Child witnesses' reliable testimony, S.106 Evidence Act burden in home murder, and unexplained minor accused injuries do not vitiate prosecution case upheld conviction.

JUDGMENT :

K.K. RAMAKRISHNAN, J.

1.The appellant / Accused No.1 in S.C.No.139 of 2016 on the file of the learned Court of Sessions Fast Track Mahila, Kanniyakumari District at Nagercoil has filed this appeal challenging the following conviction and sentence imposed against him in the impugned judgment dated 20.10.2022.

2.The brief facts of the case

2.1. The prosecution case, in brief, is that the deceased was the wife of the appellant, and the couple had two minor children, a male child aged about 10 years and a female child aged about 6 years. The appellant was employed as a mason in Dubai and had returned to India about 20 days prior to the occurrence. It is alleged that the appellant harboured suspicion about the fidelity of his wife, which led to frequent quarrels between them. On account of such suspicion, he developed animosity towards the deceased.

2.2. On 21.10.2015, at about 12:15 a.m., while the deceased was sleeping inside the house along with the children, the appellant is alleged to have attacked her with a knife, inflicting multiple stab injuries on the neck and collar region. The injuries included stab wounds on the right side of the neck, middle portion of the neck, left side of the neck, and a punctured wound on the left collar region. Due to the severity of these injuries, the deceased died on the spot.

2.3. After the occurrence, the appellant fled from the scene. The children, who witnessed the incident, raised an alarm and informed PW1, the sister of the deceased. Upon receiving the information, PW1 rushed to the place of occurrence and thereafter lodged a complaint before the police at about 12:15 a.m. Based on the said complaint, a case in Crime No. 424 of 2015 was registered for the offence under Section 302 IPC.

2.4. The Investigating Officer (PW24) commenced the investigation, visited the scene of occurrence, prepared the observation mahazar and rough sketch, and conducted the initial investigation. Subsequently, the investigation was continued by PW25, who conducted inquest over the body and arrested the accused on 21.10.2015. Pursuant to the confession statement given by the accused, material objects, including the bloodstained lungi and weapon (knife), were recovered in the presence of witnesses.

2.5. Thereafter, PW26 and then PW27 continued the investigation. Statements of witnesses were recorded, including the statements of the minor children under Section 164 Cr.P.C. The investigating agency also collected the postmortem certificate, viscera report, and serological report. Upon completion of the investigation, a final report was filed before the Judicial Magistrate No. II, Nagercoil, which was taken on file in P.R.C. No. 11 of 2016 and subsequently committed to the Sessions Court, as the offence was triable exclusively by the Court of Sessions.

2.6. The learned Sessions Judge took the case on file as S.C. No. 139 of 2016, furnished copies of documents to the accused under Section 207 Cr.P.C., and framed the necessary charges. The accused pleaded not guilty and stood trial.

3. During trial, the prosecution examined PWs 1 to 28, marked Exhibits P1 to P36, and produced Material Objects M.O.1 to M.O.7. Upon questioning under Section 313 Cr.P.C., the accused denied the incriminating circumstances and put forth a defence that he saw two unidentified persons emerging out of the house, and that he had also sustained injuries in that incident. One document was marked as Exhibit D1 on the side of the defence, and no oral evidence was adduced.

4. Upon consideration of the entire evidence on record, the learned trial Judge found the accused guilty of the offence under Section 302 IPC and sentenced him to undergo l