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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
P.N. PRAKASH, R. HEMALATHA, JJ.
Samiyappan - Appellant
Versus
State rep by the Inspector of Police, All Women Police Station, Coimbatore (Crime No.708/2011) - Respondent
Crl.A. No. 484 of 2018
Decided On : 20-01-2022
Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 - Section 374 (2) and 313 - Indian Evidence Act, 1872 - Section 65B – Indian Penal Code, 1860 – Sections 302, 392, 376 r/w 511, 414 and 449 – Offence of Gang Rape and Murder - Test of Identification Parade - Circumstantial evidence – Appeal against conviction - P.W.1 and his wife left for work in morning leaving victim girl at home. The theory of prosecution is that three assailants A1 to A3 trespassed into house of victim girl between 12 noon and 1 P.M. knowing that she was all alone and attempted to gang rape her. In bid to rape her they faced resistance from girl and while present appellant caught hold of her hands and closed her mouth, accused 1 and 3 tied her hands behind with a rope. The victim girl was molested causing injuries to her breasts, abdomen, neck, lips and other parts. There were nail marks found on her body. Present appellant with help of other accused 1 and 3 strangulated her and also stabbed her with a knife on neck region many times causing multiple stab injuries and death - Held, Pawn receipt and ledger recovered form Sri Sakthi Finance and evidence of P.W.13, Manager of Sri Sakthi Finance, clearly reveal that all three accused along with A4 pledged eight items of gold jewels, which have been proved to be stolen articles looted from victim - Prosecution did not adduce a certificate as provided under Section 65B of Evidence Act from a competent authority. Hence, no credence can be attached to his evidence - Prosecution has established guilt of accused beyond all reasonable doubts by adducing acceptable evidence. Circumstances formed a complete chain without any missing links and there can be no other hypothesis which would be inconsistent with the guilt of present appellant - Criminal Appeal dismissed.
JUDGMENT :
R. Hemalatha, J.
Prayer: Criminal Appeal filed under Section 374 (2) of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 praying to set aside the judgment passed in S.C. No.01 of 2015 dated 29.05.2015 on the file of Mahila Court, Coimbatore District.
1. The appellant has filed the present appeal against the judgment dated 29.05.2015 in S.C. No.01 of 2015, on the file of Mahila Court, Coimbatore District. S.C. No.1/15 was split up from S.C. No.208/13.
2. The trial court framed the following charges against accused 1 to 4 in S.C. No.208 of 2013.
| Serial Number of charge | Charge(s) framed against | Charge(s) framed under Section |
| 1 | A1 to A3 | 449 of IPC |
| 2. | A1 to A3 | 376 r/w 511 of IPC |
| 3. | A1 to A3 | 392 of IPC |
| 4. | A1 to A3 | 302 of IPC |
| 5. | A4 | 414 of IPC |
3. The present appellant absconded when the case in S.C. No.208/13 was posted for questioning all the accused under Section 313 of the code of Criminal Procedure after the examination of the prosecution witnesses. Therefore, his case was split up in S.C. No.01 of 2015 and a non bailable warrant was also issued. The trial court proceeded further in S.C. No.208/2013 against the other accused and convicted A1 and A3 vide judgment dated 29.04.2015 as detailed hereunder.
| S.No. | Rank of Accused | Conviction | Sentence |
| 1. | A1 and A3 | U/s. 449 IPC | Life Imprisonment and a fine of Rs.10,000/- each in default, to undergo Simple Imprisonment for three months. |
| 2. | A1 and A3 | U/s.376 r/w 511 of IPC | Rigorous Imprisonment for five years with a fine of Rs.10,000/- each, in default, to undergo Simple Imprisonment for three months. |
| 3. | A1 and A3 | U/s.302 IPC | Life Imprisonment and a fine of Rs.25,000/- each in default, to undergo Simple Imprisonment for three months. |
| 4. | A1 and A3 | U/s. 392 IPC | Rigorous Imprisonment for seven years with a fine of Rs.5,000/- each, in default, to undergo Simple Imprisonment for three months. |
4. Subsequently, on 27.05.2015, the non bailable warrant against the appellant was executed and the present appellant was produced before the trial court. The trial court questioned the appellant under Section 313 Cr.P.C after remanding him to judicial custody and also convicted and sentenced him as under.
| S.No. | Rank of Accused | Conviction | Sentence |
| 1. | A2 | U/s. 449 IPC | Life Imprisonment and a fine of Rs.1,000/- in default, to undergo Simple Imprisonment for three months. |
| 2. | A2 | U/s.376 r/w 511 of IPC | Rigorous Imprisonment for five years with a fine of Rs.1,000/- in default, to undergo Simple Imprisonment for three months. |
| 3. | A2 | U/s.302 IPC | Life Imprisonment and a fine of Rs.1,000/- in default, to undergo Simple Imprisonment for three months. |
| 4. | A2 | U/s. 392 IPC | Rigorous Imprisonment for seven years with a fine of Rs.1,000/-, in default, to undergo Simple Imprisonment for three months. |
5. The appeal in Crl.A.No.397 of 2015 filed by the accused 1 and 3 was dismissed by this court on 15.07.2016 and the conviction and sentence passed by the trial court was confirmed.
6. The case of the prosecution in nutshell is as follows:
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