JUDGMENT :

R. Hemalatha, J.

(Prayer: Criminal Appeal filed under Section 374 (2) of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 praying to call for the records and set aside the judgment and conviction passed by the Hon’ble Sessions Judge, Mahila Court, Cuddalore, in S.C. No.24 of 2017 dated 13.07.2018.)

1. This appeal is against the judgment and order dated 13.07.2018, passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Mahila Court, Cuddalore, in S.C. No.24 of 2017, in and by which the accused was convicted for an offence under Section 302 IPC and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment and pay a fine of Rs.10,000/- and in default to pay the fine amount, to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for 2 years.

2. The facts of the case as narrated by the prosecution flows in the following sequence.

i. A male child, Nithish, aged 4 years, was found murdered in a bathroom situated in a secluded place and behind the house of his parents, Thiru. Murugesan (P.W.2) and Tmt. Sangeetha (not examined), with a slit neck and in a pool of blood, on 23.08.2016 in the evening. The deceased was their youngest son. They were residents of Chitheri Village, Veppur Taluk, Cuddalore District, and were working as agricultural labourers.

ii. On the fateful day, the deceased boy, Nithish, along with his siblings Sakthi Parameswari (P.W.3), aged 9 years, and Sankareswari, aged 7 years, had returned from their school at about 5 p.m. Having found their house locked, they left their respective school bags in the elevated frontage of their house (Thinnai in tamil) and went to the house of their neighbour (the appellant Parameshwari) to watch TV.

iii. Parameshwari, the appellant, was living with her mother-in-law and her son Jeeva, a toddler. Her husband was working in Singapore.

iv. It is alleged that the victim Nithish tried to wake up Jeeva, the son of the appellant. The appellant intervened and according to Sakthi Parameswari (P.W.3), the sister of the victim, and Pachamuthu (P.W.4), a milk vendor, who was riding a two wheeler on the road, she (the appellant) took Nithish, the victim, outside and then to the bathroom which is behind the house of P.W.2.

v. The parents who returned from work by about 5.30 P.M., enquired the whereabouts of the victim Nithish and then it was found that he was missing. Sakthi Parameswari (P.W.3), sister of the victim, reportedly told her parents that he would be playing somewhere outside. A frantic search was made when one Manickammal (not examined) found the boy dead in a pool of blood in the bathroom behind the house of P.W.2. He bore a cut injury on his neck. Both the parents were shocked to find their son dead and P.W.2 along with other villagers carried his son’s corpse to his house from the bathroom.

vi. A message was passed on to Thiru.Venkatesan (P.W.1), the maternal uncle of the deceased Nithish, who rushed to the place of his sister Sangeetha (mother of the deceased boy). He also went to Ramanatham Police Station and lodged a police complaint (Ex.P1).

vii. Thiru Chockalingam (P.W.9), the Special Sub Inspector of Police, received the complaint (Ex.P1) and registered F.I.R (Ex.P10) in Ramanatham Police Station Crime No.249 of 2016 for an offence under Section 302 IPC at about 9 p.m. on the same day. The FIR was also despatched to the residence of the Judicial Magistrate, Thittakudi at 2 a.m., the next day early morning.

viii. Thiru.Rajaram (P.W.10), the Inspector of Police, took up investigation, visited the scene of occurrence at about 10.15 p.m on the date of occurrence, prepared an Observation Mahazar (Ex.P2) and a Rough Sketch (Ex.P11) in the presence of one Ramasamy (not examined) and Venkatesan (P.W.5). He also seized the blood stained cement mortar sample (M.O.1) and one without blood stain (M.O.2) from the bathroom, where the child was found dead, under the cover of a mahazar Ex.P3 in the presence of the same witnesses.

ix. An inquest (Ex.P12) was conducted on the body of the deceased by P.W.10 in the presence of 5 panchayatdhars and thereafter, the body wa