1. The Criminal Appeal arises out of the judgment dated 4.12.2002 in S.C.No.141 of 2002 on the file of the Principal Sessions Court, Vellore, whereby, the appellant-accused was convicted for the offence under Section 304 (Part 1) IPC and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years and to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/-, in default, to undergo simple imprisonment for six months. The trial Court acquitted the accused of the charge under Section 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

2. The case of the prosecution is as follows:

(a) On 13.11.2001 at about 1.45 p.m., Sathya, since deceased, went to the beeda shop of the accused. There was some quarrel between the accused and the deceased. The deceased said, @cd; filia ,y;yhky; gd;dptpLntd;@/ On hearing these words, the accused developed grudge against the deceased. There was a wordy altercation between them. The accused intentionally took out a knife from his shop and assaulted the deceased on his chin and left hand and when the deceased started running away from the place towards the telephone post, the accused assaulted him by inflicting various injuries, which was stat