The High Court of Kerala held that criminal appeals filed against the acquittal in a POCSO case abate since the sole accused, the respondent, died on 04.11.2020. A death certificate was produced to substantiate the claim.
Criminal appeals against the accused are held abated due to his death and the matter is disposed of.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.HARIPRASAD
&
THE HONOURABLE MRS. JUSTICE M.R.ANITHA
THURSDAY, THE 12TH DAY OF NOVEMBER 2020 / 21ST KARTHIKA, 1942
CRL.A.No.1358 OF 2019
AGAINST THE JUDGMENT 30.09.2019 IN SC NO. 398/2017 OF I ADDITIONAL SESSIONS COURT (SPECIAL COURT UNDER POCSO ACT), PALAKKAD
CRIME NO.43/2017 OF Walayar Police Station , Palakkad
APPELLANT/COMPLAINANT:
STATE OF KERALA, REP. BY THE STATE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, HIGH COURT OF KERALA
SENIOR PUBLIC PROSECUTORS SRI.NICHOLAS JOSEPH & SRI.S.U.NAZAR
RESPONDENT/ACCUSED:
PRADEEP KUMAR, S/O.MURALEEDHARAN NAIR, AGED 32 YEARS,KADAPPALLIL HOUSE, NAGAM KULANGARA, WAYALAR EAST VILLAGE, CHERTHALA TALUK, ALAPPUZHA DISTRICT, PIN-688524.
BY ADV. SRI.K.ANAND
THIS CRIMINAL APPEAL HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 12.11.2020, ALONG WITH CRL.A.(V)NO.35/2019, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.HARIPRASAD
&
THE HONOURABLE MRS. JUSTICE M.R.ANITHA
THURSDAY, THE 12TH DAY OF NOVEMBER 2020 / 21ST KARTHIKA, 1942
CRL.A.(V)No.35 OF 2019
AGAINST THE JUDGMENT 30.09.2019 IN SC NO. 398/2017 OF I ADDITIONAL SESSIONS COURT (SPECIAL COURT UNDER POCSO ACT), PALAKKAD
CRIME NO.43/2017 OF Walayar Police Station , Palakkad
APPELLANT/PW6/(VICTIM'S MOTHER)
BHAGYAVATHY,AGED 37, W/O SHAJI @ SHERI,DOOR NO.XI/666, PUNNACKAL HOUSE,P.O.PAMPAMPALLAM, WALAYAR,PALAKKAD-678621.
BY ADV. JOHN S. RALPH
RESPONDENTS/DE-JURE COMPLAINANT & ACCUSED:
1 STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY THE DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE,NARCOTIC CELL,PALAKKAD(NOTICE TO WHOM IS SERVED ON THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, HIGH COURT OF KERALA,ERNAKULAM)
2 PRADEEP KUMAR,AGED 32 YEARS S/O.MURALEEDHARAN NAIR, KADAPALLIL HOUSE,NAGAMKULANGARA, WAYALAR EAST VILLAGE, CHERTHALA TALUK, ALAPPUZHA DISTRICT.
R1 BY SENIOR PUBLIC PROSECUTORS SRI NICHOLAS JOSEPH & SRI.S.U.NAZAR
R2 BY ADV. SRI.K.ANAND
THIS CRL.A BY DEFACTO COMPLAINANT/VICTIM HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 12.11.2020, ALONG WITH CRL.A.NO.1358/2019, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
COMMON JUDGMENT
[ CRL.A.No.1358/2019& CRL.A(V).No.35/2019 ] Dated this the 12th day of November 2020
Hariprasad, J.
Sole accused in S.C.No.398 of 2017 on the file of the I Additional Sessions Judge (Special Judge), Palakkad was tried and acquitted by the trial court. Against the order of acquittal State has filed Crl.Appeal No.1358 of 2019. Aggrieved by the acquittal, mother of the victim has filed Crl.Appeal (V) No.35 of 2019. It is reported by the learned Public Prosecutor that the sole accused in the above Sessions Case, who is the respondent in the aforementioned appeals, died on 04.11.2020. To substantiate this contention, a copy of the death certificate issued from Vayalar Grama Panchayat is produced with a memo dated 11.11.2020. Considering the fact that the sole accused in the above Sessions Case died, we record that the captioned appeals filed against his acquittal are abated.
A.HARIPRASAD
JUDGE
M.R.ANITHA
JUDGE
cks
1 issue framed by the court
Whether the criminal appeals against the acquittal of the sole accused abate upon his death.
STATE OF KERALA
BHAGYAVATHY
PRADEEP KUMAR
A.HARIPRASAD
M.R.ANITHA
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
