31
the clothes. Nothing favouring the defence could be
extracted out of her in the cross-examination. She denied
the suggestion that “my uncle did not pierce my aunt with
the knife. It is not correct that I have not seen the knife in
the hands of my uncle”. The trial court as well as the High
Court accepted her testimony as no inherent defect was
pointed out by the defence. We also find no reason to take
a contrary view. The mere fact that her mother had told that
she did not know any other language except Malyalam and
that the words spoken to by her were not in that language
cannot be used as a ground to reject her testimony. The
child and her parents conversed in Malyalam language at
their residence which was explained to the investigating
officer in the language which was understood by him. There
is no ground of doubting the veracity of the testimony of
this child witness as we find that her name is mentioned in
the FIR which is proved to have been recorded immediately
after the occurrence. P.H. Krishnappa, the Tahsildar who
prepared the inquest report is also proved to have recorded
the statement of this child witness, wherein, she is shown to
have made similar deposition. Otherwise also there is
sufficient corroboration on record to rule out the possibility
of PW 2 being tutored or used for ulterior purposes by some
alleged interested persons. In the absence of any inherent
defect we do not find any substance in the plea to reject the
testimony of this child witness. The statement of PW 2
shows that the deceased and the appellant were living
together as husband and wife and she used to address them
as uncle and aunt. Her testimony to the effect of the
deceased living with PW 1 is sufficiently corroborated by
the other evidence led in the case. The factum of the
deceased having received stabbed wound with a knife is
proved by the medical evidence. The recovery of the knife
at the instance of the appellant, in consequence of his
disclosure statement, leaves no doubt to believe her
statement. The place of occurrence being near the water
tank has not been seriously disputed. The report received
from FSL as per Exhibit P-15 shows that blouse (MO 2),
towel (MO 3) and the bangle pieces (MO 4) of the deceased
and the knife (MO 1) which was used in the commission of
the crime, the towel (MO 7), lungi (MO 6) and shirt (MO
5) of the appellant were found to be stained with blood. Dr
Ram Dass (PW 12) has opined that the injuries found on the
dead body of the deceased could be caused with a weapon
like MO 1.”
(emphasis supplied)
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