TAMILARASAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE instant appeal is directed against the Judgment dated 24th July, 1996, passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Port Blair, in Sessions Case No. 02 of 1991, awarding a punishment of life imprisonment under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code on appreciation of evidence that the accused, Tamilarasan, is found guilty of murder. The accused is an appellant before this Appellate Court. It is necessary at the very outset to draw the pen picture of the outline of the facts as emanated from the records of the case. The case of the prosecution stemmed out of the oral complaint lodged by one P. Prakash at 0715 hours on 19th June, 1989, who went to the Pahargaon out -post along with victim's eldest son, one Damodaran, and reported the incident to the I.C.O.P., Paharagaon namely S.I.R.B.Yadav. The aforesaid complainant. P. Prakash, could not express himself in Hindi, as he was a Tamilian. At that point of time, a police constable by the name of V. Malaikannu P.W. 4, who was posted in that outpost, was found available on duty and he happened to be a Tamilian being familiar with the local language of the complainant. The said oral complaint made by P. Prakash was interpreted by Malaikamnnu in Hindi and the transcribed version of P. Prakash was recorded. After recording the same in Hindi, the contents were read over to Malaikannu and he in his turn translated the same to Prakash in Tamil. Thereafter, P. Prakash put his signature thereunder which was written and signed by R.B. Yadav being marked as Ext. 5. The case, as made out pursuant to the oral complaint being reflected in the F.I.R., is a concise narration of the facts of the complaint. The complainant and his father were residing at Burmanallah No. 5 in a hut on someone's plot of land in proximity thereto the victim, Kannan, used to live with the members of his family. Adjacent to Kannan's land there is a land of Arumugam and brother and other members of the family of accused, Tamilarasan, were found residing. The said accused, Tamilarasan, was a Taxi Driver by profession and he used to come once or twice in a week in the house at night. The members of the extended family of accused, Tamilarasan, are not in good terms with the members of the family of the deceased. On the preceding day of the occasion of the alleged incident of assault causing death of the victim, there was some unpleasent incident which took place in the evening hours on 18th June, 1989. The unpleasant incident was the outcome and aftermath of a loud sound by one Panneer, a resident of Haddo, who called Arumugam by name. The same was followed by a protest from the side of the victim, as a result of which Arumugam came out of his house. It was followed by acrimonious exchange of words hordering on abuses and ultimately resulted in fighting. Thereafter, they were separated by the intervention and after sometime Arumugam's mother came out of her house and asked for an explanation from the victim Kannan as to why he went in for a scuffle with her son. This made Kannan angry, who in turn slapped her. In the early hours of morning of the following day on June 19, 1989, the victim being the father of Damodaran left the hut with a milk -can at about 5.30 a.m. The complainant was returning from nallah and he saw Kannan going towards Burmanallah with milk in a can in his hand through the narrow path by the side of the hut of the complainant. The victim Kannan proceeded at a little distance ahead at that juncture from his youngest son, Madialagan, who was also going towards Burmanallah. On being asked by the complainant, one of his sons, Madialagan told that he was going with his father to the market place for bringing rice for the house. At that moment they heard the shout of "Amma Amma" from the victim Kannan. The complainant namely P. Prakash and Madialagan saw that the accused Tamilarasan was assaulting Kannan with a dunda (rod) and Kannan fell on the ground. Tamilarasan had a dah and when Kannan fell on the ground, he was hit by that dah. It evoked the shouts of the complainant and Madialagan. On hearing the alarm, the accused Tamilarasan fled towards the bamboo growth with the dah and the rod. The said victim was wearing a blue colour lungi and he had a white towel around his neck. Then the complainant and the son of the victim found at the close proximity of the site went to Kannan and the complainant noticed the injuries on the parts of the body of the victim particularly on the head and the legs from where blood was coming. The victim Kannan told the complainant that the accused Tamilarasan assaulted him and wanted some water to drink. They immediately rushed and brought some water and gave the victim to drink. Then the complainant and Madialagan started hue and cry, as a result of which the victim's wife and other members of the family residing in their hut along with other local people came there. Then the victim was attempted to be taken bodily to Burmanallah Bazar with a view to take him to the hospital and before reaching the Bazar, the victim succumbed to the injuries. After recording the complaint, as per narration of the complainant, the same was registered as Crime No. 487 of 1989 of Aberdeem P.S. under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code against the accused Tamilarasan.

(2.) ON the basis of the said report, as recorded from the complaint in the F.I.R., the investigation was started by S.I., R.B. Yadav, and the Inquest Report was prepared with instruction on the Photographer to take these snaps of the dead body. The said dead body of the victim was removed to G.B. Pant Hospital, Port Blair with the help of the police constables for the post - mortem examination. At the point of time when the dead body of the victim was lifted, the blood -stained grass on which the dead body was lying was taken from the ground and the same was included in the Seizure List in presence of the witnesses. A sketch map of the place of occurrence was drawn up. The post - mortem examination was held after identification of the dead body by the eldest son of the victim namely Damodaran. After the same was over, the dead body was handed over to the eldest son of the deceased under a Delivery Memo. The bloodstained dhoti and striped underwear and a full shirt being the wearing garments of the deceased and a saree with which the head injury was bandaged as well as the bag which was utilised for the purpose of prevention of oozing out of blood were packed and sealed under the Seizure List in presence of the witnesses. The I.O. recorded the statements of the witnesses there and the seized articles were deposited in the Malkahana of Aberdeen P.S. with the Incharge, A.S.I. one K. Devdas. After the accused Tamilsarasan was apprehended and taken to the police custody, his help was obtained for the purpose of recovery of the weapons used for commissioning of the offence. In presence of Vasanth Ram P.W. 6 and N.K. Mondal P.W. 23 and in their presence, a statement of the accused (vide Ext.II) was recorded. The signatures of the witnesses were obtained thereon. The places were identified as alleged by the accused at about a distance of two K.Ms. from the place of occurrence and the wooden danda was brought out with blood -stain on the body of the same; then near about bamboo bush at a distance of 16 mtrs. to the West from the place wherefrom the blood -stained earth was seized and recovered by the police with the help of the accused in presence of the witnesses. The danda was wrapped with paper and the same was included in the Seizure List vide Ext. 9. Along with recovery of the dah from inside a nearby zoopri, the accused also brought out a blue colour lungi and towel and those articles were handed over to the I.O. in presence of P.Ws. 6 and 23. The said articles were also separately packed and sealed in presence of the witnesses and seized by the police under a Seizure List Ext. 10. The statements of the witnesses were recorded at the spot. Thereafter, the statements of other witnesses were recorded. The statement of Smt. Vellismma, mother of the accused, was also recorded relating to the incident of June 18, 1989, which is a preceding date of the alleged occurrence. The sized articles along with the forwarding articles and the specimen seal were sent to the C.F.S.I. Calcutta, from the Aberdeem P.S. Malkhana. The post -mortem examination report was also collected and N.C.F.I.R. dated June 18, 1989 was seized and the chargesheet was submitted against the accused Tamilarasan under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code on July 22, 1989. The accused person pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried on the veracity of the charges read over and explained to the accused.

(3.) THE prosecution examined as many as 25 witnesses and the accused thereafter examined four witnesses in support of his innocence. The defence case as evidcent from the statement of the accused and version of the D.Ws. is that with a view to grab the land of Tamilarasan by ousting him therefrom, the false case was instituted after calling him from his rented premises round about 09.30 a.m. on June 19, 1989. The allegations were denied from the side of the defence.