VINOD KUMAR Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) DISBELIEVING the testimony of Kalawati PW-1, a neighbour; that of Manoj PW-2, son of the deceased and that of the appellant; also that of Kanta PW-3, cousin of the deceased and a neighbour and Mahadev PW-14, another neighbour of the deceased who deposed in Court that being annoyed with the appellant, the deceased set herself on fire, and believing the dying declaration Ex.PW-12/E of the deceased and the testimony of ASI Mahmood Ali PW-15 who had recorded the said dying declaration, vide judgment and order dated 15.9.1998 the appellant has been convicted for the offence of having murdered his wife, late Veena Rani. Vide order on sentence dated 19.9.1998, the appellant has been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life.

(2.) IT is not in dispute that the appellant had removed his wife in a burnt condition to Baqai Hospital, Dallupura Road where she was admitted on 5.7.1990 at 11:35 PM and was examined by Dr.Noimoi Nuddin Baqai PW-8, who prepared the MLC Ex.PW-8/A of Veena Rani, noting therein that as per the patient, who was brought to the hospital by her husband, she disclosed the history of her being burnt as a result of kerosene poured on her and set on fire by her husband and as per the husband and relatives/neighbours accompanying the two, Veena Rani had set herself on fire.

(3.) VEENA Rani lived on and unfortunately died on 17.7.1990. As per post-mortem report the immediate cause of death was septicaemia. The post-mortem report Ex.PW-12/A describes the condition of the dead body of VEENA Rani and in our opinion is a very vital document to resolve the deadlock of what actually happened. As per the appellant and as per the 4 stated eye-witnesses, the deceased got angry when her husband on returning home at 11:00 PM did not eat dinner prepared by his wife informing her that he had already taken dinner at his mothers house. This infuriated VEENA Rani who poured kerosene oil on herself and set herself on fire. The rival version would be the stated dying declaration of VEENA Rani.