Prashant Kumar, J. - (1.) This appeal is directed against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 11.01.2012 passed by Additional District and Sessions Judge, court no. 1, Barabanki in Sessions Trial No. 1109 of 2009, whereby the appellants were convicted under Section 302/34 of the IPC and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. They were also directed to pay a fine of Rs. 10,000/- each. The learned trial court further directed that appellants will have to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months each, if they fail to pay the fine.
(2.) The case of prosecution in brief is that on 09.05.2009, at about 08.00 P.M., informant along with his uncle (fufa) namely Sukhdev (P.W.-1) came to the in-law's house his sister (deceased) and heard the cry of the deceased. He then saw Kamla Prasad (father-in-law of the deceased) and Manju Devi pouring kerosene oil and putting fire on the body of deceased. At that time, the informant heard Kamla Prasad saying that since the deceased had called her brother for deciding the dispute, thus, he will not leave her alive. Thereafter, deceased was brought to the hospital by the Chowkidar, where she died in the night. It is alleged that husband of the deceased namely Dinesh had illicit relation with appellant- Manju Devi, wife of late Uday Raj. The deceased was raising objection regarding the same, therefore, she called the informant for deciding the dispute. Because of that, the present occurrence took place.
(3.) It is worth mentioning that in the hospital dying declaration of the deceased recorded by P.W.-9 (Sanjay Kumar Yadav, Naib Tehsildar) at 11.30 P.M. in presence of Dr. V.K. Gupta (C.W.-1). It further appears from the record that on 10.05.2007 at 02.45 A.M., the first information report lodged in Ram Nagar police station vide case crime no. 211 of 2009, under Sections 302/34 & 120-B of the IPC and under Section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act and police took up investigation of the case. In course of investigation, the inquest report of the dead body of the deceased was prepared and thereafter the body was sent for post-mortem examination. The Doctor (P.W. 5) had conducted post-mortem examination and concluded that the deceased died due to ante-mortem burn injury. It further appears that the Investigating Officer (P.W.-11) had inspected the place of occurrence and prepared site map. The Investigating Officer also seized half burnt cloth, hair, hair puff and a container (containing about two litres of kerosene oil) from the place of occurrence. It appears that the aforesaid seized articles were sent to Forensic Science Laboratory for examination and the report of the same shows that the hair and clothes had residue of kerosene oil. During the investigation, the Investigating Officer also took statements of witnesses and after completing the investigation, submitted charge-sheet against the appellants and Dinesh Verma (son of appellant no. 1). The learned Magistrate took cognizance of the offences and committed the case to the court of Sessions.;