RAVSAHEB SAHEBRAO PATIL Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Dissatisfied by the judgment and order of conviction passed by learned Ad-hoc Additional Sessions Judge, Amalner dtd. 4/2/2002 thereby convicting appellants herein for offence punishable under Ss. 306, 498-A r/w 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), surviving appellant nos.2 and 3 Sahebrao and Ushabai respectively, by invoking Sec. 374 of Cr.P.C. have assailed above judgment.

(2.) In brief, it is the case of prosecution that deceased Alkabai, daughter of informant PW1 Sitaram, was married to deceased appellant no.1 Ravsaheb and she went to cohabit with him at Bhokarbari. Everything went smooth for a year after the marriage. Husband and appellant no.2, father-in-law purchased a Jeep on loan and therefore, they asked deceased Alkabai to arrange an amount of Rs.20,000.00 from her parents for discharge of loan. Deceased promptly reported her parents, but her father PW1 Sitaram expressed his inability on the ground that he was already heavily indebted as a result of performing marriage of Alkabai. Whenever husband and father-in-law of deceased Alkabai went to drop her or bring her back from her maternal house, they put up above demand. According to prosecution, getting fed up of harassment for failure to meet the demand, Alkabai consumed poison and while undergoing treatment she succumbed, resulting into FIR by PW1 Sitaram, father deceased.

(3.) Being first appellate court, while exercising powers under Sec. 374 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, this Court undertook the exercise of re-examining, re-appreciating and re-analyzing the evidence before the trial Court to ascertain whether the findings and conclusion reached at is just, legal and proper.