ANTHONY FERNANDES Vs. STATE OF GOA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant stands convicted for an offence under Section 304-Part I of I. P. C. and sentenced to suffer Rigorous Imprisonment for a period of five years and a fine of Rs. 1,000/-, in default, further rigorous Imprisonment for six months. The appellant, through Jail, has preferred this Appeal and the same has been argued on his behalf by Shri S. S. Kantak, Advocate under the Legal Aid Scheme. The State is represented by Shri G. U. Bhobe, Public Prosecutor. With the assistance of the learned counsel of both the parties, I have gone through the entire case records.

(2.) IN order to appreciate the submissions, it would be necessary to narrate the incident briefly. It is alleged by the prosecution that one fishing trawler by name Carla Mariaza was on their routine sorty for fishing on the night intervening 1st and 2nd November, 1988 and were returning to the beach at Miramar in the small hours of 2nd November, 1988 at about 3. 00 a. m.

(3.) THERE were about fifteen employees or Khalasis on board and some of them were sleeping in the cabin Tuko Pagi (P. W. 1), Tukaram Pagi (P. W. 3 ). Manjunath Ambe (P. W. 5), Santosh Harmalkar (P. W. 7) and Ganpat Ambe (P. W. 8) were some of the Khalasis who were in the cabin, at the material time. At about 3. 00 a. m. , the accused Anthony alias Ravikumar intended to sleep in the cabin on a bench. Under the bench, Narayan, the deceased, was also sleeping. In order to destroy the bugs on the bench, the appellant brought hot water and started pouring the same on the bench. The hot water also fell on the person of Narayan who was sleeping below the bench. This annoyed Narayan and he got up and started abusing the accused. In order to retaliate the abuses, the accused threw the remaining hot water along with the pot on the deceased Narayan which resulted in scalding injuries on his face, forehead, etc. , The accused is then alleged to have gone out of the cabin and from somewhere brought a large knife, usually used for cleaning and cutting fish and stabbed Narayan on his chest only once. The knife had a blade of 8 centimeters length and a sharp edge. The injury was deep cutting through the pericardium and lungs, resulting in profuse bleeding and Narayan died almost instantaneously. Witness Tuko (P. W. 1) realising the gravity of the situation, intimated the tandel immediately to take the trawler to the beach. Within minutes, the trawler landed at the beach and Tuko (P. W. 1) rushed to the Police Station and lodged his First Information Report which is Exhibit P. W. 1/a. Police Party arrived on the trawler and the accused was arrested. It appears that the accused had disposed of the knife some where which could not be traced. The dead body of Narayan was sent for post-mortem. The autopsy was carried over the body by Dr. Poornanand (P. W. 10) and his Report is at Exhibit P. W. 10/a. The clothes of the deceased and those of the accused were also forwarded for chemical analysis and the report thereof is at P. W. 10/b and P. W. 10/c. Blood sample of the deceased as well as of the accused was sent for analysis for grouping. The report is at P. W. 10/d and P. W. 10/e. P. W. 2 Rosario was the witness for the inquest panchanama as well as for the panchanama of the scene of offence. P. W. 13, P. S. I. David Lobo, was the Investigating Officer. During the trial, the accused took the plea that the death of the deceased Narayan was accidental inasmuch as after the incident of hot water falling on Narayan, there ensued a scuffle between Narayan and the accused and during the scuffle, the deceased fell on the sharp point of the anchor which pierced his chest resulting in his death, In short, he denied the allegation of having stabbed Narayan on the chest with the knife.