JUDGEMENT
ABHAY S OKA,J. -
(1.)The appellant and his parents were tried for the offences punishable under Ss. 304-B and 498-A read with Sec. 34
of the Indian Penal Code (for short, 'IPC'). While his parents were
acquitted, the Sessions Court convicted the appellant for the
offences punishable under Ss. 304-B and 498-A of IPC. For
the offence punishable under Sec. 304-B of IPC, the appellant
was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years.
For the offence punishable under Sec. 498-A of IPC, he was
sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year. He was
also sentenced to pay a fine of Rs.500.00 and, in default of payment
of the fine, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three months. By
the impugned judgment, the High Court has confirmed the
conviction and sentence.
(2.)Appellant married to deceased Asha Rani on 25/6/1996. On 2/4/1998, the deceased committed suicide. After the
postmortem, the doctors opined that the death was due to
asphyxia as a result of hanging. There were three main witnesses.
PW-6 - Inder Kala (the mother of the deceased), PW-7 - Parvinder
Kumar (brother of the deceased) and PW-8 - Ram Singh (maternal
uncle of the deceased). Both the Courts have believed the
testimony of PW-6 and PW-7.
SUBMISSIONS
(3.)The learned counsel appearing for the appellant has taken us through the notes of evidence of material prosecution
witnesses. He submitted that all the allegations made by the
witnesses regarding the demand of dowry are omissions.
Therefore, there is no legal evidence to show that the appellant
demanded dowry. Moreover, there is no evidence that the appellant
subjected the deceased to cruelty. Learned counsel relied upon a
decision of this court in the case of Charan Singh alias
Charanjit Singh v. State of Uttarakhand,2023 SCC OnLine SC 454 and submitted that
there is no evidence to show that soon before her death, the
deceased was subjected to cruelty or harassment by the appellant
for or in connection with demand for dowry. He would, therefore,
submit that in the absence of legal evidence against the appellant,
the Courts ought to have acquitted him.
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