LINGAYAT BASANNA Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant has been sentenced to death for the murder of one Sa:vamangalamma by the Additional Sessions Judge of Kurnool at Adoni. The charge against him was that on the 12th of August, 1953, he poured kerosene oil over her clothes and set fire to them with the result that Sarvamangalamma sustained extensive burns and died in the course of the day.

(2.) The case for the prosecution is briefly this. The deceased, who was a married woman, abandoned her husband and was living with the appellant as his mistress for a year or two prior to her death. On 11th August, 1953, when the appellant was away at Bellary, she attended a cinema. The appellant returned home at about 6 P.M., and coming to know of her whereabouts, he went to the cinema and took the key of the house from her. When she returned from the picuturehouse, there was an altercation between them, and that night while the deceased slept inside the house, the accused slept outside. The next morning there was again a quarrel between the two over the jewels which the appellant had taken from her. Consequent upon that, the appellant poured kerosene oil over her clothes and set fire to them. The mother of the deceased, who was living in another house, learnt about it, proceeded to the police station and informed the Sub-Inspector that the accused had burnt her daughter, and that the latter was in a precarious condition. But she was not willing to make a statement before him alleging that the accused was a rowdy. Immediately, the Sub-Inspector (P.W. 12) sent P.W. 10 and two other constables to verify this. "When P.W. 10 proceeded to the spot, he found that the fire was already extinguished and the deceased was suffering from excruciating pain. He took her to the hospital at Yemmiganur where first aid was given by P.W. 8, the Doctor in charge of the Hospital. The Doctor sent a requisition to P.W. 5, the Deputy-Tahsildar-Magistrate of the place for recording the dying declaration of Sarvamangalamma. The Magistrate arrived there at about 2 P.M. and recorded her statement embodied in Exhibit p-2 :-

(3.) Thereafter, while she was being taken to the hospital at Bellary for further treatment, she succumbed to the burns on the way. Meanwhile, P.W. 10 returned to the police Station and told the Sub-Inspector of Police of all that had happened. The accused was arrested on 12th August, 1953, at 8 P.M. After investigation, a charge- sheet was laid against the appellant under section 302, Indian Penal Code. The prosecution relies on P.Ws. 1 to 4 and Exhibit P-2, the dying declaration in support of its case. P.W. I deposed that the deceased was living with the accused after leaving off her husband for one year and a half prior to her death. On the nth of August, 1953, the accused returned home from Bellary at 6 P.M. to find his mistress absent. On enquiry, he learnt that she had gone to a picture-house. Thereupon, he went there and both of them returned home one after another within a short interval. There was an altercation between the accused and the deceased. That night, the accused slept outside while the deceased slept inside. The next morning at about 10 A.M. while he was sitting on P.W. 3's pial, he heard cries "Ammo, Appo". Immediately he went into the house, in which the accused and the deceased lived and found the deceased's clothes burning and the accused pouring water. He also joined the accused in extinguishing the" fire. When questioned, the deceased said that her saree caught fire and she was, dying. He then asked the accused about the incident, and the latter told him that the deceased set fire to her clothes, and he was unable to do anything in the matter. Thereafter, P.Ws. 2, 3 and some others assembled there. P.Ws. 2, 3 and 4 corroborate P.W. 1 about the deceased living with the appellant as his mistress. P.Ws. 2 and 3 did not get into the house. They only heard the cries of the deceased and saw flames through an opening. P.Ws. 2 and 4. spoke to the altercation between the deceased and the appellant the previous evening. P.W. 4 added that when he questioned the deceased, she said "Suttee Bitta Satheno Satheno" which is translated by the Judge as "I have been burnt. I am dead. I arn dead."