K.V. Viswanathan, J.

1. The present Appeal arises out of the judgment of a Division Bench of the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam in D.S.R. No. 4 of 2007 and Criminal Appeal No. 1620 of 2007 dated 09.02.2010. The Death Sentence Reference and the Criminal Appeal arose out of the judgment of the Court of the III Additional Sessions Judge (Adhoc), Fast Digitally signed by satish kumar yadav Date: 2024.03.18 17:52:51 IST Reason:

Signature Not Verified Track Court No. 1, Thrissur in Sessions Case No. 491 of

2006.

2. The trial Court found the appellant (the sole accused) guilty for the offences punishable under Sections 302 and 449 IPC for having committed the murder of Latha (aged 39 years), Ramachandran (aged 45 years), Chitra (aged 11 years) and Karthiayani Amma (aged 80 years) after committing house-trespass. After committing the above said act, the accused attempted to commit suicide for which he was also found guilty under Section 309 IPC. The trial Court sentenced the accused to death for the offence punishable under Section 302 IPC. For the offence under Section 449 IPC, the accused was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for five years and to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/- and, in default, to undergo simple imprisonment for six months. The accused was also sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for two months and to pay a fine of Rs.500/- for the offence under Section 309 IPC, and in default of the payment of fine to undergo simple imprisonment for one month.

3. When the matter went for confirmation before the High Court, the High Court, while confirming the conviction, modified the sentence. The sentence of death was modified and reduced to imprisonment for life with a further direction that the accused shall not be released from prison for a period of 30 (thirty) years including the period already undergone with set off under Section 428 Cr.P.C. alone. Aggrieved, the appellant is before us in the present appeal by way of special leave.

Brief Facts:

4. The prosecution story, in brief, is that in the household of the deceased Ramachandran, there were four people residing. Apart from Ramachandran, there was his wife Latha, their daughter Chitra and Ramachandran’s mother Karthiayani Amma. The appellant, according to the prosecution, had, at an earlier point in time, illicit intimacy with Latha so much so that Latha even became pregnant, later leading to termination of pregnancy. It is the prosecution case that after Latha tried to distance herself, the appellant was seriously aggrieved, and they advert to an occurrence of 03.02.2005 when the appellant is supposed to have trespassed into the house where Latha lived and even tried to harm her. They rely on Ext. P-9 to Ext.P-11 complaints.

5. The macabre incident, out of which the present case arose, happened on the night intervening 03.11.2005 and 04.11.2005. It is alleged that the accused reached the house of the deceased late at night on 03.11.2005. Having reached the house, he made a hole in the eastern side wall of the house and gained access into the house. It is the prosecution case that, having gained access and being armed with 2 (two) knives and an iron rod, he caused the death of Ramachandran and Chitra with the iron rod in the upper floor room in the northern side of the house; that he caused serious injuries to Karthiayani Amma in the northern room on the ground floor (resulting in her death subsequently) and caused the death of Latha with multiple stab injuries in the hall near the stairs on the ground floor.

6. The prosecution case is that PW-1 Thankamani, the domestic help, who had seen the family hale and hearty the previous evening i.e., 03.11.2005, had come to sweep the house on the morning of 04.11.2005 at around 07:00 a.m. While sweeping the courtyard, she found that, unlike on normal days when the family would come out of the house in the morning, no one came out that day. While sweeping, she found that a hol