EGALAPATI SAROJANAMMA Vs. STATE OF A P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant filed this Criminal Appeal against the judgment of the learned Sessions Judge, Guntur, dated 5-02-1996 made in S.C-No. 856/1994 in convicting her under Section 498-A IPC and sentencing her to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for a period of three years and to pay a fine of Rs. 3,000/-, in default, to suffer Simple Imprisonment for six months.

(2.) The appellant is the mother-in-law of the deceased. The deceased married the son (P.W. 1) of the appellant five months prior to the date of her death i.e., 29-12-1993 in Komarapudi, Sattenapally Mandal, Guntur District. They belonged to Christian Community. At the time of the marriage, the parents of the deceased gave Rs. 3,000/- as dowry. After the marriage the deceased joined with her husband (P.W. 1) and started living with the accused in H.No. 432, K.V.P. Colony, Guntur. It is alleged that the accused was having some illicit intimacy with some one, which was noticed by the deceased and the deceased informed the same to her parents and the accused finding fault with the deceased used to harass her. It is the further case of the prosecution that the age of the P.W. 1 is double the age of the deceased and to convince the parents of the deceased, the accused gifted a house in the name of the deceased at the time of the marriage and after the marriage the accused proposing to alienate the house and she wanted to take back the entire house gifted to her and decided to get rid of the deceased and she throttled the neck of the deceased on 20-12-1993 in between 8.00 and 10.00 a.m. and due to which the deceased died and thereafter the accused created the scene by hanging the deceased with her voni and bolted the front door and came back from the back door and in order to attract the sympathy of the neighbours she shouted in front of the house stating that the deceased committed suicide and the neighbours came on her shouting and forcibly opened the door and found the deceased sitting dead, and one of the neighbours brought the deceased outside and laid on a cot.

(3.) Husband of the deceased was examined as P.W. 1. He gave the information to the police on 20-12-1993 itself at about 7.00 p.m. stating that on that fateful day he left the house at 8.00 a.m. to do mason work at bazaar. While he was at his work place, he came to know through some one about the death of his wife. He immediately rushed to his house and found his wife dead. He disowned the alleged statement said to have been given to the police. P.Ws. 2 and 3 are the neighbours deposed that on 10.00 a.m. they heard shouting of the accused stating that the deceased bolted the door from inside and committed suicide. P.W. 4 is the mother of the deceased-stated that her daughter was given in marriage to P.W. 1 prior to five months of her death. At the time of the marriage, she gave Rs. 3,000/- as dowry. During her visits to the house of the accused, whenever the deceased used to complain her that her mother-in-law (accused) is quarrelsome lady and she was harassing her on flimsy grounds etc., she used to advise her deceased daughter to ignore such bickerings. Brother of P. W. 1 informed about the death of her daughter. P.W. 5 is the brother of the deceased. He also stated that a sum of Rs. 3,000/- dowry was paid to the accused at the time of the marriage and the marriage was performed six months prior to the death of the deceased and the deceased lived happily for about 4 months and thereafter his deceased sister used to inform him during his visits to his sister's place that the accused started quarrelling with the deceased. P.W. 7 is a neighbour who stated that the accused made extra-judicial confession to her stating that the accused throttled the neck of the deceased as a result of which she died and she made the deceased to hang with her voni. P.W. 8 is also a neighbour stated that when she went to the house of the accused, the dead body of the deceased was laid in front of their house and the accused was cleaning the motion and urine extracts in one corner of the house and she found the saree which was used for hanging in the other corner of the house. P.W. 9 is the witness for the seizure of the voni (M.O. 1) and bangle pieces (M.O. 2) from the house of the accused. P.W. 10 is the Special Deputy Tahsildar who conducted inquest and submitted inquest report (Ex.P-4). P.W. 11 is the other mediator for the inquest report (Ex.P-4). P.W. 13, P.W. 14, and P.W. 15 are the police witnesses.