Mitter, J. - (1.) The appellant, Sundaram, was tried upon a charge under Section 303 of the Indian Penal Code by the learned Sessions Judge of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, without the aid of a jury. The learned Judge found the appellant guilty of the offence and sentenced him to death.
(2.) The prosecution case was that the appellant had been previously convicted of an offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment. While in jail, serving the sentence, the appellant often fell ill and frequently complained of divers ailments, fie also complained of insufficient medical attention. On August 12, 1955, the District Magistrate visited the jail and made the following remarks in the Visitors' Book : "Life convict, Sundaram, complains of pain in the head and chest. The Superintendent, Cellular Jail, says that nothing physically wrong could be detected, but appears to be a case of neurosis," In the early morning of August 14, 1955, the appellant along with certain convicts were put to work in the jail premises. While the appellant and some of these convicts were engaged in work allotted to them, the appellant suddenly, and apparently for no reason at all, struck convict Velu violently with a spade on the head and thereafter on the temple. At the time Velu was also working. Someone shouted "Sundaram Velu Ko Mar Dala", When the appellant was caught hold of, he let go the spade. As the appellant was still resisting arrest, a warder, by name Ganga Prasad, gave him a lathi blow, whereupon the appellant said "Hum Velu Ko Mar Deeya Hum Ko Maro". Velu died the same day of the head injuries sustained by the blow which the appellant had given him.
(3.) The investigation which followed ended with a charge-sheet against the appellant being laid on December 23, 1955, but he could not be brought to trial until July, 1956, as, in the opinion of the doctors who had examined him from time to time, he had been of unsound mind and thus incapable of making his defence.;