Faizan Uddin, J. - (1.) This Criminal Appeal under Section 2-A of the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, 1970 has been directed against the reversing judgment of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh passed in Criminal Appeal No. 324 / 1985 setting aside the order of acquittal of the appellant dated 31-10-84 for an offence under Section 302 of the I.P.C., recorded by the Sessions Judge, East Godawari Division at Rajahmundry in Sessions Case No. 50 / 1984. By the said judgment the High Court convicted the appellant under Section 302 of the Penal Code and sentenced him to undergo life imprisonment.
(2.) The prosecution case was that the deceased-girl Seelam Nageswari aged about 16 years was residing with her parents in the eastern portion of the house situated in Kondawari Lane belonging to Smt. Mathineni Guramma, the mother-in-law of the accused-appellant. The said portion of the house was obtained by the parents of the deceased-girl on a monthly rent of Rs.120/- about four months prior to the occurrence and the landlady was demanding higher rent at the rate of Rs. 150/- per month. It is said that in the morning of 4-2-1984 Smt. Seelam Narasayamma, PW 1 w/o Venkateshwarlu, PW 9, the mother of the deceased-girl sent Rs. 120/- towards the house-rent for the month of January, 1984 through her son Srinivasarao, PW 3 to the (landlady), the mother-in-law of the appellant but she declined to receive the same saying that the rent was enhanced to Rs. 150/- and, therefore, Rs. 30/- more should be paid. In the afternoon when Venkateswarlu, PW 9, the husband of PW 1 came home he was informed that the landlady had not accepted Rs. 120/- as rent for January, 1984 and was demanding enhanced rent at the rate of Rs. 150/- per month. The same day at about 8.00 p.m. the landlady Guramma and her daughter Sitalakshmi, the wife of the accused-appellant came to the house of PW 1 and demanded the rent at the rate of Rs. 150/- and both of them are said to have abused the family members of PW 1, Seelam Narasayamma who requested them not to abuse and wait till the return of her husband to the house as she was not having the money to pay. At that point of time the deceased-Nageswari was stitching fall to a saree sitting in the backyard of the tenanted house. In the meanwhile the appellant also arrived there and started showering abuses in raised voice and demanded the immediate payment of rent at Rs. 150/- even without waiting the return of the husband of Seelam Narasayamma, PW 1. The appellant also threatened to remove their household articles and threw them in the Bazar and remove the tiles of the portion of the house occupied by him. Saying so the appellant went to the backyard of the house through the eastern lane while the landlady and her daughter-in-law continued to abuse PW 1 and her family members standing in front of the house. PW 1 heard the cries of her deceased daughter, Nageswari from the backyard. On hearing her cries, PW 1, Seelam Narasayamma, PW 2 Venkateswari, another daughter elder to the deceased as well as her son Srinivasarao, PW 3 rushed to the backyard through eastern lane which is said to be more convenient to reach to the backyard and found the deceased in flames. In the meanwhile the appellant rushed back and pushing them aside and went away. They poured water on Nageswari and extinguished the fire. They questioned Nageswari who was conscious as to what had happened, to which she stated that the appellant came there abusing and when he was about to remove the articles to throw them away, she obstructed him to do so and then the appellant went into the kitchen, brought a kerosene tin, and poured it on her body and set fire to her with a match-stick. Venkateshwarlu (Venkateswari) PW 2 the elder sister of the deceased and her brother Srinivasarao, PW 3 went to the Police Station to report the incident. On receiving the information, Head Constable, G. V. Raman PW 16 came to the place of occurrence and recorded the statement Ext. P5 of injured Nageswari. As Nageswari was not in a position to sign due to burn injuries and Head Constable, PW 16 obtained her thumb impression on Ext. P5 which was attested by Seelam Apparao, PW 7 and Palika Apparao, PW 8 who were present at the time of recording the statement Ext. P5. The Head Constable, PW 16 then sent the injured Nageswari to the Government Hospital, Rajahmundry for treatment and registering the crime against the appellant.
(3.) Dr. K. Ramalingeswara Rao, PW 13 admitted the injured Nageswari in the hospital and gave the treatment for her burn injuries. Dr. Ramalingeswara Rao, PW 13 is also said to have recorded the statement of Nageswari which was marked as Ext. P11. On receiving the First Information Report the Assistant Sub-Inspector, M. Koteswararao, PW 17 also reached the hospital where he recorded the statement Ext. P16 of the injured Nageswari under Section 161 of the Cr. P. C. He also examined Seelam Narasayamma. PW 1, Venkateshwari, PW 2 and Srinivasarao, PW 3 as well as PWs 4 to 9 under Section 161, Cr. P. C. The injured Nageswari died in the hospital next day in the morning.;