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Chathu @ Alakkadan Chathu vs State Of Kerala
2026 Latest Caselaw 833 Ker

Citation : 2026 Latest Caselaw 833 Ker
Judgement Date : 29 January, 2026

[Cites 19, Cited by 0]

Kerala High Court

Chathu @ Alakkadan Chathu vs State Of Kerala on 29 January, 2026

Author: A.K.Jayasankaran Nambiar
Bench: A.K.Jayasankaran Nambiar
                                                         2026:KER:7071

             IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM

                                PRESENT

        THE HONOURABLE DR. JUSTICE A.K.JAYASANKARAN NAMBIAR

                                   &

             THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE JOBIN SEBASTIAN

      THURSDAY, THE 29TH DAY OF JANUARY 2026/9TH MAGHA, 1947

                          CRL.A.NO.553 OF 2019
             CRIME NO.199/2010 OF PANUR POLICE STATION, KANNUR
      AGAINST THE JUDGMENT DATED 28/03/2019 IN S.C.NO.451 OF 2011
              OF ADDITIONAL SESSIONS JUDGE - II, THALASSERY



APPELLANT/ACCUSED:

           CHATHU @ ALAKKADAN CHATHU,
           AGED 67 YEARS
           S/O.KRISHNAN, PUTHALATHUKUNYIL HOUSE,
           PUTHOOR AMSOM, EAST CHENDAYADU, KANNUR.

           BY ADV.SRI.M.P.MADHAVANKUTTY
           BY ADV.SRI.MATHEW DEVASSI
           BY ADV.SMT.ANGEL GYLES LIKE
           BY ADV.SMT.PARVATHY R.


RESPONDENT/COMPLAINANT:

           STATE OF KERALA,
           REPRESENTED BY THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR,
           HIGH COURT OF KERALA, ERNAKULAM - 682 031.

           BY SRI.S.U.NAZAR, SPECIAL PUBLIC PROSECUTOR
           BY SRI.T.R.RENJITH, SENIOR PUBLIC PROSECUTOR
           BY SRI.K.A.ANAS, PUBLIC PROSECUTOR
           BY ADV.SRI.VISHNU CHANDRAN


         THIS CRIMINAL APPEAL HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON
   22.01.2026, THE COURT ON 29.01.2026 DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
 Crl.A.No.553/2019                          :: 2 ::




                                                                        2026:KER:7071



                                                                              'C.R.'
                                   JUDGMENT

Dr. A.K.Jayasankaran Nambiar, J.

The sole accused in Crime No.199 of 2010 of Panoor Police Station is the

appellant before us aggrieved by the judgment dated 28.03.2019 of the

Additional Sessions Judge-II, Thalassery in S.C.No.451 of 2011.

The Prosecution case:

2. The case of the prosecution is that at about 06.30 a.m. on 18.03.2010,

the accused committed the murder of one Vasu, son of Kunhiraman

[hereinafter referred to as the "deceased"] by intentionally inflicting fatal

injuries on him using a billhook. The motive for the murder was apparently to

settle scores with the deceased on account of a property dispute that was

subsisting between the accused and the deceased. The deceased died on the

spot within a short while after the infliction of the fatal injuries.

The investigation and trial:

3. The investigation commenced with the registration of Crime No.199

of 2010 of Panoor Police Station, and on its culmination, the final report was

laid before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Thalassery in C.P.No.6 of

2011. The appellant/accused appeared before the Additional Chief Judicial

Magistrate, Thalassery, when he was furnished with copies of all the relevant

prosecution records. Thereafter, on complying with the other procedural Crl.A.No.553/2019 :: 3 ::

2026:KER:7071

formalities, the learned Magistrate committed the case to the Court of

Sessions, Thalassery, from where it was made over to the Additional Sessions

Judge-II, Thalassery for trial. On the appearance of the appellant/accused

before the trial court, the charges framed against him were read over and

explained to him, to which he pleaded not guilty. He was thereafter released

on bail.

4. In the trial that followed, the prosecution examined PWs.1 to 20 and

marked Exts.P1 to P25. MOs.1 to 21 were also identified. On the side of the

defence, Exts.D1 to D8 were marked albeit through the prosecution witnesses.

Exts.D3 to D5 and D8 are contradictions in the statement of prosecution

witnesses marked under Section 162 of the Code of Criminal Procedure

[hereinafter referred to as the "Cr.P.C."]. On closure of the prosecution

evidence, the accused was examined under Section 313 of the Cr.P.C. when he

denied the incriminating circumstances put to him and reiterated his plea of

innocence. In an additional statement that was filed by him, he stated as

follows:

"A suit was filed by deceased Vasu, his mother and sister against him as O.S.342/1991 to restrain him from trespassing to the property from where the alleged incident took place. An application for interim injunction filed in the said suit as I.A.2308/1991 claiming title and possession of deceased and others in the said property and seeking injunction to restrain him from trespassing to the said property was dismissed by the court. He stated that in 1999, O.S.342/1991 happened to be decreed against him, challenging which AS 538/1999 was filed by him before the Honourable High Court of Kerala, along with an application for stay of operation of the decree in O.S.342/1991. It is stated that, the Honourable High Court was pleased to stay the operation of decree till disposal of the appeal. He stated further that, A.S.538/1999 was decreed by the Honourable High Court, by setting aside the decree and judgment in O.S.342/1991 and by remanding the matter to the court below for fresh consideration. According to him, accordingly the suit was tried afresh and decreed in his favour by recognizing his rights and possession over the suit property. So his contention was that, the suit property was throughout in his ownership and possession. He contended that, he was Crl.A.No.553/2019 :: 4 ::

2026:KER:7071

taking usufructs from the property and the deceased was never in possession and enjoyment of the same. It is stated that, on the date of incident by about 06.00 a.m when he reached the property with a bucket for collecting cashew nuts, the deceased trespassed to the property, restrained him, broken the bucket and attacked him with the billhook possessed by the deceased. It is stated that, in a scuffle, his spectacles, chappals and tiffin box were thrown and he ran away from the scene of occurrence to save his life. He stated that, while he was running away from the scene of occurrence he had seen some persons coming to the scene of occurrence with whom the deceased had altercation whereby the deceased sustained grievous hurt. According to him, the henchmen of one Gangadharan who entertained illwill and rivalry towards the deceased have so attacked the deceased. He stated further that, after the incident the associates of the deceased and activists of Congress party reached his house and threatened to kill him, on knowing which, he fled from there. He stated that, he sustained injuries in the scuffle taken place with the deceased, which were healed on treatment done by himself. It is stated that, after leaving the place for some days he surrendered before the police. He blamed the investigating officer for falsely creating evidence to foist this case against him. According to him, the witnesses are all interested persons. It is stated that, the property in RS 151/1 owned by him was entrusted by the deceased and his cousin Chandri to Gangadharan for conducting quarry. According to him, while the said entrustment was subsisting, the deceased and his cousin Chandri again entrusted the rights to conduct quarry to one George @ Thankachan. His case was that, on account of this there was dispute between deceased and George on one side and Gangadharan on the other side. He stated that, subsequently he filed a writ petition before the Honourable High court seeking a revisit in the matter of permission to conduct quarry given by deceased and cousin, due to which, the deceased and George are having illwill towards him. According to him, the investigating officer of the case also was party to the said writ petition. He asserted that, except making an attempt to escape from attack as part of a self defence, he has not committed any offence as alleged by the prosecution.

5. The trial court then considered the matter under Section 232 of the

Cr.P.C and finding no ground to acquit the appellant/accused at that stage,

called upon the appellant/accused to enter his defence and to produce such

evidence as he might have in support of the defence. The defence then marked

Exts.D9 to D14 in addition to Exts.D1 to D8 that had already been marked

through the prosecution witnesses. On conclusion of the defence evidence, the

arguments of the Prosecutor and defence counsel were heard and a finding of

conviction entered against the appellant/accused under Section 302 of the

Indian Penal Code [hereinafter referred to as the "IPC"]. The

appellant/accused was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life

and to pay fine of Rs.50,000/-, in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for

a further period of one year. It is further directed that if the fine is recovered, Crl.A.No.553/2019 :: 5 ::

2026:KER:7071

it should be paid to PW2 Bincy, the daughter of the deceased, in terms of

Section 357(1)(b) of the Cr.P.C. Set off as eligible under Section 428 of the

Cr.P.C was also allowed.

6. In the appeal before us, we have heard Sri.M.P.Madhavankutty on

behalf of the appellant/accused and Sri.T.R.Renjith, the learned Public

Prosecutor on behalf of the respondent/State. We have also meticulously gone

through the evidence on record as also the precedents relied upon by counsel

on either side.

Discussion and finding:

7. At the outset, we might observe that this is a case where the trial

court convicted the appellant/accused under Section 302 IPC based entirely on

the ocular evidence of PW2 Bincy which it found to be credible and

unimpeachable. She is the daughter of the deceased, and during her

examination before the trial court, she stated that, on 18.03.2010 by about

5.30-6.00 a.m, after waking her up to study, her father went to the nearby

property for collecting cashew nuts. Thereafter, by about 6.30 a.m while she

was standing in the courtyard, brushing her teeth, she heard a scream from

the property and rushed to the said place. She then saw the accused

repeatedly inflicting injuries on her father using a billhook. According to her,

after causing an injury on the right leg of her father, the accused ran away

from there by shouting to her that, he had 'finished' her father ("നിൻ്റെ

അച്ഛനെ ഞാൻ ശരിയാക്കിയിട്ടുണ്ട്"). She went on to state that, when she Crl.A.No.553/2019 :: 6 ::

2026:KER:7071

approached her father and saw the injuries on his head and legs, she

supported him and laid him down with his head on her lap. At that time, her

father told her that it was the accused who had inflicted injuries on him. She

further deposed that when her neighbours Anitha (PW3) and Shaji reached

there she told them about the acts committed by the accused; that some other

persons also reached there and one Kumaran attempted to give some water to

her father, which he could not drink and that was when she understood that

her father had died. She went on to depose that thereafter she fell

unconscious and regained consciousness from the house of her neighbour

Kalliyani; that after regaining consciousness she disclosed the facts to PW1.

She also deposed about the property dispute between her deceased father and

the accused. According to her, the suit was decreed in favour of her deceased

father and the accused, who got infuriated, had proclaimed that her deceased

father would not be allowed to enjoy the property. She also identified the

accused, who is related to her, and MO1 billhook that was used by him for

inflicting injuries on her deceased father. The dress worn by the accused at the

time of the occurrence, which was seized by the police during investigation

was also identified by her as MO's 2 and 3. The billhook carried by her

deceased father when he went for collecting cashew nuts was identified

through her as MO5. The shirt worn by her deceased father at the time of the

incident was identified as MO4 and the lungi worn by him was identified as

MO6. MO7 and MO8 were identified as broken pieces of bucket carried by her

deceased father while collecting cashew nuts. The shoes worn by her

deceased father were identified as MO9 (a) and (b) and the belt as MO10. The

top and bottom of the blood stained churidar worn by her at that time when Crl.A.No.553/2019 :: 7 ::

2026:KER:7071

she had placed her deceased father's head on her lap were identified as MO's

11 and 12.

8. PW2's testimony stood corroborated in all material particulars by the

testimonies of PW1 Raveendran, PW3 Anitha and PW6 Ratheeshan. Her

description of the injuries inflicted by the appellant/accused on her father also

stands corroborated by the medical evidence on record, as spoken to by PW16

Dr.S.Gopalakrishna Pillai through whom Ext.P10 postmortem report was

marked. The ante-mortem injuries noticed by PW16 Dr.S.Gopalakrishna Pillai

are as given below, and when read together with his opinion that they could

have been caused by MO1 billhook and further, that the deceased died on

account of the bleeding that resulted from those injuries, would suffice to

support a finding that the death of the deceased was homicidal in nature and a

murder as defined under the IPC:

(1) Incised wound (with marginal contusion), 8.5 x 1 cm obliquely placed on the left side of head, the front lower end being 2 cm above the left ear. A chip of bone, 2.5 x 1 cm, was found cut away from the bone underneath.

(2) Incised wound 3 x 0.5 cm on the front of head, 8 cm above the left eyebrow.

(3) Superficial incised wound 4 x 1 cm, raising a skin flap on the head, 1.5 cm behind injury No.2.

(4) Incised wound 2.5 x 1 cm, oblique, on the forehead, 1 cm above the outer end of left eyebrow.

(5) Superficial linear cut 2.5 cm long across the tip of nose.

(6) Incised wound 9 x 3 cm obliquely placed on the back of right wrist and forearm; both bones underneath were partially cut; radial artery was found cut in to two.

(7) Incised wound 6 x 1 x 3 cm on the front of right palm, at its middle.

(8) Incised wound 9 x 3 cm muscle deep, horizontally placed on the outer aspect of right thigh at its middle.

 Crl.A.No.553/2019                                 :: 8 ::




                                                                                   2026:KER:7071


               (9)    Incised wound 5 x 0.5 cm, parallel to injury No.7 and 0.5 cm below it.

               (10)    Incised wound 12 x 3 cm obliquely placed on the outer aspect and top of

right ankle. Fibula was cut into two; tibia showed a partial cut; arteries and veins were severed.

(11) Incised wound 13 x 3.5 cm obliquely placed on the back and outer aspect of left forearm, 3 cm below the elbow. The ulna bone showed a superficial cut on it.

(12) Incised wound 2.5 x 0.5 cm x 2 cm horizontal over the left hip region.

9. In the appeal before us, the argument of the learned counsel for the

appellant/accused was largely focused on the inconsistency in the FI Statement

given by PW1 and the testimony of PW2. He points out that while PW2

deposed to have told PW1 that she had seen the accused inflict some of the

injuries on her father, the said fact was omitted in the FI Statement given by

PW1 to the police. Although the learned counsel for the appellant/accused

would highlight the said inconsistency to cast doubts on the credibility of PW2,

we find ourselves unable to do so. It is trite that the primary object of an FI

Statement or FI Report is only to set the criminal law in motion and it would be

unreasonable to expect an FI Statement to contain every minute detail

pertaining to an incident with unmistakable precision [Jitender Kumar v.

State of Haryana - [AIR 2012 SC 2488]]. In the instant case, the mere

fact that PW1 had reported the incident based on information that he had

gathered from persons who had assembled at the crime scene, cannot dislodge

the credibility accorded by the trial court to the ocular evidence of PW2. So

long as the evidence of PW2 withstood the rigorous cross examination,

inspired confidence in the trial court and stood corroborated in material

particulars by the evidence of PW3, PW6 and the medical evidence on record,

it had to be seen as evidence that conformed to the sterling quality adverted to Crl.A.No.553/2019 :: 9 ::

2026:KER:7071

by the Supreme Court in Rai Sandeep v. State (NCT of Delhi) - [(2012) 8

SCC 21], where it was observed as follows:

"In our considered opinion, the "sterling witness" should be of a very high quality and calibre whose version should, therefore, be unassailable. The court considering the version of such witness should be in a position to accept it for its face value without any hesitation. To test the quality of such a witness, the status of the witness would be immaterial and what would be relevant is the truthfulness of the statement made by such a witness. What would be more relevant would be the consistency of the statement right from the starting point till the end, namely, at the time when the witness makes the initial statement and ultimately before the court. It should be natural and consistent with the case of the prosecution qua the accused. There should not be any prevarication in the version of such a witness. The witness should be in a position to withstand the cross-examination of any length and howsoever strenuous it may be and under no circumstance should give room for any doubt as to the factum of the occurrence, the persons involved, as well as the sequence of it. Such a version should have co-relation with each and every one of other supporting material such as the recoveries made, the weapons used, the manner of offence committed, the scientific evidence and the expert opinion. The said version should consistently match with the version of every other witness. It can even be stated that it should be akin to the test applied in the case of circumstantial evidence where there should not be any missing link in the chain of circumstances to hold the accused guilty of the offence alleged against him. Only if the version of such a witness qualifies the above test as well as all other such similar tests to be applied, can it be held that such a witness can be called a "sterling witness" whose version can be accepted by the court without any corroboration and based on which the guilty can be punished. To be more precise, the version of the said witness on the core spectrum of the crime should remain intact while all other attendant materials, namely, oral, documentary and material objects should match the said version in material particulars in order to enable the court trying the offence to rely on the core version to sieve the other supporting materials for holding the offender guilty of the charge alleged."

10. We also find that there are two other aspects of PW2's testimony

that though not specifically adverted to by the trial court, when considered for

their evidentiary value, in the light of the credibility attached to PW2's

testimony, would strengthen the prosecution case against the

appellant/accused. We find that PW2, in the course of her testimony, clearly

deposed that her deceased father had told her in the moments prior to his

death that it was the accused who had inflicted the injuries on him. The said

statement was significant because, even according to PW2, she had seen the Crl.A.No.553/2019 :: 10 ::

2026:KER:7071

accused inflict only some of the injuries on her deceased father and she was

not there when the assault had commenced. The statement made to her by her

father in the moments before he succumbed to those injuries would effectively

constitute a dying declaration within the meaning of the term under Section 32

of the Evidence Act. The said statement coupled with the other statements

that find mention in the testimony of PW2, such as the statement made by the

accused that he had finished her father ("നിൻ്റെ അച്ഛനെ ഞാൻ

ശരിയാക്കിയിട്ടുണ്ട്") and that she had told PW3 that her father had told her

that it was the accused who had inflicted injuries on him, would all be relevant

facts that fall within the scope of res gestae under Section 6 of the Evidence

Act. Section 6 of the Evidence Act is an exception to the general rule

whereunder hearsay evidence becomes admissible. As per the provisions of

the said Section, what is required to be established is that the statements

relied upon were almost contemporaneous with the acts that constituted the

crime and that there should not be any interval which would allow for

fabrication. As was noticed by the Supreme Court in Gentela Vijayavardhan

Rao and Another v. State of A.P. - [(1996) 6 SCC 241], the essence of the

doctrine of res gestae is that a fact which, though not in issue, is so connected

with the fact in issue "as to form part of the same transaction", becomes

relevant by itself. The rationale that informs the making of such facts

admissible under Section 6 of the Evidence Act is on account of the

spontaneity and immediacy of such statement or fact in relation to the fact in

issue. It is therefore necessary that such statement must have been made

contemporaneous with the acts which constitute the offence or at least

immediately thereafter. If there is an interval, however slight it may be, which, Crl.A.No.553/2019 :: 11 ::

2026:KER:7071

in the opinion of the court, is sufficient enough for fabrication, then the

statement in question would not form part of res gestae. Placing reliance on

the said principle in Sukhar v. State of U.P. - [(1999) 9 SCC 507], the court

found that statements made by witness indicating that the injured had told him

that his nephew had fired at him, would become admissible under Section 6 of

the Evidence Act since the statement was made in such close proximity to the

act constituting the crime that it could be seen as forming part of the same

transaction. In as much as in the instant case, the trial court believed the

ocular testimony of PW2, the statements aforementioned of her deceased

father, the accused and her own statement to PW3, as deposed by her have to

be seen as contemporaneous and spontaneous in point of time, and as forming

part of the same transaction. The said statements would therefore add to the

evidentiary weightage of the testimony of PW2 while entering a finding of

conviction against the appellant/accused under Section 302 of IPC.

11. The other aspect on which the learned counsel for the

appellant/accused laid considerable emphasis was the alleged inconsistency in

the findings of PW16 doctor, who conducted the postmortem of the deceased in

Ext.P10 document and that of the chemical examiner in Ext.P24 chemical

analysis report as regards the group to which the blood detected on various

MOs belonged. While PW19, the Investigating Officer had seized the blood

stained clothes of the deceased and PW2 from the house of the deceased under

Ext.P4 seizure mahazar, the blood stained clothes of the accused and MO1

billhook that contained blood stains were recovered based on the disclosure

statement of the accused, to the extent admissible under Section 27 of the Crl.A.No.553/2019 :: 12 ::

2026:KER:7071

Indian Evidence Act. While the evidence of PW16, who issued Exhibit P10

postmortem certificate was that the deceased's blood was of group O +ve,

Ext.P24 chemical analysis report noted that the blood on the dress of the

deceased sent for chemical analysis was of 'B' group. According to the learned

counsel for the appellant/accused, this inconsistency goes to the root of the

prosecution case and could not have been overlooked by the trial court.

12. On a consideration of the above argument, we find that the trial

court has, in fact, dealt with the aforesaid contention in detail at paragraphs

47 to 51 of its judgment, which read as follows:

"47. The blood group of the deceased as per Ext.P10 document was O+ve but in the report of chemical analysis marked as Ext.P24, group of blood noted in the dress of the deceased sent for chemical analysis was a 'B' group. In some other material objects, the grouping of blood could not be done as the test result was inconclusive of groups. This was much highlighted by the learned counsel for the accused in cross-examination of PW16 and also in the arguments advanced by him. According to him, the prosecution failed to explain the change in the blood group noted in the blood stained clothes of the deceased. Thus the scientific evidence was vehemently challenged by the learned counsel for the accused.

48. But PW16 has given proper explanation for this change in blood group. By explaining the characteristics of blood, he deposed that, if the clothes were wet with blood at the time of packing, it may cause contamination by bacterial action. According to him, to get proper results, dress ought to have been dried in room temperature before packing. He explained that, the bacteria which causes contamination of blood may produce substances very similar to 'A' and 'B' antigens and on blood group examination the result can go wrong. In this case, there was no evidence to show that, the dresses were dried and packed by the investigating officer.

49. Though PW16 was cross examined at length on this aspect, his explanation regarding the reason for pseudo results could not be successfully refuted. He relied on the text book 'Forensic Medicine' Second Edition written by Dr. P.V Guharaj and Dr. M.R Chandran wherein in page 262 this phenomena was explained by the authors. It is stated that, all the articles of clothing, before being sent to the Chemical Examiner, must be dried properly at room temperature lest putrefaction should be set in. It is stated in the book that, this will render the detection of stains difficult. According to the authors, blood stained clothes, unless dried properly, are likely to be contaminated with gram Crl.A.No.553/2019 :: 13 ::

2026:KER:7071

negative bacteria such as E.coli, Shigella, Salmonella and Proteus. It is explained that, these bacteria contains substances similar in property to A, B, O, agglutinogens and are likely to vitiate the test. In 'Methods of Forensic Science' Volume II edited by Frank Lundquist, at page 190 and 191, the same phenomena was seen explained. On all probabilities in this case the change in blood group could have been caused by such a contamination due to improper packing of clothes, wet wit blood.

50. Even though, PW18 was cross examined at the length on this aspect nothing could be brought out from him to discredit his version regarding chance of having pseudo results in chemical examination of blood stained clothes. The authority of PW18 to give such evidence was challenged by the learned counsel for accused. It was argued that, PW16 is not competent to explain the content Ext.P24 report which is an evidence otherwise admissible under section 293 of Code of Criminal Procedure and accepted as such by court. But, even without assistance of PW18, the prosecutor was at liberty to place such authorities before the Court. So the fact as to whether it was spoken to by PW18 or not is not of any significance. The stress was on the authorities on the point and not on the opinion of PW18.

51. Further, the said circumstance of change of blood group brought out by defence counsel is not at all fatal to the case in hand because, in this case the court is relying on direct ocular version regarding the incident and not on any circumstantial evidence."

As rightly observed by the trial court, the instant being a case where primacy

is accorded to the ocular evidence of PW2, which is sufficient to uphold the

conviction of the appellant/accused, the inconsistency above as explained by

PW16, can have no bearing on the fate of the appellant/accused.

13. There was also a faint-hearted plea made by the learned counsel for

the appellant/accused to treat the instant case as one where the appellant's

right to private defence could be invoked to justify his acts. Reliance was also

placed by the learned counsel on the decisions of the Supreme Court in Latel

v. State of Chhattisgarh - [2001 KHC 1415] and Periyasamy v. State rep.

by the Inspector of Police - [2024 KHC 6145] to demonstrate the

circumstances under which the right to private defence would extend to

occasioning the death of another person while taking steps to protect one's life

and property.

 Crl.A.No.553/2019                          :: 14 ::




                                                                    2026:KER:7071




14. We are afraid, we cannot accept the contention of the learned

counsel for the appellant/accused for more reasons than one. Firstly, there is

absolutely no evidence on record that would suggest even remotely that it was

the deceased who was the aggressor in the incident in question. Secondly, the

appellant/accused did not adduce any evidence in defence to demonstrate that

he had sustained any injury to the incident. There was no evidence in the form

of medical certificates or wound certificates on the basis of which he could

have shown the deceased as the aggressor, and himself, as the defendant, who

was attacked by the deceased so as to exercise his right to private defence.

Thirdly, even going by the statement of the appellant/accused under Section

313 of the Cr.P.C, he was exercising his right of private defence with a view to

protecting his property from encroachment and theft of cashew nuts by the

deceased. It is significant that the property is in the nature of an open

coconut/cashew garden, and the appellant/accused did not produce any

evidence to suggest that he did not have an opportunity to avail the help of the

police or neighbours to thwart the alleged attempt of the deceased to attack

him. We are therefore not impressed with the said contention of the learned

counsel for the appellant/accused, and we are of the definite view that this was

not a case where the appellant/accused was defending himself against any acts

of aggression by the deceased.

In the result, we see no reason to interfere with the well considered

judgment of the trial court, and for the reasons stated in the said judgment as Crl.A.No.553/2019 :: 15 ::

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supplemented by the findings in this judgment, we dismiss this Crl. Appeal as

devoid of any merit.

Sd/-

DR. A.K.JAYASANKARAN NAMBIAR JUDGE

Sd/-

                                               JOBIN SEBASTIAN
                                                   JUDGE
prp/
 Crl.A.No.553/2019                :: 16 ::




                                                          2026:KER:7071




                    APPENDIX OF CRL.A.NO.553 OF 2019

PETITIONER'S ANNEXURES:

Annexure 1             TRUE COPY OF MRS SAVITHRI'S MEDICAL REPORT
                       FROM   DISTRICT      HOSPITAL,     KANNUR    DATED
                       21.09.2022
Annexure A1            TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER DATED 16.11.2022 IN
                       CRL.M.A NO. 1/2022 IN CRL. APPEAL NO.
                       553/2019 OF THIS HONBLE COURT
Annexure A2            TRUE COPY OF THE MEDICAL CERTIFICATE ISSUED
                       FROM    DISTRICT      HOSPITAL     KANNUR    DATED
                       22.11.2022
Annexure -III          A TRUE COPY OF THE CERTIFICATE DATED 11-07-
                       2025 ISSUED BY THE CONSULTANT NEUROLOGIST,
                       THALASSERY CO-OPERATIVE HOSPITAL
Annexure -IV           TRUE      COPY      OF       THE      ORDER     IN
                       CRL.M.APPL.NO.1/2025 IN CRL.A.NO. 553/2019
                       DATED 15-07-2025 IN S.C. NO. 451/2011 BEFORE
                       THE ADDITIONAL SESSIONS COURT-II, THALASSERY
Annexure-V             TRUE COPY OF THE MEDICAL CERTIFICATE DATED
                       21-07-2025     ISSUED     BY     THE    CONSULTANT
                       NEUROLOGIST, THALASSERY CO-OPERATIVE HOSPITAL
Annexure-VI            TRUE COPY OF THE ANOTHER MEDICAL CERTIFICATE
                       DATED 21-07-2025 ISSUED BY THE CONSULTANT
                       NEUROLOGIST,       THALASSERY         CO-OPERATIVE
                       HOSPITAL.

RESPONDENTS ANNEXURES:    NIL.




                       //TRUE COPY//


                       P.S. TO JUDGE
 

 
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