BHASKAR BHAURAO SOLANKHE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellant, his mother Gangaubai (accused No. 2) , brother balasaheb (accused No. 3) and sister-in-law vandana (accused No. 4) were tried for the offences punishable under section 302, 304-B, 498-A read with section 34 of the Indian Penal code (in short "the IPC"). Appellant is convicted of these offences. For the first offence he is sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/ -. For the second offence, appellant is sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for 10 years and, for the third offence, he is sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for one year and to pay fine of Rs. 500/ -. Sentence of fine carries default stipulation for non-payment. Accused nos. 2, 3 and 4 are acquitted of all the offences.

(2.) Facts of the prosecution case lie in a narrow compass. Rekha (since deceased) was daughter of Maroti Madhaorao Kadam of village Kohali, Taluka Hadgaon. She married appellant who is native of village Hastara, in the year 1998. At the time of marriage, her father had given Rs. 40,000/- and other articles as per agreement between the parties. For first two years, the deceased was nicely treated. During this period, Vaishnavi was born. About two years prior to the incident, appellant and other accused started ill-treating the deceased on the pretext that gold ring weighing five tolas promised to be given at the time of the marriage, was not given by her father. At the time of her visits to the parental house, deceased used to inform members of her family, uncle jambuwantrao (P. W. 4) , cousin grandfather krishnarao (P. W. 1) and other near acquaintances about her plight. Her parents, however, maintained that they have given all the articles at the time of the marriage as per nuptial agreement.

(3.) On 21st May, 2003 at about 5. 00 o'clock in the morning while the deceased was in the sitting room, on the instigation of accused nos. 2, 3 and 4, the appellant poured kerosene over person of the deceased and set her on fire as she did not bring gold ring from her parents. The incident was witnessed by neighbours savita and her husband Shivaji Solunke. The fire was extinguished by neighbours while the deceased was in the kitchen. After the incident accused No. 3 conveyed information regarding the episode to parents of the deceased. Thereafter, all the members of the family left the house.