The judgment establishes the principle that the deliberate act of inflicting a fatal injury, even if the death occurs after a significant interval, constitutes murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

1. The accused in this case, a man of 45, has been sentenced to death for the murder of his wife, Kotha by name, a woman of 22. He has appealed, and the learned Sessions Judge has submitted the proceedings for confirmation of the sentence.

2. The accused and the deceased were married about four months before the occurrence which took place at about mid-night on the night of the 12th Nov. 1956. They lived together in the accused's house for only two months and then the deceased ran away to the house of her parents, P.ws.1 and 3, some distance away, and was living there till the time of the occurrence. Whether she did this as a result of ill-treatment as alleged by the prosecution or for no reason whatsoever as stated by the accused is a matter of no consequence. But although it is sup ported by no other evidence, the accused's statement in the confession, Ext. P-11, he made before a magistrate, that his repeated demands that his wife should go back to him went unheeded, is relevant as disclosing the motive.

3. On the night in question, Pws.1 and 3 and two of their children were sleeping in the southern room of their house which consists of two rooms, each opening into a verandah running alongside them on the east, and with an opening between them. (The house is a very small house with walls only about shoulder high, and the openings which serve as doorways have no doors). One of the children was ailing and therefore they had kept a country lamp burning in the room. The deceased and her two younger sisters. Pw. 2 and another, were sleeping in the northern room. At about mid-night, Pws.1 and 3 who were only half asleep woke up on hearing dogs bark, and they saw a flash of light in the northern room. They immediately got up and just then they heard a cry from the deceased. Pw. 3 went into the northern room through the doorway between the two rooms, while Pw-1 approached the northern room through the verandah, taking the lamp with him. Pw. 2 also woke up on hearing her sister's cries, and all three of them saw the accused stepping out of the northern room into the verandah and the deceased lying with a bleeding stab wound in her back. The accused was carrying a pen-knife and an electric torch. On seeing Pw.1 in the verandah the accused pointed his knife at him thus compelling him to retreat. The accused then ran away and made good his escape. Pw.1 raised a hue and cry to the effect that Yohannan (the accused) was running away after stabbing Kotha (the deceased), and he called out to the nearest neighbour, Pw. 4, who lives hardly five yards away to catch the accused. Pw. 4 heard the cries but he was afraid to come out and remained safely indoors.

4. On receiving the injury the deceased lost the use of her lower limbs, and P.ws.1 to 3 nursed her as best as they could until the morning when P.w.1 went to Ettumanoor two miles away and fetched a taxi in which the deceased was taken to the Ettumanoor Police Station by about 8 A.M. There, the Sub Inspector, P.w.12, questioned her and recorded from her the statement, Ext. P-1, on which he registered a case under S.452 and 307 I. P. C. against the accused. The deceased was then taken to the District Hospital, Kottayam where the doctor, Pw. 9, who examined her at about 9-30 A. M. found that she had suffered a transverse incised penetrating wound 1" X 1/4" the level of the 6th thoracic spine, and was suffering from complete paralysis of both the lower extremities as a consequence of the injury. The injury was about 10 hours old and must have been caused by a stab with a sharp pointed weapon like a penknife.

5. The deceased died in the hospital on 1-6-1957, more than six months later, after the completion of the preliminary enquiry at which she was examined as a witness. The post-mortem examination done by P w. 9 revealed that the stab injury in the back had pierced the spinal column between the 6th and 7th thoracic vertebrae and had damaged the spinal cord.

6. Meanwhile, at about 11-30