PAWAN KUMAR Vs. STATE OF H.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal, by special leave, depicts the sorrowful story of a young girl, in the middle of her teens, falling in love with the accused-appellant and driven by the highest degree of youthful fixation, elopes with him, definitely in complete trust, and after the accused is booked for the offences punishable under Sections 363, 366 and 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), she stands behind him like a colossus determined to support which consequently leads to his acquittal. In all possibility, she might have realized that the accused should not be punished, for she was also equally at fault. Be that as it may, as per the prosecution version, he was extended the benefit of acquittal.

(2.) The sad story gets into a new and different beginning. The accused feels that he has been prosecuted due to the prosecutrix and gets obsessed with idea of threatening the girl and that continues and eventually eve-teasing becomes a matter of routine. Here, as the exposition of the prosecution uncurtains, a situation is created by the accused which becomes insufferable, where the young girl feels unassured and realizes that she could no more live in peace. The feeling gets embedded and the helpless situation compels her to think that the life is not worth living. Resultantly, she pours kerosene on her body and puts herself ablaze but death does not visit instantly and that is how she was taken to a nearby hospital, where in due course of investigation, her dying declaration is recorded, but she ultimately succumbs to her injuries and the "prana" leaves the body and she becomes a "body" - a dead one.

(3.) The question that is required to be answered is whether the accused can be convicted under Sec. 306 IPC. The case of the prosecution as projected is that deceased was the daughter of the informant, PW-1, Sukh Dev, and after acquittal in the case under Sections 363, 366 and 376 IPC, the accused-appellant used to threaten the girl that he would kidnap her, and had been constantly teasing her. It is the case of the prosecution that on 18.07.2008 at 9.00 p.m., appellant came to the house of informant and threatened him that he would forcibly take her. As the narration further unfolds on 19.07.2008 about 10.00 a.m. when the informant alongwith his wife was working outside in the field, the deceased poured kerosene oil on her and set herself ablaze which was extinguished by the father, and immediately Pradhan of Gram Panchayat was informed. The injured girl was taken to the private hospital at Daulatpur where she was referred to Chandigarh for further medical treatment but the informant could not take her to Chandigarh due to paucity of money and in the evening Pradhan of the village visited the house of the informant and the deceased gave one written document to the Pradhan stating that the accused-appellant was responsible for her condition whereafter police was informed and statement of the informant was recorded and the victim was medically examined. On 24.07.2008, the dying declaration of the girl was recorded by the Head Constable in the presence of Medical Officer and after the victim expired the post-mortem was conducted and an FIR was registered. After the criminal law was set in motion, the investigating agency after completing the investigation laid the charge sheet before the competent court which, in turn, committed the case to the Court of Session.