SK USMAN SK RAHEMAN Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN Sessions Trial No. 135/1993 the Second Additional Sessions Judge, Yavatmal convicted the appellant/accused by his judgment and order dated 28th April, 1994 for having committed offence under section 498-A of I. P. C. and he was sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for two years and pay a fine of Rs. 500/- in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for 2 months. He was also convicted for having committed offence under section 302 of I. P. C. and sentenced to suffer R. I. for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1000/- in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for three months and for having committed offence under section 201 of I. P. C. to suffer rigorous imprisonment for three years and to pay fine of Rs. 500/- in default to suffer further rigorous imprisonment for two months. The learned Additional Sessions Judge directed that the substantive sentences to run concurrently and the appellant would also be entitled to set off for the period for which he is in jail subject to the provisions of section 433-A of the Criminal Procedure Code. The learned Additional Sessions Judge acquitted the original accused No. 2 Kubrabi and accused No. 3 Syed Amin, the mother and father of the appellant/accused of the charge under section 498-A, 302 and 201 read with section 34 of I. P. C. The appellant appeals against this conviction.

(2.) THE facts were these: shabana Parvin was married to the appellant about 2 years back from the date of incident, she had delivered a female child out of the wedlook which was just two months old. Shabana Parvin was residing with the appellant/accused and his parents in house situated in Kohinoor Society at Yavatmal. It is the prosecutions case that Shabana was treated with cruelty by the appellant and his family members for the reason that she was not wellworsed in household work and did not cook food properly and further because she objected to the illicit relations between the appellant/accused and the wife of his brother on whose instigation the appellant/accused used to harass and ill-treat her.

(3.) ON 3-6-1993, at about 10. 30 a. m. persons from the locality residing in Kohinoor Society noticed the smoke coming out of the house of the accused persons and therefore, they rushed there and made attempts to extinguish the fire by throwing water on the roof of the house. At that time the appellant/accused and his parents were present. One Shakil Ahmad (P. W. 9) entered the house of the appellant/accused and saw the body of Shabana lying in burnt condition, they further noticed that the tongue of Shabana was protruding out. The appellant/accused went to the house of Gausiyabi (P. W. 3) the sister of Shabana who was residing in the nearby locality and informed her that Shabana died due to burn. Thereafter, at about 12. 00 noon the appellant/accused went to police station, Yavatmal City and filed a report that his wife had caught fire while cooking meal and she was lying unconscious in the house which came to be reduced in writing by Mr. Zarkariya and is marked as Exhibit 72 before the trial Court. Shri Zarkariya directed Azizkhan Pathan (P. W. 17) to take entry in the station diary which came to be recorded at Serial No. 31/93 vide Exhibit 68. Mr. Zarkariya then visited the house of the accused, but he did not find the appellant/accused or Shabana in the house and noticed some burnt articles and pieces of flesh (skin) lying inside the house and therefore he called Panchas and prepared the spot Panchanama under which he seized certain articles from the place. P. I. Zarkariya also requisitioned Wasudeo Ahuja (P. W. 12) photographer. According to the prosecution the appellant/accused left the police station immediately after signing the report and thereafter shifted the dead body of Shabana from his house to the hospital in auto rickshaw of one Syed Rizwan. At the hospital, the Medical Officer sent a death report Exhibit 50 of Shabana Parvin through Atul (P. W. 10) to the police station. On the basis of this report (Exhibit 50) Purushottam Isankar (P. W. 13) registered A. D. No. 43/93 and Mr. Suresh Ingle (P. W. 11) started making investigation. He went to the hospital and prepared an inquest Panchanama (Exhibit 44) of the dead body in presence of Panchas, and the dead body of Shabana was sent for postmortem examination. In the mean time the information relating to death of Shabana was conveyed to her relatives and Abdul Gani and Mohd. Sarmas (P. W. 1 and 2) also visited the place of incident.