THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO CRIMINAL APPEAL No.528 of 2008 20-11-2014 BETWEEN:
Kappala Mani Babu @ Mani AND …..Appellant/Accused State of Andhra Pradesh by Public Prosecutor, High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad For the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh.
…..Respondent THIS COURT MADE THE FOLLOWING JUDGMENT:
THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO CRIMINAL APPEAL No.528 of 2008 JUDGMENT:
The Criminal Appeal is preferred by the appellant/accused challenging the Judgment, dated 28.03.2008, in S.C. No.3 of 2008 passed by the VI Additional Sessions Judge (Fast Track Court), East Godavari District, Rajahmundry, whereby the learned Judge convicted the appellant/accused for the offence under Section 335 IPC and accordingly sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of three years.
The case of the prosecution is as follows:-
That five days prior to the occurrence the daughter of the deceased Ramya has been suffering from fever and on that P.W.1 asked Ramya to consume Vepudu Java and Ramya refused to take, on that P.W.1 abused Ramya. On noticing the same, the accused abused P.W.1 and deceased did not interfere though he was present. Later the deceased came to his house and on seeing the same the accused picked up quarrel with P.W.1 and when accused interfered and questioned him as why he was abusing her, an altercation took place between the accused and the deceased and turned into heated exchange of words between them regarding the settlement of accident claim and then the accused slapped the deceased and when deceased went upon accused, the accused caught hold of his jaw and slapped him indiscriminately and pushed him away then the deceased fell down on iron pipes. The accused kicked the deceased on the chest and on the abdomen uttering that he would kill him. When P.Ws.1 to 4 interfered, the accused pushed them and went away. Later, the deceased succumbed to injuries. Basing on the complaint lodged by P.W.1, the police registered the case, investigated and filed charge sheet against the appellant/accused for the offence under Section 302 IPC.
To prove the guilt of the accused, P.Ws.1 to 9 were examined and Exs.P.1 to P.7 were marked on behalf of the prosecution. D.W.1 was examined and Exs.D.1 to D.6 were marked on behalf of the accused.
On appreciation of oral and documentary evidence, the trial Court found the appellant/accused guilty for the offence under Section 335 IPC and convicted and sentenced him as stated above. Aggrieved by the same, the present appeal is preferred by him.
Heard and perused the material available on record.
After evaluating and examining the material available on record and considering the submissions of the learned counsel, this Court is of the view that there are no special or adequate reasons, warranting interference by this Court with the Judgment passed by the trial Court.
At this stage, the learned counsel for the appellant/accused confines his argument with regard to quantum of sentence, and submits that as the appellant/accused is the only breadwinner in his family and he has to lookafter his wife and children, lenient view may be taken by this Court while imposing sentence of imprisonment.
Considering the submissions made by the learned counsel for the appellant/accused, and also in view of long lapse of time, this Court is inclined to take a lenient view.
In the result, the conviction recorded by the trial Court against the appellant/accused for the offence under Section 335 IPC is hereby confirmed. However, this Court, taking a lenient view, modifies and reduces the sentence of imprisonment to the period, which the appellant/accused has already undergone.
The Criminal Appeal is accordingly partly allowed. Consequently, the miscellaneous petitions, if any pending in this appeal, shall stand closed.
JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO 20.11.2014 pln