T M RAJU ALIAS KENCHA Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal is filed by the convicted accused against the judgment and order of conviction dated 13.10.2011 passed by the 5th Additional Sessions Court, Mysore, in SC.No.192/2010. The accused -appellant herein was charged and tried for the offences punishable under Sections 498A and 302 of IPC and Sections 3 and 4 of Dowry Prohibition Act.

(2.) CASE of the prosecution in brief is that marriage of the deceased with accused was performed on 19.5.2005; out of the said wed -lock, a child is born; at the time of marriage, accused demanded dowry of Rs.15,000/ -, however parents of the deceased had paid Rs.5,000/ - to the accused as dowry with an assurance that remaining amount of dowry will be paid after the marriage; husband and wife lived happily and amicably for some time after the marriage and thereafter accused started pressurizing the deceased to bring the remaining amount of Rs.10,000/ -; on that pretext, accused used to torture the victim both physically and mentally. It is further case of the prosecution that deceased had illicit relationship with Manjunath -PW.24 and on the said ground also there used to be quarrels between accused and the deceased; on the date of incident, i.e., on 27.4.2010 at 9.00 a.m., accused assaulted the deceased with chopper consequent upon which she died on the spot.

(3.) IN order to prove its case, the prosecution in all has examined 30 witnesses and marked 45 Exhibits and 10 Material Objects. On behalf of the defence, neither document was marked nor witness was examined. As aforementioned, the trial Court on evaluation of the material on record, convicted the accused for the offence punishable under Section 302 of IPC. However, accused was not convicted for the offences punishable under Section 498A of IPC and Sections 3 and 4 of Dowry Prohibition Act. It is relevant to note that trial Court has disbelieved the case of the prosecution that accused demanded dowry and that he tortured the deceased for bringing remaining amount of dowry and that was not the reason for murder.