PUBLIC PROSECUTOR ANDHRA PRADESH Vs. KUNDARAPU DHANAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by the State Government from the judgment of the Sessions Judge, Kurnool, in Sessions Case No. 46 of 1960, whereby the respondent (hereinafter referred to as the accused) who was charged with the offence of murder, was convicted only of the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under the second part of section 304, Indian Penal Code, and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for five years. The learned Judge was of the view that the accused was entitled to the benefit of Exception 1 to section 300 of the Indian Penal Code in that he had stabbed his wife to death whilst deprived of the power of self-control by the grave and sudden provocation given by her. The contention of the learned Public Prosecutor is that on the facts and in the circumstances of this case the learned Sessions Judge was in error in bringing the case within the ambit of Exception 1 to section 300, Indian Penal Code. It may be mentioned here that the accused has not appealed against the conviction and sentence.

(2.) The facts are simple and are as follows : The deceased Mariamma was the daughter of P.W. 1 (Mugala Prakasam), a resident of Suddamalla village in Kurnool district. She was married to the accused about eight years prior to the occurrence which took place on 29th February, 1960. The accused is also P.W. 1's sister's son. He belongs to Chinna Kommarla village in Cuddapah district and the distance between the two villages is about thirteen miles. The accused and the deceased were living at Chinna Kommarla village ever since their marriage. They had two children-a son and a daughter. Some five months before the occurrence, the accused had gone over to Suddamalla with his wife and children to find work as there were famine conditions in his native district. At Suddamalla the accused and the deceased were living in a vacant house belonging to the brother of P.W. 1. About fifteen days prior to the occurrence the accused and the deceased went back to their own village. Six days later, the accused went to Harivaram village as there was demand for labour over there. Two days later, one Rajanna, a relation of the accused, found the two children of the accused abandoned by the deceased. She had apparently left them behind and gone away somewhere. He went and reported the matter to P.W. 1 and also to the accused. A ' panchayat' was held in that connection. The deceased woman, who had eloped with one China Rami Reddy of Suddamalla, was brought back and the ' panchayatdars ' decided that the accused and the deceased should live together at Suddamalla in a house next to that of P.W. 1 Accordingly, the accused, the deceased and their children were residing at Suddamalla. This occurrence took place three days later. On that day, i.e., 29th February, 1960, the parents of the deceased (P.W. 1 and his wife) had gone to their field to pick cotton. P.W. 2 (Mugala Dhanam), aged about ten, the second son of P.W. 1, was at home. He was sitting on the pial in front of the house on which the accused and the deceased were living, and was making ropes out of fibre. At that time, the accused also was sitting by the side of P.W. 2. The deceased was preparing "jonna" bread inside the house. As to what happened thereafter, was spoken by P.W. 2, and he is the principal eye-witness. This is what he said :

(3.) In cross-examination, the witness stated that after going into the village, the accused came back within half an hour and on account of the smell, he detected that the accused was drunk. The accused and the deceased quarrelled for about fifteen minutes and subsequently for about fifteen minutes they pulled each other's tuft of hair. The accused stabbed the deceased five or six times when the witness was present. The deceased placed the baby on the ground before she was pulled. The witness added : "The murder took place in the scuffle between the deceased and the accused. " P.W. 3 is also an eye-witness but he saw only the later stages of the incident. He spoke to the accused catching hold of the tuft of hair of the deceased with his left hand and stabbing her with a dagger held in his right hand. P.W. 1, the father of the deceased, corroborated the evidence of P.W. 2. He deposed that his son, P.W. 2, came running at about 10 A.M. on the day of the occurrence and told him that the accused was stabbing the deceased. P.W. 1 and his wife ran towards the village and on the way they saw the accused running away towards Mayaloor village with a dagger in his hand and with his clothes blood-stained. When they reached the house in which the accused and the deceased had been living, they found their daughter lying dead in a pool of blood. P.W. 1 then went and gave a report to the village munsiff, P.W. 7. It is Exhibit P-1. P.W. 1 also spoke about the elopement of his daughter, the deceased, with China Rami Reddy and about the subsequent ' panchayat'. The witness added that the accused and the deceased were quarrelling now and then as the accused suspected the deceased's conduct.