JUDGMENT

Vinod Chandran, J.

A party to celebrate the marriage eve, turned disastrous to one of the invitees. The prosecution case is that on the evening of 28.01.2006, while the party was going on, there ensued two scuffles between the accused and the deceased; which, later led to the accused beating the asleep deceased, with a wooden stick, grievously injuring him resulting in his death after four days.

2. The incident is said to have occurred on the night of 28.01.2006, after which the victim was taken to various hospitals and eventually admitted in the Medical College Hospital, Kottayam. The victim succumbed to his injuries on 01.02.2006 at about 8 p.m. The accused was charged with the murder of the deceased and stood trial. The trial court convicted the accused and sentenced him to life imprisonment under Section 302 I.P.C which was specified to be not less than 14 years. The accused was also directed to pay Rs.1,00,000/-as compensation, and in default to undergo simple imprisonment for five years; which compensation was directed to be paid forthwith, failing which the default sentence would run first before the commencement of the substantive sentence. The prosecution examined 14