IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH :: AMARAVATI MONDAY, THIS THE FIFTEETH DAY OF DECEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE SPECIAL DIVISION BENCH PRESENT HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE K SURESH REDDY And HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE SUBBA REDDY SATTI CRIMINAL APPEAL No.2134 of 2018 JUDGMENT: (Per the Hon’ble Sri Justice Subba Reddy Satti The sole accused in S.C.No.259 of 2017 on the file of the Court of IX Additional Sessions Judge, West Godavari at Kovvur, is the appellant. He was tried by the learned Additional Sessions Judge under the following charges:

The first charge was under Section 324 IPC, The second charge was under Section 307 IPC and The last charge was under Section 302 IPC.

2. Gravamen of the charge is that the Government acquired the land belonging to Rayani Satyavathi (hereinafter referred to as ‘deceased’) and awarded a compensation of Rs.25 lakhs; the accused demanded his share and the deceased refused to give the same; on 10.05.2017 at about 9.00 p.m. at Kammarigudem village, Kukkunoor Mandal, the accused quarreled with his elder brother and sister-in-law at their house, beat them with a stick and caused injury to his elder brother on his left hand and also caused bleeding injury to his sister-in-law on the her head and thereafter brother and sister-in-law of accused left the house due to fear; on 11.05.2017 at about 8.00 a.m. the accused picked up quarrel with the deceased, dragged her from the house, beat her with a blunt stick on the head, as a result, she received bleeding injury, and died on the spot, and thereby committed offences punishable under Sections 324, 307 and 302 IPC.

3. After completion of the trial, the learned Additional Sessions Judge convicted the appellant for the offence under Section 302 IPC and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life and also to pay a fine of Rs.500/-, in default, to undergo simple imprisonment for one month. Learned Additional Sessions Judge acquitted the accused of the charges under Section 324 & 307 IPC.

4. Case of the prosecution, briefly, is as follows:

(i) The accused and all the material witnesses are residents of Kammarigudem village, Kukkunuru Mandal. The deceased is paternal aunt of P.W.1, the complainant. P.W.4 is daughter-in-law, and P.W.13 is son of the deceased. An extent of Ac.2-12 kuntas of land belonging to the deceased was acquired by the Government and awarded a compensation of Rs.25 lakhs. The accused raised disputes to give his share of the amount. On 10.05.2017 at about 9.00 p.m., the accused had quarrelled with his elder brother and sister-in-law, beat them with a stick and caused injuries and out of fear, they left the house. On 11.05.2017 at about 8.00 a.m., again the accused had quarrelled with the deceased, dragged her towards the doorstep and beat her with a stick, M.O. 1 on her head. P.Ws.7 to 9 and 11 witnessed the incident. P.W.7 informed P.W.1 about the incident over the phone. Immediately, P.W.1 came to the scene of offence and found the deceased dead. Thereafter, he went to the Kukkunuru Police Station and gave a report.

(ii) P.W.17, the Sub Inspector of Police, who is incharge of Kukkunuru Police Station, after receipt of the report, Ex.P1 from P.W.1, registered a case in Crime No.36 of 2017 under Section 302 IPC. He sent the express FIR to all the concerned. Ex.P9 is printed F.I.R.

(iii) P.W.19, the Inspector of Police, Kukkunuru Police Station, on receipt of information about registration of crime, he along with his staff proceeded to Kammarigudem village. He examined the scene of offence in the presence of P.W.15 and another and prepared a scene observation report-Ex.P4 and rough sketch-Ex.P12 at the scene of offence. He also got photographed the scene of offence through P.W.12. The photographs are marked as Ex.P3. He collected blood-stained earth, controlled earth, M.Os.2 and 3. He held inquest over the dead body of the deceased in the presence of P.W.15 and another. Ex.P5 is the inquest report. During the inquest, he examined P.Ws.1 to 11 an