IMPORTANT POINT
The court established that a single blow without intent to kill does not meet the threshold for murder under IPC Section 302, warranting a conviction for grievous hurt instead.

JUDGMENT :

K.Sreenivasa Reddy, J.

Accused No.1 in Sessions Case No.334 of 2011 on the file of the VI Additional District and Sessions Judge, Kadapa (for brevity ‘learned Additional Sessions Judge’), is the sole appellant.

2. Charge sheet was filed against accused Nos.1 to 8 for the offences punishable under Sections 148, 324, 307, 302, 307 read with 149 and 302 read with 149 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for brevity ‘IPC’). Pending trial, accused Nos.3 and 6 died and case against them was abated.

3. Vide Judgment, dated 24.10.2016, the learned Additional Sessions Judge convicted the accused No.1 of the offence punishable under Section 302 IPC and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and shall also pay a fine of Rs.3,000/- (Rupees three thousand only), in default of payment of fine, to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of two (02) months for the offence punishable under Section 302 IPC. A1 was found not guilty of the other charges and accordingly he was acquitted of the other charges. The other accused were found not guilty of the charges levelled against them and accordingly, they were acquitted of the said charges.

4. The substance of the charges as against accused is that, on 30.03.2011 at about 7.20 a.m. accused Nos.1 to 8, at the cycle shop of P.W.1, formed into members of unlawful assembly, armed with deadly weapons and with common object, beat one Thanneeru Raghu Ramaiah (hereinafter referred to, as ‘the deceased’) with iron rods indiscriminately and caused the death of the deceased.

5. Brief facts of the case of prosecution, are as follows:

The material prosecution witnesses and the accused are all residents of M.J.Kunta village. All the prosecution witnesses and the accused are related to each other. P.W.1 is nephew of the deceased. P.W.2 is the younger brother of P.W.1. P.W.4 is the brother of P.W.1. P.W.7 is the wife of the deceased. P.W.8 is the daughter of the deceased and P.W.7. P.W.9 is the brother of the deceased. Accused Nos.2 and 8 are husband and wife. Accused Nos.1 and 7 are children of accused Nos.2 and 8. Accused Nos.3 to 5 are brothers-in-law of accused No.1. Accused No.6 is the close associate of accused No.2. Accused No.2 is the son of the deceased elder sister.

On 30.03.2011 at about 7.00 a.m. P.W.1 went to the cycle shop situated at M.J.Kunta village and opened the shop. He was keeping articles in the shop outside for his business purpose. At about 7.10 a.m. the deceased went to P.W.1’s shop; P.W.1 gave him paper and the deceased sat on the chair at P.W.1’s shop and was reading newspaper. At about 7.20 a.m. accused No.1 came there and beat the deceased with an iron rod on his head. P.W.1 raised cries and on that, P.Ws.2 and 3 went there. They all took the deceased to RIMS Hospital, Kadapa. They were asked to shift the deceased to Tirupathi Hospital and from there, they were asked to shift the deceased to Apollo Hospital, Chennai.

The deceased was taken to Tirupathi Hospital by his daughter, son-in-law and other relatives. After shifting to Apollo Hospital, Chennai, P.W.1 went and saw the deceased. The deceased was treated in Apollo Hospital, Chennai for three days and thereafter, he was asked to take back to Kadapa. Then, the deceased was brought back to RIMS Hospital, Kadapa. Later, the deceased died at RIMS Hospital, Kadapa. As per P.W.1, there were disputes between accused and the deceased with regard to house site.

On 30.03.2011 at about 10.30 a.m. P.W.19/Sub-Inspector of Police, Chinna Chowk Police Station, Kadapa received Ex.P17- Hospital Intimation from RIMS Hospital, Kadapa along with Ex.P1- statement of P.W.1. Basing on the same, P.W.19 registered a case in Crime No.60 of 2011 for the offences punishable under Sections 324, 147, 148 and 307 read with 149 IPC and issued Ex.P18-FIR to all the concerned.

P.W.19 went to RIMS Hospital, Kadapa at about 11.30 a.m. and found the deceased was shifted to SVIMS Hospital, Tirupathi. P.W.19 visited the scene of occurrence situated at ‘Y’