BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT

DATED : 20.11.2025

CORAM :

THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE P.VELMURUGAN

and

THE HONOURABLE MRS.JUSTICE L.VICTORIA GOWRI

Crl.A(MD)No.28 of 2022

1. Suresh @ Mari Suresh

2. Durairaj ... Appellants/A2 & A3

vs.

State Represented through

The Inspector of Police,

V.K.Puram Police Station,

Tirunelveli District.

(Crime No.255/2016) ... Respondent

Prayer:- This Criminal Appeal filed under Section 374(2) of the

Criminal Procedure Code, to call for the records and set aside the conviction and sentence imposed by the learned III Additional Sessions

Court, Tirunelveli, in S.C.No.655 of 2016 dated 23.12.2021.

For Appellants : Mr.R.Karunanidhi

For Respondent : Mr.B.Nambi Selvan

Additional Public Prosecutor

JUDGMENT

(Judgment of the Court was made by P.VELMURUAN, J.

This Criminal Appeal has been filed by the appellants/A2 & A3 to call for the records and set aside the conviction and sentence imposed by the learned III Additional Sessions Court, Tirunelveli, in S.C.No.655 of 2016 dated 23.12.2021.

2. The case of the prosecution is that the defacto complainant who was cited as LW1 in the charge sheet (hereinafter referred to as LW1) has three sons namely, Selvam, Kumar and Somu. Father-in-law of LW1 executed a sale deed in favour of his daughter i.e., wife of LW1 namely, Duraichi in respect of 8½ cents, out of which, the first son of LW1 built a house in 2½ cents of land, the second son built a house in 2 cents of land and LW1 built two houses in the balance 4 cents of land. Patta has been granted for the said 4 cents of land in favour of LW1's wife Duraichi. A1 who was Brother of Duraichi prepared a bogus sale deed for the above said 4 cents that stand in the name of Duraichi in favour of LW1's second son Kumar. LW1's first son Selvam came from foreign, heard about the above said bogus sale deed and complained before the elders in the village on 11.10.2015. They compromised both the parties and directed the accused to file rectification deed to register the 4 cents in favour of Duraichi. In continuation of which, on 11.10.2015 at 08.00 p.m., A1 came in front of the house of LW1 and called Selvam. When Selvam, LW1 and his wife Duraichi/PW1 came out of the house, all the accused stood in front of the house. A1 scolded Selvam for having abused him before the village elders and attacked Selvam with a knife on his left waist and left chest. A3 also attacked Selvam with a knife on his left hand shoulder, left chest and left eyebrow. On seeing this incident, PW1-Duraichi alarmed and A1 attacked her with a knife on her left side stomach. When LW1 attempted to prevent the said attack, A1 attacked on LW1's left cheek and when LW1 prevented himself from the attack of A1 by his hands, a cut injury was caused to his hands. A4 also attacked PW1 and Selvam with a stick. A5 and A6 also attacked LW1 with a stick on his backside and also attacked his wife/PW1. Immediately after the incident, Selvam was brought to the Government Hospital, Ambasamudram, where he was declared dead and both LW1 and his wife/PW1 were admitted as inpatients for treatment. On the complaint of LW1, the respondent/police registered a case against all the accused in Crime No.255/2015 for the offences under Sections 147, 148, 294(b), 323, 324, 307 and 302 IPC. After investigation, the respondent/police laid charge sheet before the Judicial Magistrate Court, Ambasamudram, and the same was taken on file in PRC.No.16 of 2016. After completing the formalities, the learned Magistrate committed the case to the Court of Session, since the offences are exclusively triable by the Court of Session. The learned Principal Sessions Judge has taken the above case on file in S.C.No.655 of 2016 and made over the case to the III Additional Sessions Court, Tirunelveli, which framed the charges against A1 to A6 for the commission of offence under Sections 148 and 294(b) IPC, against A1 to A3 for the commission of the offence under Section 302 IPC, against A4 to A6 for the commission of th