D.G.KARIA - (1.)In the unfortunate event between the night of January 16 and 17, 1988, Anita, wife of the appellant-accused committed suicide. The appellant was, therefore, charged with the offence under Secs. 498A and 306 of the Indian Penal Code. The learned Additional City Sessions Judge, Court No. 19, Ahmedabad, by his judgment and order dated September 1, 1993 convicted the appellant for the said offences and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for four years and to pay a fine of Rs. 500.00, in default rigorous imprisonment for one month, for the offence punishable under Sec. 306 of the Indian Penal Code. No separate sentence for the offence punishable under Sec. 498A of the Indian Penal Code was imposed on the appellant-accused. The present appeal is preferred against the said judgment of conviction rendered in Sessions Case No. 105 of 1990 on the file of the City Sessions Court, Ahmedabad.
(2.)The appellant and the deceased Anita were married in the month of November, 1986. Three months prior to the date of incident, Anita had gone to reside with the appellant. It is the prosecution case that the accused was in the habit of consuming alcohol every day and used to harass and cause cruelty to the deceased Anita. It is also alleged that the appellant pressurised the deceased to have illicit relations with his friends. By this torture and trauma that were undergone by deceased Anita, a great deal of cruelty was being caused to her by the appellant. Deceased Anita had come to her parents' house on account of the occasion of "Makar Shankranti" as her mother wanted to give some articles to her. Parents of the deceased Anita and other family members were of the view that Anita should go and stay with her husband to which Anita was reluctant. She wanted to stay more for a couple of days in her parents' house. In the night between 16th and 17th of January, 1988, when everybody had gone to sleep, Anita went in the bath-room, poured kerosene on her person and set herself ablaze. She suffered very unbearable pain and as such raised shouts and screams, on hearing of which P.W. 2, Kalyansahay Jagannath, father of deceased Anita, and her brothers, P.W. 3, Rajendrakumar Kalyansahay, and P.W. 4, Babulal Kalyansahay, got awakened and tried to save burning Anita in bath-room. Door of the bath-room was closed from inside. The door of the bath-room was made open by pushing it. P.W. 2, Kalyansahay extinguished the fire by pouring water on burning Anita. She was then shifted to Shardaben Hospital immediately and was admitted as an indoor patient in the Burns Ward of the hospital. P. W. 9, P.S.I., B.G. Chavda, on receipt of the information about the incident, visited the hospital. He gave Yadi Exh. 29 of summon the Executive Magistrate for recording dying declaration of the deceased. P.W. 1 Ramanlal Mathurdas Darji was authorised to record the dying declaration. He reached the hospital at about 4-00 a.m. on January 17, 1988 and having ascertained from the Doctor that Anita was in a fit state of consciousness to give statement, recorded her dying declaration Exh. 10. P.S.I. Chavda, Exh. 9, had also recorded the statements of the deceased at Exh. 28 indicating that on account of cruelty, the deceased committed suicide. Anita was medically treated in the hospital. However, she succumbed to the injuries at about 10-00 a.m. on January 17, 1988. On completion of the investigation, the charge-sheet for the offences under Secs. 498A and 306 of the Indian Penal Code was submitted against the appellant.
(3.)The charge at Exh. 2 was framed on the aforesaid facts and circumstances against the appellant, and he pleaded not guilty to the charge and claimed to be tried. In the statement under Sec. 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the appellant stated that he had no habit of consuming alcohol or any smoking. He maintained that he did not cause any cruelty to the deceased. His case is that of total denial.