Point of Law: Offence of Murder – Conviction modified - Quarrel between the accused and deceased.

JUDGMENT:

C.Praveen Kumar, J.

The sole accused in Sessions Case No.114 of 2012 on the file of the learned VII Additional Sessions Judge (Fast Track Court), Visakhapatnam, is the appellant herein. He was tried for an offence punishable under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code (‘I.P.C.’) for causing the death of one Gampa Narsimha Naidu (hereinafter referred to as ‘the deceased’) on the morning of 07.03.2011 between 7:00 A.M. and 7:30 A.M., in the water channel passing through the paddy crop of the deceased. Vide judgment, dated 30.01.2015, the learned Sessions Judge convicted the accused for the offence punishable under Section 302 I.P.C. and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/-, in default, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months.

2. The facts, as disclosed in the evidence of the prosecution witnesses, are as under:

PW.1 is the son and PW.2 is the wife of the deceased. The accused, deceased and PW.3 are their relatives. All of them are residents of Vakapadu Village. A day prior to the incident, the accused is said to have raised a dispute with the deceased, regarding usage of water and also grazing of cattle in his fields. On 07.03.2011 at about 7:00 A.M., while PW.3 was proceeding towards aqua farms, he along with one Yesu (LW.7) observed the accused and the deceased quarrelling with each other. On seeing the same, PW.3 and LW.7 proceeded towards the said place and while they were getting down from the bund, the accused and deceased separated from each other and started proceeding on the road. Thereafter, PW.3 went to his work place and after half an hour PW.3 and LW.7 came back on the same route for collecting palm leaves. On the way they met PW.4. PW.3 enquired PW.4 about the incident, which took place in the morning to which PW.4 informed to PW.3 that he observed the accused going on his cycle but did not notice the deceased. Thereafter, PWs.3, 4 and 7 proceeded on the road to collect palm leaves and on the way they observed the dead body of the deceased lying in the water channel. Immediately they took out the dead body from the water channel and placed the same on the bund.

According to PW.5, he heard a loud voice from the lands of the deceased and accused, which are situated side by side, but did not interfere with their quarrel and continued to work in his field. Later, he saw the body of the deceased on the road. On 07.03.2011, PW.1 lodged a written report with PW.11 - S.I. of Police, basing on which a case in Crime No.25 of 2011 came to be registered for the offence punishable under Section 302 I.P.C. Ex.P.12 is the F.I.R.

PW.12 – C.I. of Police, who took up investigation, visited the scene of offence and prepared an observation report vide Ex.P.4 and also a rough sketch of the scene under Ex.P.13 in the presence of PW.7. He also recorded the statements of PWs.1 to 4 and 8. Thereafter, he conducted inquest over the dead body in the presence of PWs.6, 10 and others. Ex.P.3 is the inquest report. After completing inquest proceedings, the body was sent for post-mortem examination.

PW.9 – Assistant Professor, Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam conducted autopsy over the body of the deceased and opined that the death was due to asphyxia due to drowning associated with pressure over the neck. Ex.P.10 is the postmortem report.

It is said that on 09.03.2011 at about 2:00 P.M. the accused approached PW.10 – Village Revenue Officer and confessed about the commission of the offence, which was reduced into writing. The same is placed on record as Ex.P.11. Thereafter, PW.10 took the accused to PW.12 – C.I. of Police, who effected the arrest of the accused. After collecting all necessary documents, a charge sheet came to be filed, which was taken on file as P.R.C.No.20 of 2011 on the file of Judicial First Class Magistrate, Yelamanchili.

3. On appearance of the accused, copies of documents as required under Section 207 Cr.P.C., came to be furnished. Since the case is triable by Court of Se