GOTTIMUKKALA EDUKODLU Vs. STATE OF A P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the conviction and sentence imposed in Sessions Case No. 306 of 2006 on 5-6-2008 by the X Additional District and Sessions Judge, (FTC) Guntur at Narsaraopet. The case of the prosecution is that the accused is none other than the husband of the deceased and they are having a boy aged about 10 years. The accused suspected the fidelity of the deceased and on one occasion the accused beat the deceased when she was talking with P.W. 6, which was objected to by P.Ws. 2 to 7 and since then misunderstandings arose in between the family members of the deceased and the accused. The deceased was staying with her parents for the past four year and the accused visited several times to his in laws house and hurl challenges. He used to demand his in laws to send the deceased to his house for which they neglected. The S.C. Corporation assigned one acre of land in favour of the deceased and the accused used to insist the deceased to sell away the land and to give him the sale proceeds in order to discharge his debts to which the deceased did not agree. Thereby the accused threatened the deceased that he would give divorce. On 19-2-2006 at about 4.00 p.m. P.W. 1 held mediation between the accused and the deceased and he successfully convinced them to continue their conjugal life and the deceased immediately went to the house of the accused. As the accused got suspicion over the character of the deceased, he decided to do away her life and accordingly on 20-2-2006 at about 5.00 a.m., on noticing the deceased coming from the rear side field, the accused caught hold of her head and forcibly hit her head to the rear side wall of the house and inflicted invisible injury on the head which was directly witnessed by P.W. 7. When the deceased died the accused kept the dead body in front of his house, raised alarm by saying that his wife was murdered by someone and later he ran away from the spot on noticing the public gathered at his house. The police, on receipt of the information from P.W. 2, the mother of the deceased, registered the crime as suspicious death under Section 174 Cr.P.C. and took up investigation. During the course of investigation, the police examined P.Ws. 1 to 6 and conducted inquest over the dead body of the deceased and the corpse was sent for post mortem examination and P.W. 10 who conducted postmortem examination over the dead body of the deceased has issued Ex. P-7 post mortem report. The viscera and hyoid bone of the deceased was sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory for expert opinion and after receipt of expert opinion and FSL report under Ex. P-8 and P-9, the section of law was altered to 302 IPC by filing a memo before the Court below and after examining P.W. 7, the accused was arrested on 14-3-2006 and on interrogation, the accused has confessed to have committed the offence by thrashing the head of the deceased to the wall in his house which was reduced into writing. P.W. 8 and another have attested the same. After completion of investigation, the police filed charge sheet against the accused.

(2.) The learned Additional Sessions Judge framed charge under Section 302 of IPC against the accused for which he pleaded not guilty. In order to prove the guilt of the accused, the prosecution examined as many as 11 witnesses i.e., P.Ws. 1 to 11 and got marked Exs. P-1 to P-12 and on behalf of the accused no oral evidence was adduced, but Exs. D-1 and D-2 were marked.

(3.) The trial Court, after due enquiry, convicted the accused for the said offence and sentenced him to suffer imprisonment for life and also to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000/- in default, to suffer simple imprisonment for a period of six months. Aggrieved thereby, the accused preferred this appeal.