- (1.)The accused - appellant has been held guilty of an offence punishable under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment by the court of additional sessions judge, hindupur. An appeal preferred by him before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh has been dismissed upholding the conviction and sentence. The accused -appellant has preferred this appeal by special leave.
(2.)Shorn of details, briefly stated the prosecution case is that deceased -Harijana Rangamma was the sister of the accused. She had love affair with harijana Obulesu (PW 2) and they married each other which was not to the liking of the accused and his family members. This led to the holding of a village panchayat on the next day of the marriage. At the village panchayat relatives of both the sides and the eldermen of the village were present and participated. The panchayat resolved in favour of the marriage and allowed the same to be registered. At the end of the panchayat the accused expressed his desire of talking to the deceased and saying so took her away at a distance of about 30-50 feet from the place where the panchayat was being held. There, below a tamarind tree the accused had some talk with the deceased and then he took out a knife and dealt multiple blows. fourteen in number on the body of the deceased. These multiple blows resulted in several incised wounds spread over different parts of the body of the victim. One of the injuries was an incised wound of 2"x1" muscle deep over the back over the spinal cord at the level of T-10 vertically. This injury, as the post-mortem report reveals, caused fracture on 5th rib and laceration of 1" x 1/4" over the-left ventricle of the heart and proved fatal the deceased succumbed to the injuries and soon died.
(3.)The village people who were holding the village panchayat, on hearing the shouts of the deceased, chased the accused and caught hold of him along with the blood stained knife. The accused was tied to the tamarind tree with the help of a rope. The incident was reported to the police. An offence under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code was registered and investigation commenced The body of the deceased was sent for postmortem examination where fourteen injuries including the internal injury, as already stated hereinabove were found by Dr. B. Rajasekhara Babu. C. I. S (PW 6). In the opinion of the doctor all the injuries could have been caused by the knife which was seized from the accused. Injury no. 13 was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.