The competency of a vulnerable witness must be assessed through a voir dire test; failure to do so, along with the inadmissibility of confessions made in police custody, can undermine the prosecution's case.

JUDGMENT

Jobin Sebastian, J.

The above Death Sentence Reference (DSR) and the Crl. Appeal arises from the judgment dated 08.03.2021 of the Additional Sessions Judge, North Paravur, in S.C.No.72/2019, whereby the appellant/accused was found guilty of the offences punishable under Sections 449 , 376A, 302, and 201 of the IPC and convicted. The accused was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for various terms and a fine for the offences punishable under Sections 449 and 201 IPC, and sentenced to imprisonment for life for offence punishable under Section 302 IPC. Furthermore, the accused was sentenced to death and a fine for the offence under Section 376A IPC.

2. The case of the prosecution, as disclosed in the final report, can be epitomised as follows:

During the period of occurrence in this case, the deceased, a widow, was residing with her intellectually disabled son (CW2), in a house bearing No.XII/740 of Puthanvelikkara Grama Panchayat. The accused, a migrant labourer from Assam, as well as a few other migrant labourers, were residing in the rooms adjacent to the house of the deceased on a rental basis. The deceased was the landlady of the said house. While so, between 11.00 p.m. on 18.03.2018 and 1.30 a.m. on 19.03.2018, the accused, with the intent to commit rape and murder, collected a granite stone from the courtyard of the house of the deceased and, carrying the same, knocked at the front door of the said house. When the deceased opened the front door, the accused trespassed into the hall of the said house and, with the intention to render her unconscious before killing her, he struck her on the left side of the neck, causing serious injuries. Upon hearing the commotion when the deceased’s intellectually disabled son came to the hall, the accused intimidated him and thereby persuaded him to remain inside the room. Thereafter, the accused dragged the deceased, who was in an exhausted state due to the injury inflicted on her, towards the dining room of the said house and committed rape. When the deceased attempted to resist, the accused hit her on the head repeatedly and covered her mouth using his hand, causing suffocation, and thereby murdered her. Thereafter, the accused, with the intention to ensure the death of the deceased, dragged her to one of the bedrooms of the said house and wrapped a cloth around her neck, forcefully tightened it, and ensured her death. Thereafter, the accused smeared blood on the T-shirt of the deceased’s intellectually disabled son to mislead the investigation. Thereafter, the accused, with an intention to cause disappearance of evidence, concealed the stone in the premises of the said house and washed the blood-stained shirt, which was worn by him at the time of the commission of the offence, which originally belonged to CW36. Hence, the accused was alleged to have committed the above offences.

3. Upon completion of the investigation, the final report was laid before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-III, North Paravur. Being satisfied that the case is one triable exclusively by a Court of Session, the learned Magistrate, after complying with all the necessary formalities, committed the case to the Court of Session, Ernakulam, under Section 209 of Cr.P.C. The learned Sessions Judge, having taken cognizance, made over the case for trial and disposal to the Additional Sessions Court, North Paravur. On appearance of the accused before the trial court,