Point of Law: Right to life and liberty of a citizen which is a precocious right enshrined and guaranteed by the Constitution of Indian in Article 21 and being a fundamental right assured to the citizen it cannot be trifiled with.

JUDGMENT :

G. Narendar, J.

Heard the learned counsel for the appellant and the learned High Court Government Pleader for the respondent – State.

2. Facts leading to this appeal :

The gist of the prosecution version as narrated in column No.17 is that Smt. Chandrakala W/o Halaswamy (CW-2) aged about 38 years, had an illicit relationship with the accused since the last 12 years and in the last 5 to 6 months, the accused found the said Chandrakala cheating on him by moving around with other men and enraged by the said act of cheating and to exact revenge, the accused took the said Chandrakala to the land bearing Sy.No.90 situated in Baluru Village of Shikaripura Taluk on 02.03.2012 and between 05.30 p.m. and 06.30 p.m., he committed the murder by striking on the head of the said Chandrakala with a stone found in the land and upon the deceased losing consciousness and falling to the ground, the accused proceeded to press her neck and thereby asphyxiated her and committed the murder and after committing the murder and with the intention of destroying the evidence, he removed the sim card from her mobile and threw it away and thereafter, took possession of the mobile handset and some of the jewelry found on the body of the dead and handed over the same to the custody of his wife. It is further stated that the land wherein the murder was committed is a eucalyptus grove belonging to the Forest Department. The above allegations having been investigated and having found to have substance, the charge sheet was laid against him. The Trial Court accepting the case has rendered a judgment of conviction and sentenced him to imprisonment for life.

3. The case of the prosecution is that PW1 – Police Constable CPC No.862 had been deputed to the eucalyptus grove to verify the information received by the Investigating Officer regarding commission of a non-cognizable offence i.e., wagering with the use of playing cards. That when he was going about the land, he sensed a foul smell and when he followed the direction of the smell, he discovered the decomposed body of a woman and he also noticed artificial gold and plastic bangles, a watch, a ring on the finger, silver anklets and toe rings. The body was fully clothed and slippers were also found in the place. That the body was noticed at 04.00 p.m. and in order to ascertain the identity of the dead women, he called the vice-president of the adjoining village panchayat one Surendra Naik (the said Surendra is not examined). The attempt to ascertain the identity having failed, he reported the same to the PSI over phone by 06.15 p.m. That the PSI visited the spot and thereafter a complaint came to be registered at Ex.P-1 and the FIR is marked as Ex.P-2. That the spot mahazar (Ex.P-37) was drawn by 07.15 p.m. with the use of torch light and head lights of the jeep. The spot was photographed (Exs.P-3 and P-4) and the slippers were seized (MO-1). The body was sent to the Government Hospital and inquest (Ex.P-25) was conducted on 11.03.2012 in the presence of the panchas (PW-12, CW-21 and CW-22). The articles handed over by the doctor after Post Mortem (Ex.P-26) have been reported to the Court. That on 12.03.2012, CWs-2, 3 and 4 (i.e., husband, son and daughter) had appeared before the IO (CW-51/PW-19) and identified the articles. They have identified the deceased by the clothing and CW.2/PW.2 has also expressed that he suspected the hand of the accused. Immediately, the IO directed the sub-ordinates to trace out the accused and also the phone number of both the accused and the deceased were collected and requisition for CDR was sent and received. The accused was arrested on 16.03.2012 and on the basis of the voluntary statement, properties have been seized from his residence and the vehicle used has also been seized and the accused has also shown the place where the crime was committed.

4. The body was highl