(1.) Being aggrieved by the judgment and order dated 06th February, 2004 passed by the 4th Additional Sessions Judge, Nagpur in Sessions Trial No.319 of 2002 convicting the appellant for the offence punishable under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentencing him to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.500.00 and in default of payment of fine to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three months, the appellant has preferred the present appeal.
(2.) The case of the prosecution in brief is as under :- The appellant (original accused) was married to Shalu (deceased) about three years prior to the incident which took place on 25.02.2002. The couple had a daughter aged about nine months from the said wedlock. They were residing at village Sonegaon. The appellant was insisting his wife Shalu to bring Rs.20,000/ - from her parents. At the time of the marriage, the parents of Shalu gave Rs.10,000/- to the appellant/accused for ornaments and utensils. The appellant was making demand of Rs.20,000/- on and of and was ill treating Shalu for non payment of the amount. It is further the case of the prosecution that the appellant was raising doubts about the character of Shalu. Whether Shalu used to visit her parents, she used to tell the agony faced by her. Bhaurao, Father of Shalu and her brothers tried to convince the appellant accused and requested him to treat Shalu properly.
(3.) On the unfortunate day i.e. on 25.02.2002, the appellant/accused made a demand of Rs.20,000/- to Shalu and when inability was shown by Shalu, he poured kerosene on the person of Shalu and set her on fire. The appellant/accused himself admitted Shalu in Mayo Hospital, Nagpur for treatment. The information about the incident was received by the father of Shalu who immediately rushed to Mayo Hospital along with his relatives. Bhaurao visited Shalu in the hospital and on asking Shalu. she told that the appellant accused set her on fire on the ground of raising suspicion about the chastity and non payment of Rs.20,000/-. Bhaurao lodged the report and on the basis of the report, an offence came to be registered by the police under Sections 307 and 498-A of the Indian Penal code as well Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act at Police Station, Kalmeshwar. A requisition was sent to Special Judicial Magistrate for recording the dying declaration of Shalu and accordingly the Special Judicial Magistrate recorded the dying declaration in the hospital. Shalu who was under treatment, succumbed to the injuries on 02.03.2002. Pursuant to the investigating agency was set in motion and the Investigating Officer took up various steps in the investigation, such as recording the dying declaration, drawing various panchanamas such as inquest panchanama, the spot panchanama, the seizure panchanama of the articles which were seized from the spot of the incident, seeking opinion of the Medical Officer who performed the autopsy on the body of Shalu, receiving the Chemical Analyser's Report of the articles which were forwarded to the Chemical Analyser. After completion of the investigation, the charge sheet was filed before the learned Judicial Magistrate under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. The offence being exclusively triable by the Court of Session, the case was committed to the Court of Session. The defence of the accused was of total denial. It was further defence of the accused that Shalu died in an accident while she was cooking and in an attempt to save her, the accused himself also got burn injuries. The learned Sessions Judge, on appreciation of evidence, found that the evidence brought by the prosecution was sufficient to hold the accused guilty and the accused was convicted for the offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to suffer life imprisonment with fine of Rs.500/-, in default, to suffer rigorous imprisonment for three months. The judgment of the learned trial Court is under challenge.