TMI Blog1972 (2) TMI 93X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... firmed the conviction and. sentence of the accused. The accused has now come up in appeal to, this Court by special leave. The prosecution case was that Madhandi deceased purchased land measuring 1 acre 62 cents from Thooliya Thiruman (PW 5), elder brother of the accused for rupees one, thousand. The land of the accused adjoined the land sold to Madhandi deceased. The accused wanted Madhandi deceased to sell that land to him but the deceased declined to do so. Madhandi constructed a fence around the land purchased by her, as a result of which the passage to the land of the accused was obstructed. About a week before the present occurrence, the accused removed some jack fruits from the land purchased by the deceased. Complaint about that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s then went to the place of occurrence A and found the dead body of Madhandi deceased lying there with injuries on her throat, face and other parts of the body. Both her ears were found to have been chopped off. Her jewels had been removed. According further to the prosecution, Valanjiaraju went to B the house of village munsif Muthuswami (PW 8) to inform him about the occurrence. Muthuswami, however, was-away from the house to another village in connection with some collection work. Muthuswami returned at about 10.30 p.m. and was told by Valanjiaraju about the occurrence. Muthuswami did not record the statement of Valanjiaraju at that time and told him that be would not go to the spot where the dead body was lying on that night as wi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hakravarthi PW and from there recovered knife Ex. 1 and ornaments Exs. 2 to 8. The said ornaments belonged to Madhandi deceased. The knife was taken into possession and put into a, sealed parcel. The clothes which the accused was wearing were got removed and put into a sealed parcel. The parcels were sent to Chemical Examiner, whose report showed that neither the knife nor the clothes of the accused were stained with blood. At the trial the plea of the accused was denial simpliciter.According to the accused, the villagers came to know on the evening of March 12, 1470 that the deceased had been murdered. The accused along with the villagers went to the spot where the dead body of the deceased was lying and stayed with them there during ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s the accused-appellant who had caused the injuries to,Madhandi deceased. The accused has, however, denied this allegation and has claimed that he has been falsely involved in this case on suspicion. The trial court and the High Court have based the conviction of the accused-appellant, as stated earlier, primarily upon the testimony of Kopia (PW 2) and Valanjiaraju (PW 1). This Court does not normally reappraise evidence in an appeal under article 136 of the Constitution, but that fact would not prevent interference with an order of conviction if on consideration of the vital prosecution evidence in the case, this Court finds it to be afflicted with ex facie infirmity. There are in the present case certain broad features of the prosecut ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ouse of Muthuswami is at a distance of three furlongs from the village of Valanjiaraju. Police station Valavanthi is also at a distance of three furlongs from the house of Muthuswami. Assuming that Muthuswami PW was not found at his house till 10.30 p.m. on March 12, 1970 by Valanjiaraju, it is, not clear as to why no report was lodged by Valanjiaraju at the police station. It is, in our opinion, most difficult to believe that even though the accused had been seen at 2 p.m. committing the murder of Madhandi deceased and a large number of villagers had been told about it soon thereafter, no report about the occurrence could be lodged till the following day. The police station was less than two miles from the village of Valanjiaraju and Kopia ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rst information report should be satisfactorily explained. In the present case, Kopia, daughter-in-law of Madhandi deceased, according to the prosecution case, was present when the accused made murderous assault on the deceased. Valanjiaraju, stepson of the deceased, is also alleged to have arrived near the scene of occurrence on being told by Kopia. Neither of them, nor any other villager, who is stated to have been told about the occurrence by Valanjiaraju and Kopia, made any report at the police station for more than 20 hours after the occurrence, even though the police station is only two miles from the place of occurrence. The said circumstance, in our opinion, would raise considerable doubt regarding the veracity of the evidence of th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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