The court's decision emphasized the overwhelming evidence of the appellant's complicity in the murders and her attempt to commit suicide, leading to the confirmation of the convictions and sentences.

1. The appellant has been convicted by the learned Addl. Sessions Judge of Quilon for three distinct offences of murder under S.302 I.P.C. and for attempting to commit suicide, punishable under S.309 I.P.C. For each offence of murder she has been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and for that under S.309 to undergo simple imprisonment for one year with the direction that all the four sentences shall run concurrently. The case against the appellant was that she caused the death of three of her children one aged 7, the second aged 5 and the third aged one by throwing them into a well and that afterwards she herself jumped into it with a view to commit suicide. She was, however, rescued by passers-by who heard her cries from the well, but by the time the bodies of the children were recovered the children were all dead. The learned Additional Sessions Judge found her guilty on all the four counts in the charge, convicted and sentenced her as stated above. The appeal is against these convictions and sentences.

2. The occurrence took place on 14.4.1956 in Kulasekharapuram Shencottah now part of the Madras State. The lower court pronounced its judgment on 7.6.1956 and the appeal was registered in the Travancore-Cochin High Court on 18.10.1956. In the normal course the case should have been certified under S.66(2) of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 (Central Act XXXVII of 1956) to be transferred to the High Court of Madras, but by oversight that was not done. When the appeal came up before us a doubt was raised whether it was competent for us to hear and dispose of the same. S.60(6) of the States Reorganisation Act provided inter alia that all proceedings pending in the High Court of Travancore-Cochin immediately before the appointed day other than those certified by the Chief Justice of that High Court under sub-s. (2) of S.66 shall stand transferred to the High Court of Kerala. Under sub-s. (2) of S.66 it was not incumbent on the Chief Justice of Travancore-Cochin to certify for transfer to the Madras High Court all cases pending immediately before the appointed day in the Travancore-Cochin High Court which arose from the territories transferred to Madras from Travancore-Cochin. In view of these provisions it is unnecessary for us to examine whether by reason of the transfer of the venue of the crime to the Madras State we have under rules of Private International Law ceased to have jurisdiction to hear and dispose of the appeal. The appellant is undergoing her sentence in the Central Prison, Trivandrum and as per the prayer made in her memorandum of appeal she was brought up before this Court at the hearing and besides hearing the counsel retained at the State's expense to defend her, we heard her as well.

3. There is no direct evidence to connect the accused with any one of the offences she stood charged with. At the same time there is overwhelming evidence to establish the appellant's complicity in the three murders she has been found guilty of and also to prove that she attempted to commit suicide by jumping into a well known as Saivapillamar's well. Her relations with her husband (Pw. 1) and his parents (Pws. 15 and 16 were anything but cordial. In the afternoon of the day she was rescued from the well, she had quarrelled with P.ws.15 and 16 as also with P.w.1. They had all belaboured her that day. This was at about 2.30 P.M. Afterwards she left her house with her four children on the pretext of going to the river-side to bathe. Not far away from the house at Kasmadan Kovil she sent her eldest son (Pw. 14) aged 10 years back to the house and proceeded ostensibly to the river side with her three younger children. P.ws. 15 and 16 saw her leaving the house with her children and P.Ws. 9 and 10 saw them on the road to the river side. P.W. 14 besides speaking to these facts also stated that he was sent back when they had reached Kasmadan Kovil. Pw. 8 saw the appellant and her three younger children after that an