KULJIT SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the judgment dated 18/1/2011 passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, Chandigarh in CRA ­S ­307 ­SB of 2002. By the said judgment the High Court has dismissed the appeal filed by the appellants herein and upheld the conviction of the appellants ordered by the learned Sessions Judge, Amritsar in Sessions Case No.74 of 1999 registered for the offence under Sec. 304 ­B of Indian Penal Code ('IPC' for short). The sentence of rigorous imprisonment for 8 years imposed on both the appellants by the learned Sessions Judge was however modified. In that regard, the period of imprisonment to be undergone by the appellant No.2 - Raj Rani alone was reduced to 7 years. The appellants thus being aggrieved by their conviction and sentence are before this Court in this appeal.

(2.) We have heard Mr. Himanshu Gupta, learned counsel for the appellants, Ms. Jaspreet Gogia, learned counsel for the respondent and perused the appeal papers.

(3.) The undisputed facts are that the appellant No.1 and the deceased Manju i.e. the eldest daughter of Gurnam Singh were married in the year 1997. The incident in question leading to the death of Manju had occurred on 2/3/1999 i.e in a short span of about 2 years from the date of marriage. The death of Manju, the wife of the appellant No.1 was an unnatural death. The cause of death as spoken to by the expert witnesses was due to consumption of insecticide. Therefore, ex facie it is noticed that the circumstances provided under Sec. 304 ­B IPC to the extent; the death of the woman being caused otherwise than under normal circumstances and such death having occurred within 7 years of her marriage, would stand established.