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Benson, J.

7. In this case a woman named Kaliyani has been convicted of having murdered her husband, Kalan, and has been condemned to death.

8. The facts of the case are briefly as follows:

Kalan was a postal runner, and lived with his wife, the accused, on the Coffee Estate of Mr. Beaver at Kollakombe. The wife worked as a cooly on the estate. On the 22nd of February last Kalan was seized with violent vomiting and purging which continued up to the 28th February. At 6 A.M. on that day Aaron, the second witness, who lives within five or six yards of Kalan's house, and who is both a school master and a writer on the estate, heard Kalan cry out "Ey-Eyoh, she is biting my testicles," and on running to Kalan's hut, saw him lying at the entrance on his back. The accused was sitting on Kalan's chest, holding his throat with her right hand and twisting and pulling his testicles with her left hand. Her hair was waving in Kalan's face, and he was pulling it and crying out "Ey-Eyoh!" Aaron called on her three times to let go her hold of her husband's testicles, but she would not. He then threatened to send in the Pariah, Karuppan, (third witness) who had come with him and finally did send him to the door, whereupon she loosed her hold. Kalan then stood up, with difficulty, and reached the door, where he fell down with a cry of pain, pointing to his testicles and saying "See, sir, she has bitten me." This is the account given by Aaron. He looked at the testicles and noticed some bleeding. Substantially the same account of the occurrence is given by the cooly, Karuppan, (third witness) who ran to the spot at the same time with Aaron, but he denies that Kalan said his testicles were bitten. He says that the words used by Kalan were "Sir, she had seized and twisted the testicles: they are paining and wounded: bring some water that I may pour it on the wound." Aaron adds that he asked the accused what was the cause of the quarrel, and she replied "Look at my thumb: he has bitten me." He looked at her thumb, but could not notice any mark of a bite on it, or any injuries on the woman. Aaron then ordered Karuppan to keep watch over Kalan and his wife, and he himself went to call the roll on the estate. After he had gone, Karuppan asked Kaliyani why she had acted in this way to her husband, who was already sick, and she replied "Sir, he came to cut me with a knife: it is true I twisted his testicles," and she pointed to the front part of her throat where there was a slight slit, which was slightly bleeding. She also showed a knife near the door with which she said that Kalan came to stab her. After rollcall Aaron told Mr. Beaver what had happened, and they then, at 8 A.M., went to Kalan's hut. Mr. Beaver found him in a very weak state. Kalan told him that "his wife had assaulted him grievously that morning--sitting on his chest and strangling him with one hand, and subsequently biting him on his testicles." Mr. Beaver asked the accused if she had done so, and she said that she had pinched but not bitten them. Mr. Beaver asked Kalan the reason of the assault, and he said that, being very cold in the morning, he asked his wife to make a tire for him, whereupon she got in a great temper and assaulted him as above described. The accused did not say to Mr. Beaver that she had been assaulted by her husband, and made no complaint of ill-treatment by him, and, though present when Kalan told his story, made no objection to it except by denying that she took certain money. Mr. Beaver thought that Kalan was dying, and, knowing that he had saved money, asked him if he wished him to take charge of it. Kalan said that he had Rs. 300 in two tins in the house. They searched for it, but could not find it. Kalan then accused his wife for having made away with it, but she emphatically denied knowing anything about it. Kalan was then removed to the Post office and died the same morning at 11-30 o'clock. Karuppan was left in charge of the accused at Kalan's hut. About noon she asked leave to go and case herself, and, on her return, she showed Karuppan two tins of rupees saying, "This is the money we have earned: I have got it with me." The tins contained over Rs. 200, and were made over to the Magistrate who arrived soon afterwards, Kalan's body was taken to Coonoor, and a post mortem examination was made by the Hospital Assistant and Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel, Lancaster, the District Medical Officer of the Nilgiris. Only the former was examined at the trial before the Sessions Court, but, after the case was referred to this Court, we desired the Sessions Judge to obtain the evidence of Dr. Lancaster also. It shows that there was a wound on the front part of the scrotum, probably produced by a wrench or twist. There were no marks of any teeth on the scrotum, but the wound was covered with dried blood. On opening the scrotum, the testicles, or glands proper were found to be "very much bruised and reduced to a pulpy condition." There was no apparent disease of the testicles. Their condition was due not to disease but to injury, and Dr. Lancaster considered that a prolonged severe squeeze of the testicles, even with the left hand of the accused, would have been sufficient to produce the appearances which he saw at the post mortem. He considered that the injury to the testicles was the cause of Kalan's death, and added that, even if the man had been in sound health, the injury would have caused his death. The Hospital Assistant says that the testicles were "almost absolute pulp. No solid parts remained," and was positive that shock from injury to the testicles was the sole cause of death.