- (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment of a learned Single Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissing the appeal filed by the appellant, while directing acquittal of the co-accused Narinder Kaur. Learned Sessions Judge, Amritsar, had convicted both, the present appellant and Surjit Kaur for the offence punishable under Section 304- B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short "IPC") and had sentenced each of them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years and to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/- in default of payment of fine to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for three months. It is to be noted that Narinder Kaur had faced trial along with the appellant Baldev Singh and Surjit Kaur but was acquitted of the charges by the trial court.
(3.) The case of the prosecution is as under:- Satwant Kaur @ Bholi was the sister of Rachhpal Singh (PW-4) and was married with Baldev Singh accused on 8.6.1991. Within about a month of their marriage, differences cropped up between the deceased and her husband as the mother-in-law and husband of the deceased started demanding a fridge and a T.V. Within three days of the marriage, the mother of Bholi had died, at the anniversary of their mother's death, Rachhpal Singh (PW-4) had collected a sum of Rs.12,000/- from the sale of paddy and Rs.8,000/- after encashing the National Saving Certificates and had given an amount of Rs.20,000/- to Baldev Singh. According to the complainant, for two months, after the payment there was no quarrel, but thereafter accused Baldev Singh, his mother Surjit Kaur and sister Narinder Kaur again started saying that at the time of the marriage adequate jewellery had not been given. The result was that the witness had again collected a sum of Rs.20,000/- by encashing the Fixed Deposit Receipt and paid the amount to Baldev Singh. In the month of October, 1992, accused Baldev Singh had fixed a date for the marriage of his younger brother and as the father of Rachhpal Singh (PW-4) and Satwant Kaur had died, Baldev Singh accused started asking for his share in the estate of his father- in-law. In view of this, Rachhpal Singh and his brothers Nirmal Singh and Avtar Singh had gone to the house of Satwant Kaur and there they tried to persuade the accused and other members of the family not to harass Satwant Kaur @ Bholi and assured them that in due course they would meet whatever was demanded by him. At this time Baldev Singh and the members of his family had told that they were not demanding any specific piece of land and that they would be satisfied in case an amount of Rs.1,00,000/- was given. Rachhpal Singh (PW-4) had then told accused Baldev Singh that they had decided to hold the anniversary of his father's death on 13th September, 1992 and they would pay the accused the amount of Rs.1,00,000/- on that day. The details regarding the harassment that was being faced by Satwant Kaur were communicated by her to her brother Rachhpal Singh from time to time in various letters that were written by her. In these letters, (Ex. PW-4/A to Ex. PW-4/D) Satwant Kaur had given the details of the demands by her husband and in-laws and she had also been apprising her brothers of the treatment given to her by her mother-in-law, sister-in-law and the husband whenever she met them. On 2.9.1992 Rachhpal Singh had received a letter written by Satwant Kaur. This letter had been brought from Amritsar to Chandigarh by the wife of Amrik Singh, who in turn, had taken it to Pinjore to deliver the same to Rachhpal Singh. After going through the letter Rachhpal Singh had become very upset and had left for Amritsar and reached there about 7-8 P.M. During the night, he had stayed at the house of his second sister and in the morning of 3.9.1992 he had gone to the house of Satwant Kaur along with his brother-in-law Narinder Singh. On reaching the house, he found that Satwant Kaur was lying on a cot while her husband, sister-in-law and mother-in-law were standing nearby. On seeing him, Satwant Kaur had again indicated that the accused had harassed and beaten her regarding her inability to bring more money. She had also told Rachhpal Singh (PW-4) that she had consumed some poisonous substance as a result of which, she would die and requested him to ensure that the accused did not escape the rigours of law. At this point of time, Rachhpal Singh found the attitude of the accused very hostile and had told Narinder Singh that they should try to move out of the house and come back with some more relatives. Thereafter Rachhpal Singh and Narinder Singh had gone away from the house of the accused and with some relatives returned there at about 9.30 A.M. When they reached the house, they found that none of the accused was present in the house and even Satwant Kaur was not present there. On enquiry, it transpired that Satwant Kaur had been removed by the accused but the neighbourers were not certain whether Satwant Kaur was dead or alive. Fearing that the accused may try to burn the dead body, the witness first went to the cremation ground and thereafter to various doctors. At about 6/6.15 P.M. they reached Guru Nanak Dev Hospital and found ASI Amrik Singh going inside and before him Rachhpal Singh made statement Ex. PW-4/A, which was reduced into writing and signed by the witness. He then accompanied the police to the mortuary, where he saw the dead body of Satwant Kaur. Assistant Sub Inspector Amrik Singh (PW-7) had gone to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, Amritsar after receipt of information regarding the death of Satwant Kaur and on reaching the hospital, had met Rachhpal Singh (PW-4) and recorded his statement. He thereafter made his endorsement thereon and sent the same to the police station for recording the formal FIR, Ex. PW-7/B. He had gone to the mortuary, prepared inquest report Ex. PW-1/B and got done the post- mortem on the dead body. Dr. R.K. Gorea (Pw-1) conducted the post mortem examination on 4.9.1992 at 5.00 P.M., who gave his opinion that the cause of death in this case was due to poisoning with organo phosphorus group of insecticide, which was sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature. The Investigating Officer recorded the statements of the witnesses and prepared rough site plan. On completion of necessary investigation, accused were sent up for trial. After the charge sheet was filed under Section 304-B IPC, trial was held as the accused persons pleaded innocence. In order to prove its case, the prosecution examined 7 witnesses. In the statements recorded under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (in short 'Cr.P.C.'), accused persons took the stand that they were falsely implicated in this case. The trial court relied upon the evidence of PW.4 and PW.5 and found that their evidence was clear and cogent to the effect that the deceased was being harassed for not bringing adequate dowry and though some of the demands were satisfied by the relatives, the demands persisted. On account of such persistent demands, the deceased felt harassed and consumed poison and had ultimately died as a result thereof. With reference to the evidence of Dr. R.K. Gorea, PW.1, it was noted that the death of the deceased was as a result of consuming organo phosphorus group of insecticide and the death was unnatural and had taken place within 7 years of the date of marriage. The trial court, accordingly, found the appellant and Surjit Kaur guilty while directing acquittal of Narinder Kaur. In appeal, the stand taken by the appellant was that with a view to falsely implicate the accused persons, the case was lodged. It was submitted that the deceased was deprived of her legitimate share in the ancestral property and because of this she was in mental depression leading to her committing suicide. It was pointed out that if the appellant on behalf of the deceased had asked for her legitimate share in the ancestral property that does not amount to dowry demand. The prosecution, on the other hand, relied on the evidence of PW.4 and PW.5 to show that the demand was not restricted only to the share in the ancestral properties but also to the other demands which were nothing but dowry demands. The High Court found substance in the plea of the prosecution and upheld the conviction.;