HARBANS LAL Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is filed under S. 379, Cr.P.C. read with Section 2 of the Supreme Court (Enlargement of. Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act against the judgment of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in Criminal Appeal No. 350 DBA of 1980. There are two appellants. They were jointly tried by the Sessions Court, Ambala for the offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34, I.P.C. for causing the death of Smt. Santosh Rani alias Gulshan Rani wife of the first appellant and daughter-in-law of the second appellant and also for causing the death of baby child Sweety aged about 9 months by sprinkling kerosene oil and setting fire.. The Sessions Court, Ambala acquitted both the appellants. The State of Haryana preferred an appeal against the said order of acquittal and the Division Bench of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana interfered and convicted both the appellants under Section 302 read with Section 34, I.P.C. and sentenced each of them to undergo imprisonment for life. The facts and circumstances that gave rise to this appeal are as follows.

(2.) The deceased Santosh Rani was the daughter of P.W. 4 Diwan Chand. He got her married to the first appellant Harbans Lal two years prior to the occurrence. The second appellant Smt. Vidya Wanti is the mother of the first appellant Harbans Lal and mother-in-law of the deceased Santosh Rani. Soon after the marriage the two accused started harassing the deceased on the ground that she had brought lesser dowry. They used to abuse her and treat her in a cruel manner. One year prior to the occurrence P.W. 4 went to the house of the accused along with two elders and persuaded the accused not to harass the deceased. The accused assured that they would abide by their request. But they did not change their attitude towards the deceased. Two or three months thereafter the two accused turned the deceased out of their house. She was pregnant by then. She stayed with her father P.W. 4 and delivered the baby child Sweety, the second deceased in the case. Eight months thereafter there were again negotiations. P.W. 4 went to the house of the accused along with the elders once again. According to P.W. 4 the first appellant Harbans Lal told him that he needed Rs. 20,000/- make up the financial losses. P.W. 4 promised to give the money and later sent the deceased along with the child to the house of the accused with some cash. He could not give Rs. 20,000 / - immediately. It is alleged that the accused again started ill-treating the deceased. On 16-7-1979 at about 2.45 p.m. P.W. 5 Nanak Chand, the cousin of the first deceased was informed, while he was in the fields, by one Avtar Singh, a villager that the deceased had been burnt by her in-laws. P.W. 5 went to the village and informed his uncle P.W. 6 Nihal Chand that the deceased had been burnt by her husband and her mother-in-law inside the house by sprinkling kerosene oil on her and setting fire. Both P.Ws. 5 and 6 came to the house of the accused in Village Barara on a bicycle. They enquired the deceased who was conscious and she told them that her husband and her mother-in-law had burnt her. They found the baby child Sweety already dead. Both of them took her in a tempo to the Civil Hospital, Ambala City. P.W. 3 Dr. R. K. Khosla admitted the deceased in the hospital at 6 p.m. and informed the S.H.O. Police Station, Ambala to make arrangements for getting her dying declaration recorded. Since the police did not make any arrangements till 6.45 p.m. and as the patient was getting serious P. W. 3 recorded her dying declaration Ex.P.E. in his own hand and it was attested by two more Doctors Dr. K.C. Gupta and Dr. N. S. Yadav who were also attending on her.

(3.) In the meanwhile Harbans Lal gave a report Ex.D.E. stating that his wife Santosh Rani, the deceased after serving meals to him went inside the room where the child was already sleeping. He then heard some shrieks. coming from the room which was closed from inside. He managed to open the door by giving some pushes and inside he found Santosh Rani lying on the ground and being burnt by fire. He put some water on her for extinguishing the fire. The baby child Sweety was gasping and died soon thereafter. He sent Avtar Singh to bring the parents of the deceased. Thereafter he made arrangements to send the injured to Ambala. On the basis of this report, a case under Section 309 I.P.C. against Santosh Rani for attempting to commit suicide and also under Section 304, I. P.C. for having caused the death of her child Sweety, was registered. P.W. 9 ASI Bhopal Singh after receipt of this report rushed to other place of occurrence. There he found P.Ws. 4 to 6. He found the dead body of the child Sweety lying in the verandah. P.W. 4 -gave a report Ex.P. F./ 1 in which all the details of the earlier incident were mentioned. Then in the end it was stated that on reaching village Barara on the day of occurrence he came to know that his daughter received burn injuries and the reason for suicide was the ill-treatment meted out to her by the accused. Having given the report P.W. 4 also went to the Hospital.