MAHESHA Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS criminal appeal which once again concerns the familiar but unpalatable allegation of death of a married woman due to suicide raises a few interesting legal facets particularly with regard to the area of law concerning dying declarations. The deceased meenakshi was married to the accused who apparently was a carpenter by profession in the year 1990 and the couple had one child. The prosecution alleges that the accused was in the habit of ill-treating the wife particularly because of his economic condition which was further ruined due to his habit of gambling. There is not much evidence on record with regard to the causes for the ill-treatment other than the above one but the general allegation is to the effect that meenakshi was pushed to a position whereby she was very close to desperation. On 3-11-1993 at about 8. 30 p. m. meenakshi's clothes were on fire and she was screaming for help. The door of the house was locked and the evidence of the neighbours who rushed to her assistance was to the effect that they had to force open the door and extinguish the flames with a blanket. Her one-and-half year old child was found there and she was crying. There is not much indication from this evidence as to whether the accused was in the house or not, his case being that he was out of town on some work and that he came back only the next morning and rushed to the hospital on coming to know that his wife had sustained severe burn injuries. Meenakshi was taken to the hospital. The m. l. c. register contains a brief entry to the effect that the burns were due to an accident. Her statement, or rather dying declaration, because of the fact that she had sustained 70% burns and her condition was serious was recorded by the s. h. o. at about 11 p. m. on that night. On the next day when she was shifted to the hospital at shimoga her statement or more correctly defined as dying declaration No. 2 came to be recorded by the head constable. In both of these declarations, the broad version set out is to the effect that the child had accidentally pulled the kerosene lamp which fell over and caused the fire and that this was how meenakshi's clothes were set ablaze.

(2.) THE real turning point came on 8-11-1993 because by this time the relations of meenakshi particularly her mother and others had emerged on the scene and on that date, the third dying declaration which is ex. P. 5 came to be recorded by P. W. 25 who is the investigating officer. There is a detailed description in this dying declaration wherein meenakshi has recounted the problems she faced right from the stage of her marriage, how her husband had been addicted to bad habits including alcohol, how he had spent all the money which he received as a dowry, the economic problems that they faced and according to her, on 3-11-1993 which was the date of the incident a quarrel had ensued over a sum of Rs. 50/- that the quarrel got violent and the husband bolted the front door, took the kerosene bottle, doused her clothes with it while telling her that he is not afraid of going to jail and that he would kill her and he set her clothes on fire. Briefly stated, this dying declaration assumes importance because meenakshi has set out an explanation as to why she did not implicate her husband in the earlier statements and she comes out with the explanation that he and his relatives had threatened her stating that if she relates what actually happened, her husband would go to jail for life and that therefore she was instructed to put forward the accident story. She states that only after her mother arrived from belur did she narrate to her the true facts which according to her are contained in the dying declaration of that date. Next, we have ex. P. 10 which is the fourth dying declaration which has been recorded by the tahsildar, P. W. 7 on 9-11-1993 and in which meenakshi reiterates the allegations made against the accused to the effect that it was he who was responsible for burning her.

(3.) THIS is a case in which the prosecution has relied very heavily on the two dying declarations, exs. P. 5 and p. 10 because the rest of the evidence is of very little consequence being either narrative or supportive in nature. The learned trial judge has analysed the evidence before the court and has accepted the reason put forward by meenakshi for having put out an accident story right upto 8-11-1993 on the two-fold ground that she herself would have been in a state of panic after having gone through the horrifying experience of being burnt and that with only the husband and his relations around that meenakshi really did not have the courage to disclose the truth until her mother arrived on the scene and elicited exactly what had happened from her and furthermore, from the fact that these two dying declarations were recorded by the investigating officer and the tahsildar both of which inspired considerable confidence in the mind of the court, the learned trial judge has also examined very carefully the probabilities with regard to the accident story and has come to the conclusion that it is impossible to accept that the one-and-half year old child could have caused the fire by pulling the lamp as the child was totally unhurt and furthermore, that the scene of offence panchanama would not support any such version because even if the lamp had fallen over, the probability of its causing a fire which could travel to the clothes of meenakshi is simply not at all possible. On the other hand, having regard to the background of the accused, the court considered that it was most likely that the version which meenakshi had come out with only on 8-11-1993 and 9-11-1993 was the correct one. In this view of the matter, the learned trial judge though he held that there was insufficient evidence to bring home the charge under Section 498-a of the IPC convicted the accused of the offence punishable under Section 302 of the IPC and directed that he should undergo imprisonment for life. The present appeal is directed against this conviction and sentence.