NANHEY LAL Vs. STATE OF U P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) S. R. Singh, J. This is an application for bail under Section 439, Cr. P. C. The applicant is incarcerated in jail for the al leged commission of offences under Sec tions 498-A/304-B, I. P. C. and 3/4, Dowry Prohibition Act, registered in case crime No. 34 of 1996 at P. S. Muthiganj, Distt. Al lahabad.

(2.) THE incident in the instant case is said to have come to pass on 24-9-% at about 6 a. m. and the First Information Report of the incident was lodged at the Police Station concerned the same day at about 11. 50 a. m. by one Sri Chandra Nath Pandey father of the deceased Smi. Sandhya. Ramji Sharma, husband and Chandra Devi, mother-in-law of the deceased have also been incupated as accused besides the ap plicant, the father-in-law of the deceased, in the F. I. R. According to the allegations made in the F. I. R. THE deceased was tortured, physically and mentally, by the accused per sons for or in connection with demand of dowry and the consequent suicide by the deceased by setting herself ablaze, was the culmination of unabated torture and ill-treatment, she was subjected to. THE mar riage, according to the F. I. R. , with Ramji Sharma had been solemnised on 4-2-94 and out of the wedlock, a daughter was born on 16-6-96. THE questions surfacing up for con sideration being of substantial importance, may be summed up as below: (1) Whether the commission of suicide by woman within 7 years of her marriage would at tract of Section 304-B, I. P. C. if it is borne out that "soon before her death she was subjected to cruel ty or harassment by her husband or any relative of her husband for, or in connection with, any demand for dowry or could it at best attract only Section 306, I. P. C. ? (2) Whether a statement, written or oral, given by the woman before committing suicide that her husband and/or any relative of her hus band and been harassing or ill-treating her for, or in connection with any demand for dowry, could be relevant as dying declaration within the pur view of Section 32 (1) of the Evidence Act? (3) Whether Sections 113-A and 113-B of the Evidence Act have brought about any change in suicide and dowry death cases?

(3.) BEFORE parting with the discussion on the first question, it would be worthwhile to reckon with the scope and ambit of the expression" soon before her death" used in Section 304-B, I. P. C. and Section 113-B of the Evidence Act. The term "soon before" non-doubt, connotes a sense of proximity of time between the dowry related mal-treatment amounting to cruelty and the incident of death but it "cannot be literally construed and practically reduced to cut-and-dried formula of universal application so as to be confined in a strait-jacket. " An isolated inci dent of dowry related ill-treatment amount ing to "cruelty" meted out to the woman in the remote past, may not be independently relevant but if it forms a chain of continuous incidence of ill-treatment amounting to "cruelty" it would certainly became relevant under Sections 6 and 11 (2) of the Evidence Act. That in my opinion, is the appropriate import of the expression "soon before her death" occurring m Section 304-B, I. P. C. and 113-B of the Evidence Act.