- (1.) P. C. Verma, J. The accused/appellant Banbir Singh has preferred this criminal appeal against the judgment and order dated 29-11-2001, passed by Sessions Judge, Udham Singh Nagar, in ST. No. 308/1999, convicting the accused/appellant U/ss 498-A I. P. C. , 304-B I. P. C. and Sec tion 3/4 Dowry Prohibition Act and sen tencing him to undergo imprisonment for life U/s 304-B I. P. C. ; two years R. I. U/s 498-A I. P. C. and five years R. I. and fine of Rs. 15,000/- U/s 3/4 Dowry Pro hibition Act and in default of payment of fine to further undergo R. I. for one year. All the sentences to run concur rently.
(2.) THE prosecution case in brief is that on 13-6-1999 at about 3. 10 P. M. complainant Rajesh Singh lodged writ ten report, Ext. Ka. l at RS. Banbasa with the allegations that his younger sis ter Smt. Rekha Singh was married to accused Banbir Singh on 12-3-1999. After marriage accused demanded ru pees one lac as dowry. THE dowry de mand was not fulfilled by the complainant and due to this reason the accused started beating Smt. Rekha Singh and also threatened to kill her. On 7-6-1999 when Smt. Sarala Devi, the mother of the complainant, went to the in-laws house of Smt. Rekha Singh, then the accused again made demand of dowry of Rs. One lac and used unpleasant talk. On 13-6-1999 Prahlad Singh, the elder brother of the accused informed Rajesh Singh, the complainant at Bareilly Police Line that his sister Rekha Singh had died. THEreafter on 13-6-1999 itself the complainant went to the house of accused and there he came to know that the accused has killed Rekha Singh by burning her. On the basis of written report, chick F. I. R. Ext. Ka. 13 was drawn at the Police Station and the case was registered against the accused. S. I. Lalit Mohan Vishwakarma, Station Officer of RS. Banbasa on re ceiving information about the incident went at the spot and performed the in quest on the body of deceased Smt. Rekha Singh and prepared inquest re port, Ext. Ka. 6. This witness also pre pared Form 33, Form 13, sample seal and sketch dead body, Ext. Ka. 7 to Ext. Ka. 10 respectively and sent the dead body for post mortem. The Inves tigating Officer also took into posses sion the pieces of burnt clothes, burnt pieces of bangles of the deceased and the match box and its burnt sticks and prepared recovery memo, Ext. Ka. 1. Sri Rudrapal Singh R. I. started the investigation in the case. On 13-6-1999 he visited the place of the occur rence and prepared site plan, Ext. Ka. 2. On various dates he recorded the state ments of the witnesses U/s 161 Cr. PC. and after completing the investigation, submitted charge sheet, Ext. Ka. 3 against the accused.
(3.) ON committal of the accused to the court of Sessions, the Sessions Judge framed charges U/ss 498-A I. P. C. , 304-B I. P. C. and Section 3/4 Dowry Prohibition Act, against the accused. He pleaded not guilty and claimed his trial. The prosecution to prove its case examined eight witnesses. P. W. 1, Rajesh Singh is the informant. He has deposed that his younger sister Rekha Singh was married to accused on 12-3-1999. At the time of marriage accused was not satisfied with the articles given in the dowry. He deposed that after 10 to 15 days of marriage his sister came to his house and told that the accused made demand of Rs. One lac on the pretext that the money was needed to him for his promotion. He also deposed that his mother also went to the in laws house of deceased on 7-6-1999 and there also the accused made demand of one lac rupees and when his mother expressed inability to fulfil the demand, the ac cused was angry and he misbehaved by using unpleasant words to her. There after he got information about the death of his sister on 13-6-1999 from Prahlad Singh, the elder brother of ac cused and went to Banbasa where he lodged the first information report.;