PUBLIC PROSECUTOR Vs. NALLI ABRAHAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by the State against the order of acquittal of the accused under section 302, Indian Penal Code. The facts which give tise to this appeal may briefly be stated. Kathi Gangulu, the deceased, developed illicit intimacy first with the wife of the accused. Tht accused suspecting the infidelity of his wife discarded her. The deceased then developed intimacy with the sister of the accused, P.W. 5. The accused therefore was bitter about the deceased. On 6th February, 1964, it was alleged that the deceased went to see P.W. 5, but she was not there. When the deceased was returning, the accused saw him and stabbed him. P.Ws. 1 and 2 who saw the incident, raised a hue and cry. P.Ws. 3, 4 and 5 came on the spot. After receiving the injury, the deceased moved towards the house of P.W. 2 and sat on the pial of that house. The accused went there and stabbed him again. P.W. 2 being afraid that she might be involved requested P.Ws. 3 to 5 to assist her in removing the body to the house of the accused's father. It seems thereupon the body was shifted near the house of the accused's father. But the accused dragged the body and left it on a road.

(2.) P.Ws. 4 and 8 and some other people went to P.W. 9 the Village Munsiff. PW. 4 lodged a complaint which was reduced to writing (Exhibit P-r). P.W. 9 thereupon sent a despatch to tht Police Station, Dwarapudi. The Sub-Inspector arrived on the scene and commenced investigation. (The Sub-Inspector however subsequently died). The Sub-Inspector, who had reached the scene at about midnight, conducted inquest between 7 A.M. and 9 A.M. next day morning. P.W. 15, the Circle Inspector who had received the express First Information Report, reached the place at 1-30 the next day, i.e., on 7th February, 1964. He took over the investigation from the Sub-Inspector. The accused all the time was there. On 7th February. 1964 at about 7 P.M. the accused was arrested. On completion of the investi- gation charge-sheet was filed on 21st February, 1964 . Eaelier the accused was produced before P.W. 11, the Judicial Second Class Magistrate, Rajahmundry who after administering the necessary warnings and giving sufficient time for reflection recorded the statement oi the accused on 13th February, 1964. The accused pleaded rot guilty a'nd denied the charges. The learned Sessions Judge examined as many as 15 witnesses and marked several documents. Upon this material, he reached the conclusion that although the motive for the crime was satisfactorily established, the confession was retracted and there was no adequate corroboration on material particulars. The learned Judge therefore acquitted the accused of the charge of murder. It is from this judgment of the learned Sessions Judge given on 5th May, 1964 that the present appeal is preferred.

(3.) The entire case depends upon the confession of the accused and the evidence of P.Ws. 1 and 2. Exhibit P-11 is the confession. In the said statement, the accused stated that his marriage had taken place ten years before and that he did not live with his wife Mangamma even for a year. In the meanwhile, a Harijan of his village one Kathi Gangulu (deceased) arranged his (accused's wife) for sexual intercourse with a friend of his. The accused therefore discarded his wife as she became debaucherous. Then the accused and Gangulu had a wordy quarrel. Thenceforward, he and Gangulu were on terms of enmity and were not talking. Kathi Gangulu was a rowdy. He was a drunkard. A year had passed since the accused was separated from his parents. He did not agree with them. They wanted him to re-marry and lead a family life. He (the accused) demanded partition and it is only on that there was some dispute and that is why the accused got separated and went to stay in another house. His sister's house is near the house in which the accused has been living. The material portion of the statement in the words of the accused is as follows ;- '' I returned home at lamp lighting time and was going to the Well in our Harijanwade for taking bath. Kathi Gangulu was coming opposite from the well side. While so coming, he dashed against my right shoulder. 'You are dashing against my shoulder ', said I. Soon he gave a slap on my cheek violently. I too retaliated him by striking at his shoulder. No sooner had I struck him then Gangulu beat me repeatedly. I Was at my wits' end when I was'so beaten. Immediately I ran home and took out a spear piece and suddenly came back and pierced on the chest of Gangulu. He Was about to grapple with me crying ' Ammoi, baboi'. I then gave another stab with the spear piece on the chest of Gangulu. After so stabbing I got afraid and went away to the house where my partents reside. At that house my father and mother were not there. I sat alone. By then a few persons carried the corpse of Gangulu upto the house of my father and placed it there. I then dragged the corpse by holding its hands to the road for about 10 yards. I grew nervous. I Went to the Railway track to commit suicide. If I were to die, my parents Would be arrested. So thinking I went to the canal wherein I threw the knife and I went to my house instead of to my father's. While I was sleep at my house, the police came at midnight and took me away." It is not now in doubt that before a retracted confession is accepted in evidence, it has to be proved that the confession was made voluntarily and that it is true. It. must also be supported -by independent and credible evidence. In so far as the question whether the confession was voluntarily made by the accused is concerned, after going through the record relating to the warnings administered by the Judicial Second Glass Magistrate, we are satisfied that the confession seems to have been made voluntarily. In regard to its truth, however, we are doubtful. It is now well settled that in regard to the veracity of the confession, one has to necessarily see from the evidence of the prosecution and the surrounding circumstances. If in general or material respects, the confession finds sufficient corroboration from the evidence for the prosecution and the surrounding circumstances, it can safely be held that the confession is true and then it can be relied upon..