JAGMOHAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) JAGMOHAN , husband of late Chander Kanta has been convicted for the offence of having murdered Chander Kanta and for which he has been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. He has also been convicted for the offence punishable under Section 498 -A IPC and for which he has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years and pay a fine in sum of Rs. 2,000/ -.

(2.) IN convicting the appellant for both offences the learned Trial Judge has relied upon the testimony of Kumari Kanchan PW -3 and Kumari Karuna PW -4 aged 10 years and 9 years respectively when their mother was burnt i.e. on 26.4.1997. The two deposed in Court after about one year of the incident. Both of them have deposed that their father used to demand money from their mother and under influence of liquor used to subject her to cruelty. Both of them have deposed that they saw their father pour kerosene oil on their mother and set her on fire. The learned Trial Judge has held that the statement Ex.PW -25/A made by Chander Kanta to SI Yashpal Singh PW -25 was her dying declaration and as per the same the appellant had poured kerosene oil on her and thereafter set her on fire. For the acts of cruelty, the learned Trial Judge has also relied upon the testimony of Chander Kanta's parents i.e. PW -1 and PW -2 as also her brother PW -23. The learned Trial Judge has also relied upon Ex.P -1, a letter proved to be written by Kanta about 15 days prior to 26.4.1997.

(3.) PROCESS of criminal law was set into motion when at 12:30 midnight on 26.4.1997 HC Paitu Oraon PW -14, the Duty Officer at PS Chandni Mahal received telephonic information about a lady having been burnt by her husband at House bearing Municipal No. 1172, Hawa Mahal, Raquab Ganj, Chandni Mahal, Delhi and recorded DD No. 4B, Ex.PW -14/A. A copy of said DD was handed over to ASI Mansa Ram PW -16 who, accompanied by Const. Sanjay Kumar PW -19 went to the place of incident and learnt that the injured lady had been removed to Jai Prakash Narain Hospital. SI Yashpal Singh PW -25 also reached the spot and took over the investigation from ASI Mansa Ram. He went to Jai Prakash Narain Hospital and collected the MLC Ex.PW -21/A of Chander Kanta which records that the patient was brought to the hospital at 12:50 A.M. by Geeta and HC Joginder and that patient was unconscious and had 100% burns on her person. It stands recorded that the history of the burns as told by Geeta is that the husband of the patient had set her on fire after pouring kerosene oil on her. As per the endorsement Ex.PW -21/B on said MLC, at 1:50 AM on the same day i.e. 26.4.1997 Dr. Shyamanta Baruah declared the patient fit for statement. In the presence of Dr. Shyamanta Baruah, SI Yashpal Singh recorded statement Ex.PW -25/A of the deceased wherein she stated that her husband Jagmohan was a drunkard and spent all his earnings on liquor. He used to tell her to arrange money from her parents, and on her being unable to do so, used to beat her. Even that day, when she declined a similar demand of Jagmohan he poured kerosene on her and set her on fire. After recording said statement SI Yashpal Singh obtained the right thumb impression of the deceased on the same. He made endorsement Ex.PW -25/B under said statement of the deceased and at 2:50 AM sent it through Const. Sushil Kumar PW -20 for the registration of an FIR. FIR Ex.PW -14/B was registered at PS Chandni Mahal for the offences punishable under Section 498 -A/307 IPC. After having sent for the registration of the FIR, SI Yashpal Singh returned to the place of occurrence, prepared a rough site plan Ex.PW -25/C thereof at the instance of the daughter of the deceased and got the site photographed. He recorded the statements of the daughters of the deceased and seized a plastic can, burnt and partly burnt clothes and one matchbox lying at the spot as recorded in seizure memo Ex.PW -3/A.