H. K. Sema, J. - (1.) Six accused, accused No.1 Vimal Kumar husband of the deceased, accused No.2 Karam Chand, the father of A1, accused No. 3 Anil Kumar young brother of A1, accused No. 4 Tirath Kumari @ Raj Rani, mother of A1, accused No.5 Asha Rani daughter of A2 and accused No. 6 Nanda the sister of A1 were put up for trial before the trial court under Section 304-B IPC. The trial court after concluding of the trial acquitted the four accused but convicted accused No.1 and accused No.4 husband and mother-in-law of the deceased under Section 304-B and sentenced them to undergo RI for 10 years and to pay fine of Rs. 2500/- each in default RI for one year. Their conviction and sentence were confirmed by the High Court in appeal. Hence the present appeal by special leave.
(2.) All the accused were charged for burning to death of Neena Kumari @ Meena Devi in the evening of 30-6-1989 in relation to demand of dowry. The marriage performed between the parties on 7.6.1987 and the date of incident was 30-6-1989 at 11 pm. The deceased succumbed to burn injuries on 1-7-1989 at 5.30 a.m. She suffered 92 per cent of burning.
(3.) It is not disputed that the incident had taken place within seven years of marriage. Section 304-B IPC requires the following ingredients to be established before the presumption can be drawn under Section 113-B of the Indian Evidence Act : (a) the death of a woman is caused by any burns or bodily injury or occurs otherwise than under normal circumstances within seven years of the marriage; (b) it must be shown that soon before her death she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or any relative; (c) such cruelty or harassment must be in connection with the demand of dowry. ;