The court considered the absence of premeditation or previous motive, the nature of the weapon used, and the amount of force employed to determine the accused's guilt.

JUDGMENT

(Prayer: Criminal Appeal filed under Section 374(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code, praying to set aside the judgment of the learned Principal Sessions Judge, Salem in S.C.No.267 of 2013 dated 26.04.2018.)

1. This Criminal Appeal has been preferred challenging the judgment of the learned Principal Sessions Judge, Salem dated 26.04.2018 made in S.C.No.267 of 2013.

2. The appellant is the first accused, who was found guilty for the offence under Section 304(I) IPC and sentenced him to undergo ten years Rigorous Imprisonment and imposed with a fine of Rs.1,000/- in default to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for six months. The second accused was a minor at the time of occurrence.

3. The short facts of the prosecution case are as follows: -

3.1. The deceased (Palani) was a night watchman of Varathan Iron Godown; on 10.02.2013 at about 11.30 p.m. the accused along with one juvenile Kulpi @ Viji were sitting in the Godown and talking loudly, the deceased who was the watchman of the Godown asked them to leave the place and the deceased went and sat on his cot; thereafter, the appellant and the minor accused Kulpi @ Viji came with an intention to murder the deceased and asked them how dare was he to scold them and assaulted him with hands; knowing that the type of attack on the deceased would cause his death, the appellant attacked him on the left side forehead and the minor accused kicked the deceased on his stomach and mouth with wooden reaper; the appellant also got the wooden reaper from him and beat the deceased on the back of his head; in view of the multiple injuries suffered by the deceased he was admitted in the Hospital and he succumbed to his injuries on 17.03.2013; so the accused were charged for the offence under Section 302 r/w 34 IPC; since the other accused was a minor, the case against the minor seems to have got segregated and the case against the appellant was tried before the Sessions Court.

3.2. After the charges have been framed and the appellant was questioned, the appellant pleaded innocence and was tried. During the course of trial, on the side of the prosecution, 9 witnesses have been examined as P.W.1 to P.W.9, 23 exhibits were marked as Ex.P.1 to Ex.P.23 and Material Objects were marked as M.O.1 to M.O.3. On the side of the defence, no witness has been examined and no document was marked.

3.3. After concluding the trial and on considering the materials on record, the learned trial Judge found the appellant / accused No.1 guilty for the offence under Section 304(I) IPC and convicted and sentenced him to undergo Ten years of Rigorous Imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs.1,000/- in default to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for six months. Aggrieved over the same, the accused has preferred this Criminal Appeal.

4. P.W.1 (Kumar) is the son of the deceased (Palani) and he had given the complaint (Ex.P.1); the owner of the Godown where the occurrence had taken place has been examined as P.W.2 (Sitheswaran); P.W.3 (Mathiyalagan) and P.W.4 (Murugan) were working in the godown; as per the evidence of the prosecution on the day of occurrence i.e. on 10.02.2013 at about 11.30 p.m., P.W.2 and P.W.4 were waiting in the godown in order to load the materials supposed to be delivered to the godown; the deceased (Palani) and P.W.3 were the watchmen of the godown; since the deceased (Palani) heard the noise of the appellant at about 11.30p.m., he came out and asked the accused to leave, at that time the minor accused fisted on his face and also kicked him; the other accused who is the appellant herein had assaulted the deceased with wooden reaper on his head; this was witnessed by P.W.3 and he immediately informed the matter to the son of the deceased P.W.1.

5. P.W.1 arrived to the spot immediately and saw his father was seriously injured but conscious; the deceased told P.W.1 that he was attacked by the appellant and the minor accused, when he asked them to leave away; P.W.1 took his f