- (1.) THIS appeal by way of special leave has been filed on behalf of Raj Kumar, husband of the deceased Varsha Rani, his mother Sita Rani and his first cousin Subhash Chander. The trial court convicted them and Kaushalya Rani for an offence punishable under S. 304-B Indian Penal Code, 1860 and sentenced Raj Kumar and Subhash Chander to undergo RI for 10 years while Sita Rani and Kaushalya Rani were sentenced to undergo RI for 7 years. On appeal, the High Court by the impugned judgment confirmed the conviction and sentence of three of the accused but acquitted the fourth accused Kaushalya Rani, the mother of Subhash Chander.
(2.) THE facts leading to this appeal are as under: Varsha Rani and Raj Kumar were married on 4/10/1987. At the time of the marriage PW 7, Munshi Ram, father of Varsha Rani gave dowry as per his capacity. It appears that soon after the marriage all the appellants, who resided in a one-room tenement, raised demands for more dowry and some cash had in fact been given by Munshi Ram to his daughter who had passed it on to her in - aws. On account of the dispute between the parties a panchayat had also been called and some assurance had been held out by Raj Kumar that he would not misbehave in future. Pursuant to the proceedings before the panchayat and about four or five days before the date of occurrence, PW 11, Sikandar Lal along with PW 7 Munshi Ram visited Varsha Rani to enquire about her welfare. Varsha Rani told them that the four accused were harassing her continuously for more dowry and had threatened that in case the demand was not satisfied she would be done to death so that Raj Kumar could take another wife. Munshi Ram however advised Varsha Rani to accept the situation as he was a poor person, and thereafter returned home.
(3.) ON 29/6/1987 Munshi Ram received the news that Varsha Rani had been burnt alive by her in-laws after sprinkling kerosene oil upon her, on which he rushed to her in-laws' home along with his son Sikandar Lal and from the information gathered by him was able to ascertain that Varsha Rani had been burnt at about 7.30 p.m. on 28/6/1987 and that she had received very extensive burn injuries on almost all parts of the body and had been admitted to the hospital by Subhash Chander. An FIR was thereupon lodged in Police Station Division No. 5, Ludhiana and after investigation the accused were charge-sheeted and sent up for trial.;