VIKRAM SINGH Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a criminal appeal preferred against the judgment and order dated 29.3.2004 passed by the learned Addl. Sessions Judge/F.T.C. -VI, Dehradun in ST No. 56/2003, State Vs. Vikram Singh, whereby the learned Addl. Sessions judge has convicted the accused -appellant for the offence punishable under Section 304 -B IPC and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for the period of ten years. The case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on 04.2.2003, the complainant -Gulab Singh who is the father of the deceased -Seema scribed a report, which is said to have been given at the police station on 08.2.2003 and consequent thereupon, a case under Sections 498A and 307 IPC was lodged against the accused -appellant. It has been alleged by the complainant -Gulab Singh in the report that on 4th March, 2002, marriage of the deceased -Seema was solemnized with the appellant in Dehradun but she was subjected to cruelty by her in -laws, as such, Gulab Singh brought her daughter i.e. the deceased -Seema to his house. On 27.12.2002, the appellant came to the house of his father -in -law and persuaded his father -in -law regarding taking away the deceased to her matrimonial house on the condition that he would not harass or torture, the deceased any further. He also gave in writing to the deceased to that effect. On 3rd Feb., 2003, the complainant came to know that her daughter i.e. the deceased -Seema has been burnt and she has been admitted in Doon Hospital, Dehradun. The deceased was then shifted to PGI, Chandigarh for better treatment, where her dying declaration was recorded on 7th Feb., 2003 by the Judicial Magistrate, Chandigarh. On 8th Feb., 2003, she died in PGI, Chandigarh. The said information was given to the police and consequently, the case was converted from the aforesaid sections to Section 304 -B IPC. The matter was investigated by the police and eventually, chargesheet was submitted against the accused -appellant before the court.

(2.) AFTER submission of the chargesheet, the trial court framed charge against the accused -appellant under Section 304 -B IPC. The accused -appellant denied the charge levelled against them and claimed trial.

(3.) THE accused -appellant was examined under Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The accused -appellant denied all the averments made in the evidence and challenged the varacity of the dying declaration made by the deceased soon before her death. The appellant further stated that his wife -the deceased was burnt due to her own act while she was boiling the milk on the stove and he was also not in the house at the time of the incident. The defence also examined Smt. Shashi Kala DW 1 and Jawahar Singh DW 2 in his defence to prove that the accused was not in his house at the time of the incident.