K.J.VAIDYA - (1.)The petitioner - Madhubehn Pravinbhai Patel the bereaved elder sister of the deceased Pravina who allegedly came to be murdered by her husband Bhavesh and three other inmates of the house on account of the dowry demand not satisfied by her has by this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India moved this Court inter alia praying for an immediate taking over of the investigation of C. R. No. 446/91 from the hands of Kagdapith Police Station Ahmedabad and to hand over the same to the Central Bureau of Investigation or any other independent investigating agency in substance alleging that right from the inception for the reasons unknown the investigation in the matter is being carried on illegally and dishonestly and accordingly if the same was permitted to be continued on the same pattern and in the hands of the same investigating agency serious miscarriage of justice was bound to result.
(2.)Few relevant facts According to the petitioner who is also a complainant the deceased Pravina was her younger sister and was married to Bhavesh on 7-2-1987 and was residing in a joint family alongwith her husband sister-in-law and parents in-law in Bungalow No. 32 situated in Navyug Colony Bhulabhai Park Ahmedabad Further according to the petitioner Pravina was given sufficient amount of dowry at the time of her marriage as claimed by her in-laws The list of various items including silver and gold ornaments has been given in Annexure-A to the petition According to the petitioner the married life of Pravina was quite disturbed In fact whenever the deceased used to meet her she was complaining about the cruelties meted out to her by her in-laws for bringing less dowry Further according to the petitioner the day on which i.e. 7 Pravina died she was called by her in-laws Immediately accompanied by her mother-in-law Gomtibehn father-in-law Jashubhai and brothel-in-law Prafulbhai she at once rushed to the house of Pravina where her dead body was found lying in the guest-room on making inquiry the petitioner was informed by the in-laws of Pravina that she had committed suicide by tying herself with a saree on the ceiling fan. Looking to the circumstances the petitioner not feeling satisfied with the information given by the in-laws made at once a grievance that without calling the police why the dead body was dismounted from the fan ? None present in the house replied to this question and it was quite obvious that the death of Pravina was not a simple case of suicide but was that of murder and her in-laws were trying to twist and turn and give a colour of suicide to the death of Pravina in order to screen and protect themselves from the punishment of murder. It is further alleged by the petitioner that at the relevant time her father-in-law Jashubhai was also present at the house of the deceased and he too stated to suspect the same Jashubhai in fact accordingly reported himself before the police authority and expressed before it his suspicion that the death of Pravina was homicidal and not a suicidal and despite this the police strangely turned down his request to record the complaint at his instance and instead insisted upon the petitioner to file a complaint It is further alleged by the petitioner that though she had also stated before the police authority that the death of Pravina was homicidal the police surprizingly preferred to tone it down as a suicidal death on account of the dowry dispute and quarrels. According to the petitioner some of the averments found in the complaint though were not made by her were sought to be put in her mouth e.g. she has never stated that Pravina was tired from her life and had committed suicide on account of the cruelty on the part of her in-laws It has been further categorically asserted by the petitioner that while giving information before the police authority she had expressed strong suspicion to the effect that Pravina had met with homicidal death and was murdered and yet the investigating officer for the reasons best known to him and preferred to take down the complaint in the way and manner as the police wanted it to be recorded and registered the same as C. R. No. 446/91. 2.1 According to the petitioner on 8-10-1991 i.e. immediately on the next day of the incident one Kajlabehn Patwa Secretary of Jyotisangh a leading women organisation of Ahmedabad had given an application to the Police Inspector Kagdapith Police Station requesting him to make an in-depth investigation on the suspicious death of Pravina. The verbatim text of the said application in Gujarati is reproduced as under : *** 2.2 Not only that but on the very day both Kajalbehn Patwa and Kokilabehn Shah visited and interrogated the neighbours residing near the house of the deceased and prepared a report duly signed by the residents of the area namely Bhavnabehn Dineshbhai K. K. Mehta Shah M. M. Suryabala Dashrathbhai and Jyotsnabehn Suryaprasad Raval The verbatim text of the said report is as under *** *** 2.3 According to petitioner the aforesaid facts were conveyed to her father Patel Mavjibhai Kalyanbhai who came from Jamnagar on receiving the news of death of Pravina Accordingly on 16 said Mavjibhai Kalyanbhai Patel addressed an application dated 16-10-1991 to the Chief Minister wherein it was alleged that though his daughter Pravina was murdered by her husband and in-laws of the house the police has refused to register their complaint for the alleged offence of murder and instead by twisting the facts registered the complaint that Pravina had committed suicide due to cruelties and dowry demands The verbatim text of the said application is as under *** *** 2.4 It is further alleged by the petitioner that since despite the written application dated 16 and the representation made to the Chief Minister and also the request made by Jyotisangh to the investigating officer to deeply investigate the suspected homicidal death of Pravina the same failed to invoke any response she under the agonizing circumstances of on the one hand losing her sister who was murdered and on the other hand both the police and higher-ups in the administration were turning deaf ears to the prayer for justice she was constrained to move this Court by presenting this petition.
(3.)Mr. Bhargav Bhatt the Ld. Advocate for the petitioner succinctly summarising the facts of the case has streamlined and highlighted the following tell-tale circumstances challenging the suicidal theory put forward by the police against the alleged homicidal death of Pravina in his efforts to prima facie show that the investigation carried out in this case was utterly dishonest and illegal They are (i) That the deceased Pravina had a married life of only four years and had a daughter of about an year (ii) That she died an unnatural death at the house of her in-laws (iii) That prima facie there are definite allegations on the record against the husband and the in-laws of the house-that they were subjecting the deceased Pravina to cruelties on the ground of having brought less dowry (iv) That immediately on receiving the news of the death of Pravina when the petitioner and her father reached the house of the deceased they at once suspected the foul death (v) That both the petitioner and her father had immediately reported this suspicion to the police authority that they suspected a foul murder and wanted to file FIR but the police officers for the reasons best known refused to record it. (vi) That thereafter even while agreeing to record FIR instead of recording the same of her father the police officer insisted for recording the same of the petitioner (vii) That even while recording the FIR of the petitioner the same was not taken down in her words and as per the story given by her instead surprisingly the story of suicidal death on account of dowry which was not her case came to be recorded (viii) That immediately on the next day of the incident i.e. on 8-10-1991 the office bearers of the Jyotisangh a leading women organisation of Ahmedabad has prepared the report on the basis of the interrogations and signatures of the neighbours of deceased Pravina alleging foul death of deceased Pravina. (ix) That thereafter the father of the petitioner had made a detail application dated 16-10-1991 as well as oral representation to the Chief Minister alleging that though prima facie foul murder of Pravina at the hands of the husband and the in-laws of the house had taken place the police has refused to investigate on that line It was accordingly requested that the investigation in the matter be carried on by independent agency like C. I. D. (Crimes). (x) That at no point of time the deceased Pravina was ever seen in a melancholy mood to commit suicide or had ever expressed the same before the petitioner who was nearest to her (xi) That no mother who has just a sulking daughter to take care nurse nourish and rear up with all hopes to give her good fortune would easily succumb to the idea of committing suicide throwing the fate of most dearest minor child to dark and uncertain furture by throwing her away to the husband who may if once again remarries and thereby ultimately to the mercy of the stepmother On the contrary even for the sake of argument assuming that the deceased Pravina was fed up with her life and was thinking of ending the same by committing suicide she would not do the same as her worry and anxiety for the future of her sulking child would certainly counter-act and discourage her from executing that idea (xii) That in absence of any material indicative of the nature that Pravina was extremely tired and disgusted of her life it is too difficult at this stage to gulp down the theory of suicide (xiii) That there are no circumstances whatsoever remotely even suggestive of the fact that Pravina tied herself with saree hanging herself with a ceiling fan committing suicide In fact when Gomtibehn at the instance of police examined the body of deceased Pravina no injuries were found over her body Ordinarily in cases of suicide by strangulation eyes and tongue would be portruding out The froth from the mouth would also be coming out Still however in the instant case on seeing the photographs the theory of self-strangulation at once loses all its credibility. (xiv) That not only that but if indeed Pravina had ended her life by hanging herself on a ceiling fan then in that case the wings of the fan or the central rod holding the fan fixed in ceiling would to some extent must have been strached scratched twisted or damaged because of the dead-weight of the hanging corpse of Pravina. This is not found Had indeed the death been suicidal as alleged to have taken place then in that case the investigating officer would surely not have failed to make the Panchnama in the said regard (xv) That had indeed this been a case of suicide by hanging herself on a ceiling fan inmates of the house would not have dismounted the dead-body of the deceased Pravina before the arrival of the police (xvi) That ordinarily in early cool hours of the morning nobody commits suicide Mr. Bhatt submitted that despite the aforesaid glaring and weighty circumstances quite surprisingly not only the same did not click the investigating agency to record the case of homicidal death but rather quite shockingly it refused in the first instance to record the FIR of the father of the petitioner and thereafter even while recording the same of the petitioner the same came to be recorded on twisted facts Mr. Bhatt further submitted that if such a blatant and dishonest investigation in the case of dowry death can be dared in a city like Ahmedabad one shudders to think as to what would be happening in the remote villages amidst illiterate tongue-tied helpness masses ? Mr. Bhatt finally submitted that taking into consideration gruesome facts of the case not only the investigation should be handed over to an investigating agency like C B I but the illegal and dishonest investigation of the case made by the present investigating agency must be reported to the State Government for appropriate legal action.