1981 (3) TMI 268

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.... under Section 302 aforesaid, with a finding that it was committed in furtherance of the common intention of them both. 2. The prosecution case may be stated thus. The two appellants harboured feelings of animosity against the deceased Janardhana Kurup, who was irrigating his field at 8.30 p. m. on 8th December, 1975. The deceased was irrigating his field when the two appellants who are father and son to each other arrived there. The father remonstrated with the deceased accusing the latter of diverting irrigation water from the field of the appellants and caught hold of the deceased from his hands while the son whipped out a knife and gave three blows therewith to the unfortunate victim before the two assailants made good their escape. ....

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....n report (Ex-P. 1) a quarrel between the accused and the deceased was mentioned as having taken place prior to the stabbing. That quarrel is a concoction as Kuttun Pillai (P.W. 1) has gone back on it in the witness-box. (ii) In the first information report (Ex-P. 1) Balakrishna Pillai (P.W. 3) and Ramesan (P.W. 4) are labelled as eye-witnesses-a stand which has been falsified at the evidence stage. (iii) In Ex-P. 1, Kuttun Pillai (P.W. 1) took the position that appellant No. 2 (the father) had "completely embraced" the deceased but at the trial all that the witnesses said was that the father had held the deceased by his hands. (iv) Three blows with the knife were ascribed to appellant No. 1 (the son) at the invest....

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.... not go into a detailed discussion of the evidence or the arguments raised by the learned Counsel for the appellants but would only briefly deal with the same. 7. It is undisputed that some bad blood existed between the deceased on the one hand and the appellants on the other prior to the occurrence. The animosity may not have been very bitter but then it is too much to say that it could not possibly form a motive for the occurrence. The variation in human nature being so vast, murders are known to have been actuated by much lesser motives. In any case, it is not a sine qua non for the success of the prosecution that the motive must be proved. So long as the other evidence re mains convincing and is not open to reasonable doubt, a convic....

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....tal while the deceased was still alive but fighting a losing battle. The criticism that the report was delayed by 12 hours does not detract from the corroborated value of the first information report in the circumstances then prevailing. Vijayan (P.W. 2) and his friends must have been under shock for quite some time after the occurrence and then, as already stated, their chief concern must have been to save the life of the victim. It would not be surprising, therefore, that none of them cared to go to the police station and report the matter for legal action against the culprits. The first information report, in this view of the matter, was made as promptly as it could be expected and furnishes on that account good corroboration of the test....