NANJAMMA Vs. MANJUNATH AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Judgment & Order of acquittal passed by the Fast Track Court -V, Bangalore Rural District, Bangalore in S.C. No. 376/2002 is called in question in this appeal by the original complainant. It is relevant to note that the State has not filed any appeal against the Judgment & Order of acquittal.

(2.) CASE of the prosecution in brief is that Accused No. 1 is the son of Accused No. 2; Deceased Nagarathna is the wife of Accused No. 1; that the marriage between the deceased and Accused No. 1 was performed on 18.6.2000 in Sharadamba Dharma Shala at Kolar; that at the time of marriage, the parents of the deceased i.e., PWs.1 and 2 gave Rs. 50,000/ - to the Accused No. 1 in cash as dowry apart from ring, watch, clothes and other articles; that after the marriage, the deceased and Accused No. 1 were living happily alongwith Accused No. 2 at Nidagatta for about one year and then they started staying at Kimmasandra; that after one year of the marriage, Accused Nos. 1 and 2 started harassing Nagarathna demanding Rs. 1,00,000/ - from her parents (PWs.1 and 2) for purchasing the tractor; so also Accused No. 1 started harassing the victim pressurizing her to bring Rs. 50,000/ - for the purpose of digging the borewell; since PWs.1 and 2 were poor and were unable to meet the demand of the accused, they requested PW.3 (the brother of PW.2) to provide them the said money; PW.3 gave Rs. 1,00,000/ - plus Rs. 50,000/ - to PW.2 to satisfy the need of the accused and consequently PW.2 paid the said amount to the accused; with the help of the said money, Accused No. 1 purchased the tractor and dug the borewell; even thereafter the demand of the accused did not stop; as on 19.12.2001, the victim was three months pregnant; her pregnancy was forcibly aborted by the accused; since the deceased could not tolerate the ill -treatment and harassment by the accused against her, she has consumed poison at about 10.00 a.m. on 6.1.2002 and died on 7.1.2002 at Manipal Hospital, Bangalore.

(3.) SRI P.M. Nawaz, learned advocate appearing on behalf of the appellant taking us through the material on record submits that the appreciation of evidence by the Court below is improper and incorrect; the Court below has given much weightage for the minor variations in the evidence of the prosecution witnesses; the material on record clearly discloses that the accused demanded dowry and such demand was satisfied by PWs.1 and 2 with the help of PWs.3 and 4; even after the marriage, the accused used to harass the deceased by pressurizing her to bring additional amount of dowry; the accused demanded Rs. 1,00,000/ - for purchase of tractor and Rs. 50,000/ - for digging the borewell; with great difficulty and by raising the loan, PWs.1 and 2 satisfied the said need of the accused also; twenty days prior to the incident in question, the pregnancy of the victim was got terminated forcibly. In view of the same and as the deceased could not tolerate the ill -treatment and harassment by the accused against her, she committed suicide by consuming poison. On these among other grounds, he submits that the judgment of the Court below is liable to be reversed.