UDAY CHAKRABORTY Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The learned Additional Sessions Judge, Arambagh convicted all the five accused persons namely, Uday Chakraborthy, Smt. Anandamoyee Chakraborthy (Appellant No. 3), Sukumar Chakraborthy (Appellant No. 2), Smt. Bela Rani Chakraborthy (Bhattacharjee) and Madhab Chakraborthy for an offence punishable under Sections 498A/304B of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as 'IPC') and sentenced them for 7 years rigorous imprisonment. No separate sentence was awarded under Section 498A of IPC on the ground that the accused persons were awarded sentence for the substantive offence of murder under Section 304B of IPC. Aggrieved from this judgment, the accused persons preferred an appeal before the High Court of Calcutta and the Bench allowed their appeal in part and order of conviction and sentence passed against Madhab Chakraborthy and Bela Rani Chakraborthy (Bhattacharjee) was set aside. However, the conviction and sentence of Uday Chakraborthy, Sukumar Chakraborthy and Smt. Anandamoyee Chakraborthy was confirmed vide its judgment dated 18th of April, 2007. Aggrieved therefrom these three appellants have filed the present appeal before this Court under Article 136 of the Constitution of India praying for setting aside the order of conviction and sentence and for an order of acquittal.

(2.) Now, we may examine the facts giving rise to the present appeal. One Ms. Mina was married to Uday Chakraborthy on 5 th of June 1994. The appellant No. 2 is the brother-in-law while appellant No. 3 is mother-in-law of deceased Mina. According to the case of the prosecution, Kanailal, the father of the girl, Mina, who was later examined as PW 1 lodged a written complaint to the Officer-in- Charge, Police Station, Arambagh, Hooghly on 19th April, 1996. The complaint reads as under:

(3.) The main argument addressed before this Court by the appellant is that the learned Trial Court as well as the High Court have failed to examine that the ingredients of the offence under Sections 304B and 498A of IPC were not satisfied in the present case and as such they could not be held guilty of the said offences. The complaint lodged by the father of the deceased did not contain any allegation of demand of dowry, therefore, there was no basis whatsoever to prosecute the appellants. The judgments of these courts suffer from basic infirmity of law. In the alternative, it was also contended that the entire family of the appellant has been behind the bars for a considerable time and thus, the appellants could be released on the basis of the sentence already undergone by them. We are unable to find any merit in either of the contentions raised on behalf of the appellants. According to the father of the deceased (PW-1), at the time of marriage he had given the gifts and cash amount which were reduced in writing, however, a sum of Rs. 10,000/- remained to be given subsequently. The statement of PW 1 was fully corroborated by Shyam Sunder, the younger brother of deceased (PW 2), who specifically referred to the recording of "Chuktiparta". There is no dispute raised during the trial and even now that Mina had died because of burn injuries and she caught fire at the matrimonial home. Even, during the course of hearing, there was hardly any dispute that a "Chuktiparta" was written prior to or at the time of marriage. However, according to the appellants there was no reference of the gold chain in that "Chuktiparta". It is the contention of the appellants that the prosecution witnesses have made improvement on their statements subsequently and have added the description of the gold chain. Thus, the story of the prosecution is unbelievable.