BASISTH NARAYAN YADAV Vs. KAILASH RAI AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present set of appeals arise out of the common judgment and order dated 7.02.2007 of the High Court of Judicature of Patna in Criminal Appeal Nos.396, 405, 407 and 421 of 2003, whereby the High Court reversed the Trial Courts judgments and acquitted all the nine accused persons in this case. Earlier the 5th Additional Sessions Judge, Vaishali at Hajipur, being the Trial Court in the present matter, had convicted nine accused persons for the offence under Section 304-B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and sentenced them to rigorous imprisonment for ten years.

(2.) Before venturing into the facts of the case it would be expedient to mention the names of the persons involved in this case which are as follows:

(3.) The facts as per the prosecution story are that Raj Banshi Devi (now deceased) was married to Ranjit Kumar on 28.06.1987. Within 5 months of marriage, the in-laws of the deceased started torturing her and making dowry demands of a Rajdoot Motorcycle and a Television. Allegedly, the deceased was also threatened to be assaulted and killed and she was told that Ranjit Kumar would marry somebody else. The informant Basisth Narayan has stated that whenever he visited the deceased she informed him of the harassment that she suffered at the hands of her in-laws. He took her sister back to her parental home in December 1987 on her insistence since she feared of being killed. Later on, learning that Ranjit Kumar was going to marry one Sarita Kumari daughter of Bishnudeo Rai, Basisth Narayan took his sister, now deceased, to her matrimonial home on 24-06-1988. The deceased was allegedly beaten up and turned out of home by her in-laws. She again went to her matrimonial home on 01-07-1988. However, she was again badly assaulted and beaten up for not fulfilling the dowry demands on 17.07.1988. After this incident the deceased had filed a complaint before the Chief judicial Magistrate, Vaishali, against the accused persons under Sections 498A, 494 of IPC and Sections 3 and 4 of Dowry Prohibition Act. It is the further case of the prosecution that in October, 1988, the accused persons called Basisth Narayan to their house and made explicit demands of a Rajdoot Motorcycle and a Television and threatened him of facing the death of his sister. On 30.07.1989 in the morning, Basisth Narayan (the informant) received the news of his sister's death and he went to her matrimonial house where he found her sister died of burn injuries. He filed an FIR and the police conducted investigation thereupon.