Hon'ble Judges/Coram:
O. Chinnappa Reddy and S. Murtaza Fazal Ali

JUDGMENT

O. Chinnappa Reddy, J.

1. P.S.R.Sadhanantham and four others were tried by the learned Sessions Judge, Tirunelveli, on various counts. Sadhanantham (A1) was convicted under Sections 148 and 302 Indian Penal Code while the four others were convicted under Sections 147, 323 and 149 read with 323. The first accused was sentenced to imprisonment for life on the charge of murder and to rigorous imprisonment for a period of two years on the charge under Section 148. The others were sentenced to suffer imprisonment for a period of one year on each of the counts on which they were convicted, the sentences to run concurrently. All the five accused preferred an appeal to the High Court of Madras. The High Court allowed the appeal and acquitted all the accused of all the charges. Arunachalam the brother of the deceased has preferred this appeal against the judgment of the Madras High Court after obtaining special leave from this Court on 26.7.1973. The special leave was granted against the first accused Sadhanantham only.

2. The case of the prosecution, briefly, was that there was enmity between the deceased Soundarapandian and his brother Arunachalam (P.W. 2) and Natesan (P.W. 3) on one side and Rajapalavesmuthu Nadar, his sons A1 and A2 and his nephews A4 and A5 on the other. There were the usual disputes arising out of elections to the Gram Panchayat and to the local cooperative stores. In connection with the village Amman festival, P.W. 3 was arranging to have a dance performance on the night of 20th August, 1970, in the Gandhi Maidan. About a week earlier, Sadhanantham, the first accused demanded that the dance should be performed under his presidentship but P.W. 3 did not agree. On the night of 20th August, 1970, P.W. 3 along with one Gopala-krishnan (P.W. 6) was decorating the stage. Tube lights were burning and several persons had gathered in front of the stage. At about 8.45 p.m. accused 1 to 5 came there and got up on the stage. A1 questioned P.W. 3 how he dared to conduct the show without his presiding over it. P.W. 3 replied that the dance performance would be conducted without the presidentship of A1. A1 then slapped P.W. 3 on the cheek. A2 to A4 also started beating P.W. 3 with their hands. P.W. 6 and several others who were there ran away apparently not wanting to get involved in the fracas. P.W. 3 jumped down from the stage and attempted to run away when A3 caught him and began to throttle his neck. A1, A2 and A4 joined in beating him with their hands. The deceased P.W. 1, P.W. 2 and........