VINOD KUMAR Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the judgement and order passed on 5.3.1986 by Mr. R.L. Soni, the then IInd Additional Sessions Judge, Saharanpur. He has convicted accused appellant Vinod Kumar on a charge under Section-302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to imprisonment for life.

(2.) The prosecution story is that Smt. Anita alias Babli was married to the accused appellant Vinod Kumar on or about 9.5.1983. It was a love marriage. The accused was previously living in a railway quarter in Saharanpur. After the marriage and about 10 to 12 days before the occurrence the shifted to a rented house in Mohalla-Shormiyan which happens to be behind a mosque. This house is owned by one Gokul Prasad but has separate entity. The evidence is that the accused-appellant was not treating his wife properly after marriage. He was a petty employee in a Cotton Mill and his employment was either temporary or as a Daily Wager. Therefore, after the massage he started using his wife for procuring money from her (his ?) in-laws. His demands were met by his father-in-law a number of tunes and once a sum of Rs. 2000/- and odd was also advanced by for the purchase of a television set. But the demanded not stop and it is contended that on January, 1984 there was serious quarrel between the wife and the husband in which there was an intervention of the father of the wife namely Padam Prasad Jain and the material grandfather of the husband namely Om Prakash Gupta. On 30.1.1984 the husband wrote out a deed Ext. Ka-1 undertaking to keep his wife properly and not to ill-treat her and making a number of promises. He however did not stick even to this agreement and it is said that on 13.5.1984 he sprinkled oil over his wife in the verandah of his house and lighted her with a match stick and ran away. The result was that the lady was badly burnt and ultimately due to the burn injuries which she sustained, she died in the hospital.

(3.) It so happened that the unfortunate lady's brother P.W. 1 Suresh Chand Jain vas sitting at the residence of his another brother P.W. 2 Satendra Kumar Jain in Mohalla Lakhigate, on 13.5.1984. At about 4 p.m. the same day some children conveyed information to the two brothers about the fact that their sister was lying burnt. They immediately rushed to the residence of Vinod Kumar in Mohalla-Shormiyan along with Ramesh Chand Jain. A number of other persons including Virendra Kumar Jain, Jaychand Rai Jain, and Sushil Kumar Garg (P.W. 6) arrived on the spot. The lady was haltingly speaking, but she was coherent and in the presence of the two brothers and Sushil Kumar Garg (P.W. 6) she made an oral dying declaration to the effect that her husband wanted to get more money from her parents and when she refused he threatened that he will not see her face again, soaked her in kerosene oil and put fire to her by lighting a match stock. All this took about half an hour and the lady was then taken by one of the brothers Satendra Kumar Jain (P.W.2) to the District Hospital at Saharanpur for medical examination and treatment and the other brother Suresh Chand Jain (P.W.1) went to the police station Mandi which covers this area and lodged the first information report the same day at 6.15 p.m. Ext. Ka-2 is the report. The police immediately came into action.