147, 148 and 302, I.P.C., for having caused the death of the deceased Susai Mari in the course of rioting by the accused, who were the members of an unlawful assembly, armed with sticks and spade handle. The trial Court acquitted all the accused of the charge of rioting and acquitted the other accused except the appellants of the charge of murder in pursuance of the common intention between them. The appellants were convicted for an offence under Section 304, Part II, I.P.C., and each one of them was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years.

(2.) The first charge for an offence under Section 147, I.P.C. was framed against all the five accused on the allegation that on 10-10-1980 at or about 6-45 A.M. at Thennur Village, they were members of an unlawful assembly, whose common object was to cause the death of Susai Mari, the deceased, in pursuance of which object, they committed rioting. The second charge was framed against A-1 (first appellant alone) for an offence under Section 148, I.P.C., in that he was alleged to have been armed with a spade during the course of the said transaction. The third charge was also against A-1 (first appellant alone) for an offence under Section 302, I.P.C., in that he beat on the head of the deceased with the handle portion of the spade in the course of the same transaction, leading to the death of the deceased. The last charge for an offence under Section 302 read with Section 34, IPC was framed against A-2 to A-5, in that they beat the deceased with cart pegs in the course of the same transaction.

(3.) The brief facts which led to this prosecution has to be now narrated. P.W. 3 P. Adaikalaswami is the father of the deceased Susai Mari. A-1 and A-3 (appellants) are the sons of A-2, while A-4 and A-5 are her daughters. The deceased had lent Rs. 500/- on a promissory note to A-3; which was not repaid, in spite of demands. The deceased convened a Panchayat in which P.W. 5, Kanakaraj, participated. The Panchayat decided that A-2 should pay Rs. 300/- to the deceased Susai Mari, for the money borrowed by her son, the third accused (second appellant). D.W. 1, Laser, is a resident of Thennur and an eye witness to this incident along with P.W. 2, V. Adaikalaswami, another resident of the same village. The occurrence had taken place at or about 6-45 p.m. on 18-10-1980, West of the lands of A-2, on the Ramapuram Thennur road. At or about the time of the occurrence, P.W. 1, after inspecting the crops raised in his lands, was proceeding towards his house. Susai Mari was going ahead of him at a distance of about half a furlong. It was dusk time. The deceased when he neared the lands of A-2 beckoned the latter and asked her to repay the money borrowed by her son. In the process, he hurled vulgar abuses against A-2. A-2 in her turn abused the deceased. The deceased proceeded further westwards, when A-2 to A-5 went towards him, after collecting cart pegs from the cart belonging to the accused. A-2 obstructed the deceased. The deceased pushed down A-2. A-2 got up and with a cart peg, beat on the left flank of the deceased. A-3, shouting that his mother (A-2) was being beaten, beat with a cart peg on the right ear portion of the deceased. A-4 with a cart peg, which she wielded, beat on the right shoulder of the deceased, while A-5 beat the deceased on his back with the cart peg she possessed. The deceased picked up from the road mud balls and threw them at the accused. It was at that time the first appellant (A-1) came to the scene. The mud balls thrown by the deceased hit A-1 and A-4. The appellant, (A-1) beat on the back of the head of the deceased with the spade handle once, leading to the deceased falling down. Soon thereafter the accused, after throwing the cart pegs and the spade handle on the southern side of the road ran away to their garden land.