NARASAPURAM BALAIAH Vs. THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two appeals arise out of a common case, i.e., Sessions Case No. 312 of 2006 on the file of the Court of Sessions, Nellore. Accused No. 1 in the said case filed Criminal Appeal No. 297 of 2010, feeling aggrieved by his conviction for the offences punishable under Ss. 302 and 307 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and sentencing him to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/ -, in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for one month, for the offence punishable under Sec. 302 of IPC; and also sentencing him to suffer rigorous imprisonment for ten years and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/ -, in default to suffer simple imprisonment for a period of one month, for the offence punishable under Sec. 307 of IPC.

(2.) Accused Nos. 2 to 4 have filed Criminal Appeal No. 1474 of 2009. They were convicted for the offence punishable under Sec. 324 read with Sec. 34 of IPC, and they were sentenced to suffer simple imprisonment for a period of one year and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/ -each, in default to suffer simple imprisonment for a period of one month each. Accused No. 2 was acquitted for the offence punishable under Sec. 302 read with Sec. 34 of IPC and accused Nos. 3 and 4 were acquitted for the offence punishable under Ss. 307 and 302 read with Sec. 34 of IPC.

(3.) The gist of the prosecution case in brief is that the deceased Venkata Subbamma is wife of P.W.1, Ramanaiah, the defacto complainant. P.W.1 and accused No. 1 are residents of Chabolu Village. Accused Nos. 2 and 3 are brothers -in -law of accused No. 1 and accused No. 4 is son -in -law of accused No. 3. Accused No. 1 and P.W.1 are washermen by caste and were pursuing their profession. L.W.8, Bala Chennaiah, is a barber and was carrying on his profession. A few months prior to the offence, Bala Chennaiah refused to extend his professional services to accused No. 1, upon which accused No. 1 asked P.W.1 not to wash the clothes of L.W.8. However, P.W.1 did not pay any heed to the words of accused No. 1 and due to the same, accused No. 1 has bore grudge against P.W.1. On 11.8.2005 accused Nos. 1 to 4 attended their relatives marriage at 09.00 p.m. While P.W.1 and deceased were at their house, accused Nos. 1 to 4 while going to their relatives house, abused P.W.1 in filthy language. The deceased intervened and protested the acts of accused Nos. 1 to 4 and after a few minutes accused Nos. 1 to 4 armed with knives, came to the house of P.W.1 in a drunken stage and stabbed P.W.1. In the meanwhile, the deceased tried to come to the rescue of P.W.1 upon which accused No. 1 stabbed the deceased with knife. P.W.1 sustained bleeding injuries and the deceased succumbed to the injuries. On the report of P.W.1, the Police registered the same as Crime No. 58 of 2005 for the offences punishable under Ss. 302 and 307 read with Sec. 34 of IPC.