RAM KALAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant has been convicted under Section 302 of IPC and sentenced to suffer life imprisonment for committing murder of his wife Smt. Chandra. The conviction is based solely on the dying declaration of Smt. Chandra.

(2.) ON 15. 11. 1993, on being informed that Smt. Chandra had been admitted in the Burns Ward of Safderjung Hospital, DD No. 45-B PS Ambedkar Nagar was recorded and a copy thereof was handed over to SI Mukesh Kumar for verification. SI Mukesh Kumar and Const. Aslam had gone to the site of occurrence, but found no one there and thereafter visited the hospital The MLC of the deceased shows that at the stage of admission of smt. Chandra in the hospital she was alleged to have sustained burn injuries to the extent of 85 per cent allegedly on account of her husband pouring kerosene oil over her and setting her on fire. SI Mukesh Kumar thereafter made an application at 7. 10 PM on 15. 11. 1993 itself for permission to record her statement and Dr. Rohit Nayyar declared her fit for statement.

(3.) THE statement made by Ms. Chandra is to the effect that her husband had given a loan of Rs, 2,000/- to her brother's son Zile Singh. However, Zile singh did not return the loan back to her husband resulting in acrimony between the husband and wife. The deceased had alleged that the appellant used to beat her up and even on 14. 11. 1993 gave her a beating. The deceased claimed to have left for her daughter Savitri's house and returned at about 5 a. m. at which stage there was again a quarrel and her husband gave a danda blow on her waist and poured kerosene oil on her and set her on fire with a matchstick. The deceased alleged that the appellant fled from the place of occurrence, but her son Rajender (PW-4) and her son-in-law (PW-3) attended to her and after dousing the fire rushed her for medical treatment to Safderjung Hospital. The deceased alleged that the appellant had set her on fire with the intention to kill her and action be taken against him. The deceased subsequently passed away.