MAM KAUR Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal was filed by two ladies who stood convicted for the offence of murder by the Additional Sessions Judge vide judgment dated 28 th May, 1994. They were found guilty of murdering one Smt. Kamlesh by burning her alive on 27 th May, 1984. The deceased Kamlesh happened to be the daughter-in-law of one of the two convicts, namely, Smt. Mam Kaur and sister-in-law of the other convict, namely, Smt. Satto. Smt. Mam Kaur expired during the pendency of the appeal which she had filed jointly with her daughter Smt. Satto and, therefore, this Court is now to decide the fate of Smt. Satto, appellant no. 2 herein, only.

(2.) The prosecution case is that the deceased Smt. Kamlesh was married to DW-1 Richhpal in the year 1980. She was living in her matrimonial home along with her husband, mother-in-law(accused Mam Kaur) and married sister-in-law(accused Satto). Her mother-in-law and sister-in-law did not treat her properly after her marriage since she had not brought sufficient dowry at the time of her marriage. They started asking the parents of the deceased to give a television and a motor-cycle but their demands could not be met since the parents of the deceased could not afford to purchase television and motor-cycle. The deceased had been requesting her parents to meet the demands of her in-laws so that she could live peacefully and when her parents failed to fulfill the dowry demands of the two accused they decided to take away her life. On 27 th May, 1984, as per the further prosecution case, the mother-in-law and sister-in-law of the deceased set the deceased on fire around noon time. It appears that after setting the deceased ablaze the two accused ran away from the scene and her husband who was around entered inside the house along with two of their neighbours(PWs 1 & 3) and tried to extinguish the fire and in that process he also sustained some burn injuries. Though the deceased was rushed to a hospital immediately by her husband she could not be saved and as a consequence of the burn injuries sustained by her she died in hospital on the same day.

(3.) Before her death, the deceased had claimed at the scene of crime itself before her husband(DW-1) and two neighbours(PWs 1 & 3) and in the hospital also she had made statements before the doctor(PW-9) and the SubDivisional Magistrate (PW-19) that she had been set ablaze by her mother-in-law Smt. Mam Kaur and sister-in-law Smt. Satto. So, both of them were arrested by the police and in due course were charge-sheeted also. The statements made by the deceased before her death before different persons were treated as her dying declarations during the trial of the two accused ladies for the offence of murder. The husband of the deceased was cited by the prosecution as one of its witnesses but was given up by the prosecutor since he was of the view that he would not depose against his mother and sister. That apprehension came out to be true since the husband ultimately entered into the witness box and deposed as a defence witness and claimed that his wife had burnt herself and had falsely implicated his mother and sister. PW-3 Raghunath also turned hostile. The learned trial Court, however, relying upon the evidence of the other neighbour of the deceased PW- 1 Chander Bhan, PW-9 Dr. Rajesh Sethi and the Sub-Divisional Magistrate PW-19 Mr.S.S.Sodhi convicted both the accused under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC and sentenced them to life imprisonment vide judgment and order dated 28 th May,1994.