(Prayer: Criminal Appeal is filed under Section 374(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, to call for records of the impugned judgment made in S.C.No.145 of 2014 dated 25.11.2021 on the file of the learned Mahalir Fast Track Court, Theni and to set aside the same.)

N. Anand venkatesh, J.

1. The sole accused has assailed the judgment passed in S.C.No.145 of 2014 dated 25.11.2021, on the file of the Mahila Fast Track Court, Theni, wherein he was convicted for offence under section 302 of IPC and was sentenced to undergo life imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000/-, and in default, to undergo one year simple imprisonment.

2. The case of the prosecution is that on 06.05.2014, at about 10:20 a.m., while the deceased, who was the wife of the accused person, was on her way to the computer centre, the accused person is said to have attacked her repeatedly with sickle (MO1) and ultimately the deceased succumbed to the injuries.

3. PW1, who is the mother of the deceased, gave a complaint (Ex.P1) to PW13, on 06.05.2014 at about 11:45 a.m., based on which an FIR (Ex.P5) came to be registered in Crime No.185 of 2014 for offence under section 302 of IPC.

4. PW16 took up the investigation and he went to the scene of crime at about 12:45 p.m. and prepared the observation mahazar (Ex.P6) and the rough sketch (Ex.P7). He seized MO3 and MO4 under Athatchi (Ex.P8). He recorded the statements of witnesses under section 161(3) of Cr.P.C. At about 2:00 p.m., he went to the mortuary at Government Hospital, Bodinayakanur, and conducted the inquest and prepared the inquest report (Ex.P9). The accused person was arrested at about 4:00 p.m., and based on his confession recorded in the presence of witnesses, MO1 and MO2 were recovered under Athatchi (Ex.P3). The accused person was produced before the concerned court and he was remanded to judicial custody. Before that clothes of the accused person (MO5) were seized and sent to the Court under Form 95. The clothes worn by the deceased were collected (MO6 and MO7). The Investigation Officer also collected MO8 and MO9, which are the clothes of the son of the deceased.

5. The postmortem was conducted by PW9 and the autopsy report was marked as Ex.P2, wherein the following injuries were recorded:

                     “External Examination

                     (1) Deep lacerated cut injury in the neck from the skin up to the vertebral of length, around 16cm extending from postcier head of sternocleidomastoid on the right side. Crossing midline in the haps of the neck upto 4 cm into the left side from the midline muscle, blood vessels exposed and cut. Vertebrae fractured. Spinal cord cut. Blood vessels cut.

                     (2) 4cm laceration present in the back of left shoulder near the above injury.

                     (3) Deep lacerated cut injury in the left palm around 10 cm length. Muscles and tendons exposed. The 4th and 5th metacarpal bones fractured.

                     (4) Deep cut injury in the left shoulder around 8cm cut.

                     (5) Three deep lacerated cut injuries, around 4 cm each length, present on the left forearm.

                     (6) 10 × 2 cm deep lacerated injury one just left to midline in the rectal region.

                     (7) 6x2 cm deep laceration in the left occipital and 5x21m in the left occipital region.

                     Internal Examination

                     Findings of the injuries 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, are confirmed.

                     (8) 6 cms length skull fracture measuring in the left parietal region.

                     (9) 4 cm length fracture in the 2 and 3 occipital region.

                     (10) Brain: Normal.

                     (11) Uterus: Distended. Dissection showed a female fetus of around 22–24 weeks gestational age with placenta intact.

                     (12) Lungs, kidneys, liver, spleen: Congested.

                     (13) Stomach: Contains undigested food.

                     Opinion as to Cause of Death

                     Hemorrhagic shock secondary to injury to the major blood vessels of the neck and vital organs, (spinal cord) around 6 to 7 hours prior to autopsy.”

6. As per the final opinion, the deceased would appear to have died of hemorrhagic shock secondary to injury to the major blood vessels of the neck and vital organs.

7. The Investigation Officer collected the postmortem report, biological report and serological report and after completion of recording of statements of all witnesses under section 161(3) of Cr.P.C., the charge sheet was filed before the District Munsif cum Judicial Magistrate, Bodinayakanur, which was taken on file in PRC No.15 of 2014. After service of copies under Section 207 of CrPC., the case was committed and made over to the file of the Mahila Fast Tract Court, Theni, which was taken on file in SC.No.145 of 2014.

8. The trial court framed charge under Section 302 of IPC and the accused on being questioned, denied the charge.

9. The prosecution examined PW1 to PW16 and marked Exhibits P1 to P12, besides MO1 to MO10.

10. Aggravating circumstances and evidence were put to the accused person when he was questioned under section 313 of Cr.P.C. and he denied the same as false.

11. The accused person did not examine any witnesses nor did he rely upon any document.

12. The trial Court, on considering the facts and circumstances of the case, came to the conclusion that the prosecution has proved the case beyond reasonable doubts and accordingly, convicted and sentenced the accused person in the manner stated supra. Aggrieved by the same, the present criminal appeal has been filed.

13. This Court has carefully considered the submissions made on either side and the materials available on record.

14. In the case in hand, the prosecution has relied upon the eyewitness account of PW1 to PW4, PW6, PW8 and PW15.

15. PW1 is the mother of the deceased. She has spoken about the matrimonial dispute between the deceased and the accused person. She graphically describes the manner in which the accused person attacked the deceased with MO1 repeatedly.

16. PW2 is the sister of the deceased and she has also explained the matrimonial dispute and the manner in which the deceased was repeatedly attacked by the accused person. Insofar as PW3 and PW4 are concerned, they are third-party eyewitnesses who also describe the incident in the same manner in which PW1 and PW2 had deposed. So is the deposition of PW6, PW8, and PW15.

17. For some strange reasons, the accused person in this case, in spite of being repeatedly informed by the Court that he is entitled for assistance from legal aid if he is not able to engage a counsel, has chosen to conduct the case by himself. As a result, the eyewitness account of the witnesses was not able to be discredited during cross-examination.

18. In order to ascertain as to whether the trial Court had informed the accused person about his right for legal assistance, this Court went through the entire original records. Right from the year 2019 onwards, the accused person was repeatedly informed that legal aid counsel will be appointed. However, every time when a legal aid counsel was appointed, the accused person disengaged him. The trial Court, in its judgment, has explained this fact as follows:





19. The learned counsel for the appellant relied upon the judgment of the Apex Court in Ashok v. State of Uttar Pradesh, in Criminal Appeal No.771 of 2024, dated 02.12.2024 and specifically relied upon the following paragraphs:

                     “e. An accused who is not represented by an advocate is entitled to free legal aid at all material stages starting from remand. Every accused has the right to get legal aid, even to file bail petitions;

                     f. At all material stages, including the stage of framing the charge, recording the evidence, etc., it is the duty of the Court to make the accused aware of his right to get free legal aid. If the accused expresses that he needs legal aid, the Trial Court must ensure that a legal aid advocate is appointed to represent the accused;

                     g. As held in the case of Anokhilal, in all the cases where there is a possibility of a life sentence or death sentence, only those learned advocates who have put in a minimum of ten years of practice on the criminal side should be considered to be appointed as amicus curiae or as a legal aid advocate. Even in the cases not covered by the categories mentioned above, the accused is entitled to a legal aid advocate who has good knowledge of the law and has an experience of conducting trials on the criminal side. It would be ideal if the Legal Services Authorities at all levels give proper training to the newly appointed legal aid advocates not only by conducting lectures but also by allowing the newly appointed legal aid advocates to work with senior members of the Bar in a requisite number of trials.”

20. It is clear from the above guidelines given from the Apex Court that the accused person, more particularly in a case involving graver offences, must be informed that he or she is entitled for free legal aid at all stages starting from remand. When such an offer is made to an accused person, he must express his willingness to get the assistance of the legal aid counsel. If the accused person intentionally refuses legal assistance, the Court cannot thrust upon him an advocate and embarrass that advocate, who will ultimately get insulted by the accused person.

21. In the case in hand, the accused person was provided with the assistance of at least five learned advocates and if the accused person submits before the Court that he will not engage their services, the accused person has to blame himself for such conduct and that is the reason why the trial Court has observed that the accused person did not cooperate and therefore, in spite of all efforts made to engage legal aid counsel at various stages of the case, the accused person was rejecting it and at times filed memo stating that he will conduct his case and does not require the assistance of an advocate.

22. In the light of the above discussion, this Court holds that various attempts were made to provide legal aid counsel to the accused person and he intentionally refused to engage their services and he wanted to conduct the case on his own. Therefore, it cannot be said that the accused person was deprived of legal assistance, as is attempted to be projected on the side of the appellant.

23. The eyewitness account of all the witnesses substantially establishes that it is the accused person who had attacked his wife brutally and done her to death. This ocular evidence is corroborated by the medical evidence of the postmortem doctor and the autopsy report, which records the nature of injuries sustained by the deceased.

24. The incident had taken place on 06.05.2014 at about 10:20 a.m., and the complaint was received from PW1 at 11:45 a.m., and the express FIR reached the Court on the same day at 4.00 p.m. The statements of the eyewitnesses recorded under section 161(3) Cr.P.C. also reached the Court at the earliest point of time. Therefore, there is no question of deliberation or exaggeration in the eyewitness account regarding the incident.

25. Apart from the above, MO1 was recovered and it was ascertained from the postmortem doctor that the injuries sustained by the deceased is capable of being inflicted with the said weapon. MO1 was also been identified by the eyewitnesses.

26. The serological report marked as Ex.P12 also confirms that blood was detected in all the material objects, which were stained with blood and it matched with the blood group of the deceased.

27. In the light of the above discussion, this Court has absolutely no hesitation to hold that the prosecution has proved the case beyond reasonable doubts and the trial Court has properly appreciated the evidence and has come to the right conclusion. Consequently, the conviction and sentence imposed by the trial Court deserves to be confirmed and this criminal appeal stands dismissed.