MALYALA VISHWANATHA RAO Vs. STATE OF A P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appeal is directed against the judgment dated 11-2-1997 of the trial Court convicting the sole accused- appellant for the offences punishable under Sections 304-B, 306 and 498-A of the Indian Penal Code. By the said judgment, the accused-appellant was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of ten years for the offence under Section 304-B IPC, to suffer rigorous imprisonment for a period of ten years and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/-, in default, to suffer rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year for the offence under Section 306 IPC and to suffer rigorous imprisonment for a period of three years and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/-, in default to suffer simple imprisonment for a period of six months for the offence under Section 498-A IPC. All the above said sentences were directed to run concurrently.

(2.) The case of the prosecution in brief is, that the deceased Sunanda, who is the wife of the accused-appellant, committed suicide due to harassment meted out to her at the hands of her husband/ accused by demanding dowry. At the time of marriage on 5-1-1985, the accused was paid Rs.50,000/- dowry and three tholas of gold ornaments and 10 tholas of silver ornaments were given to the deceased Sunanda by her father, PW1. After marriage, the deceased and the accused lived happily for sometime and thereafter the accused started demanding more amounts from her parents and used to beat her on several occasions. On this demand, PW1 paid Rs.12,000/- in the year 1986. Again on 4-5-1990 the accused wrote a letter demanding Rs.50,000/- and threatened PW1 that if the amount was not paid, the deceased would be continuously beaten. Due to the said beating and also the unbearable harassment, the deceased left the company of the accused. Then the accused got issued a legal notice on PW1. Later on, the accused through mediation by elders joined the deceased Sunanda. Again the accused started beating frequently, for which the deceased wrote many letters to her father about the inhuman harassment meted out to her at the hands of the accused. Finally, she committed suicide by pouring kerosene on her body and set fire to herself.

(3.) In order to prove the charges, the prosecution examined PWs.1 to 13 and marked Exs.P1 to P39. Nobody was examined on behalf of the defence.