SANJIB BANERJEE,J. - (1.) The appellants question their conviction under Sections 498A/302 of the Penal Code, 1860 on the ground that there is no direct evidence against them as to the commission of the offence and the dying declarations on the basis of which they have been convicted are apparently contradictory.
(2.) Victim Shila Biswas was married to Basudev in the autumn of 2008. On December 4, 2009, she was found ablaze and shouting for help on the verandah just outside her room at the matrimonial house. Two of the neighbours doused the flames. She was taken to nearby Jiaganj Hospital from where she was referred to the bigger Lalbagh Sub-divisional Hospital. The victim succumbed to her burn injuries on December 17, 2009.
(3.) The formal written complaint was lodged by the victim's father on December 13, 2009, though it recorded that the incident had been earlier verbally reported to the relevant police station. The complaint spoke of the husband and the parents-in-law of the victim pestering her to get money from her father for the husband's business; the victim being subjected to physical and mental torture on her inability to arrange for further funds from her father; and, the father requesting the husband and the parents-in-law to desist from tormenting the victim. Regarding the specific incident, the complainant narrated that "I came to know, over telephone, on 04.12.2009, at about 9.00 a.m., that (1) my son-in-law, Basudev Biswas, (2) the father-in-law of my daughter, Badal Biswas, (3) mother-in-law, of my daughter, Parul Biswas W/o - Badal Biswas, all together set fire upon my daughter, with a view to kill her.";