NEELAM KUMARI Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Criminal Appeal challenges the impugned judgment and order dtd. 11/12/2009 passed by the High Court of Himachal Pradesh whereby the conviction and sentence of the appellant has been affirmed. The appellant has been convicted under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 [For short, 'the IPC'] for committing murder of her infant son and has been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life by the Trial Court.

(2.) The facts in brief are that Nikku Ram (PW-1), who is the complainant and husband of the appellant, was married to Nirmala Devi in 1982. As there was no issue out of the said wedlock, in 2004, with the consent of Nirmala Devi, Nikku Ram married the appellant and started residing with her in a newly constructed house at village Nand. However, Nikku Ram provided a separate residence to his first wife Nirmala Devi in his ancestral village Katli.

(3.) In 2005, the appellant gave birth to a male child. The appellant never visited the ancestral village Katli and she used to dissuade her husband also from visiting the said village. The appellant used to threaten Nikku Ram that if she is compelled to visit village Katli, she would kill her son.