KODADI SRINIVASA LINGAM Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The accused Nos. 1 to 3 in Sessions Case No. 471 of 1995, which was decided by the Second Additional Sessions Judge, Warangal, are the appellants herein. They were facing two charges. The first charge against A-1 to A-3 was under Section 498-A, I. P. C. The learned Judge found them guilty of the said charge and therefore sentenced them to suffer R. I. for one year and to pay a fine of Rs. 200.00 each in default to suffer S. I. for one month each. The second charge against A-1 and A-2 was under Section 302, I. P. C. The learned Judge found them guilty of the said charge and therefore sentenced them to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 200.00 each in default to suffer S. I. for one month each. The substantive sentences imposed against the accused were made to run concurrently.

(2.) The gravamen of the charge against the accused was that A-1 to A-3 harassed and ill-treated the deceased named Anitha. A-1 and A-2 poured kerosene on the person of the deceased and set her on fire on 8-3-1994 as a result of which she died in Area Hospital, Godavarikhani on 2-4-1994.

(3.) The prosecution story can briefly be narrated as follows : A-1 and A-2 are brothers. A-3 is their mother. A-1 was the husband of the deceased Anitha. P. Ws. 1 and 3 were the parents of the deceased Anitha. P. Ws. 1 and 3 performed the marriage of their daughter Anitha with A-1 in the year 1990. In the year 1992 P. W. 3 went to the house of the accused to see her daughter. After she returned, she complained to P. W. 1 that the accused refused to send their daugther and A-3 quarrelled with her. Again P. W. 1 went to the house of the accused and requested to send their daughter. But they refused to send their daughter viz., the deceased. In the month of December 1992, P. W. 1 along with caste elders i.e., P. W. 4 and others, went to the house of the accused and held a panchayat as to the reasons why the accused refused to send their daughter. At that time the deceased was preparing tea, A-1 pushed her on the kerosene stove and she received burn injuries. When demanded to send the deceased, the accused sent the deceased to the house of P. W. 1. At that time the deceased was carrying third month of pregnancy. In the month of July, 1993, she gave birth to a female child but the accused did not visit the house of P. W. 1 to see the child.