DAYARAM Vs. STATE OF M P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant has preferred this appeal against the judgment dated

(2.) 4.1993 of the learned Ilnd Additional Sessions Judge, Chhindwara, in Sessions Trial No. 236/1992, by which the appellant has been convicted under section 306 of the IPC and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 7 years. 2. The appellant was tried for the said offence and for offence under section 304B of the IPC on the allegation that on the night of 11.7.1992 and before that date, the appellant had subjected his wife Bhagabai to cruelty and harassment which had forced her to commit suicide by jumping into a well within 7 years of her marriage with the accused.

(3.) THE accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied having committed any offence. He pleaded that Bhagabai died on accidental death and since the brother of the deceased owed him one kilogram silver and ten goats, he had been falsely implicated. On trial, the learned Additional Sessions Judge, while not finding the accused guilty under section 304B, found him guilty under section 306 of the IPC and sentenced him as stated above. To prove that the accused had subjected the deceased to cruelty, the prosecution examined PW 1 Jayram, PW 2 Ithoba, PW 3 Ramdas, PW 7 Madhav and PW 8 Devaki Bai. They have stated that initially, the accused kept the deceased well but after about a year of the marriage, he started ill treating her and he used to beat her after consuming liquor. According to PW 1 Jayram, the accused had also turned her out of the house and thrown her belongings. He has also stated that the deceased had once sent a letter through the milk van driver complaining of the ill treatment and he, along, with Ithoba, Suratram and Lakhan, had intervened and the accused had assured to keep her well. In his statement to the Police, however, he had not stated anything about the belongings of the deceased having been thrown out by the accused or about the letter having been sent by her. It is also significant that he had not made any complaint to any one in the community about the ill treatment meted out to the deceased by the accused. PW 2 Ithoba, brother of the deceased, has also stated that the accused used to beat his sister after consuming liquor and he had once turned her out of his house and thrown out her belongings and he, along with Jayram, Suratram and Lakhan, had to intervene and the accused had assured that he would keep her well. He has also stated that thereafter, the deceased had again come back to him and the accused had come and quarrelled with her and taken her back.