CH HYMAVATHI Vs. GOVERNMENT OF A P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner Smt. Ch Hymavathi widow of late Ch. Venkateswara Rao, a resident of Malluru Village of Konavaram Mandal, Khammam District filed this writ petition to issue a direction to the respondent to pay suitable monetary compensation and also to provide employment to the petitioner in any of the Government Department/agencies in the interest of justice and equity and to pass such other orders which are deemed fit and proper in the circumstances of the case.

(2.) The facts of the case, in nutshell, are that the petitioner was married to Sri Venkateswara Rao (hereinafter referred as 'the deceased') when she was of 19 years without disclosing that he as a epileptic patient, that both of them led normal life and whenever there used to be a epileptic attack, the deceased was given local treatment administering home made medicines as per the customs prevailing in that area, that he was also given burn treatment with turmeric root. While so, on 12-11-1989, the deceased had fits and his father administered Mader root (Jilledu veru) juice with an intention to awake the deceased from the attack, but the deceased vomitted and died sometime later even before any doctor could be consulted. It is further stated that the petitioner was innocent and she was no way responsible for administering Mader root (Jilledu veru) juice. On report, the Sub-Inspector of Police, Kunavaram, registered a case in Crime No.33 of 1989, investigated into by the Inspector of Police, Bhadrachalam, held inquest over the corpse in the presence of panch witnesses, recorded the statement of father of the deceased and others and also seized vomitted contents in pots and also 3 pieces of bark, marked as MOs.1 to 3 and were sent for chemical examination. The death of the deceased was given wide publicity in Eenadu, a Telugu daily, that the petitioner was responsible for the death of her husband and the mischievous story of the father of the deceased that "musti chekka" poison was administered by the petitioner was also carried, on the fear that he would be involved in the case. The petitioner was arrested by the police and was kept in lockup for five days and was released on bail subsequently. But her parents did not accept her on the ground that she was castigated by the society as murderer, and during that period she got pregnant due to the cruel role played by the society. When she was carrying three months pregnancy, she was re-arrested by the police on 19-11-1989 and remanded to Central Prison, Warangal, and though she intended to terminate her pregnancy, the Executive Magistrate, Kunavaram refused to grant permission for termination of pregnancy and she gave birth to a female child "Swapna".

(3.) Meanwhile, the respondents got chemical analysis report from the Director of Forensic Laboratory, Hyderabad which revealed that the deceased died due to Mader (Jilledu) a vegetable poison and as per the statement of LWs.1 and 2 examined by police under Section 161 Cr.PC the deceased was administered Jilledu root by the complainant-father of the deceased, who died during pendency of the criminal case. The petitioner, therefore, submits that the chemical analysis report, post-mortem report and the statements recorded under Section 161 Cr.PC of the complainant evidently proves that the petitioner is innocent. It is further submitted that the Investigating Officer has failed to take into consideration the above facts and foisted a case against the petitioner and due to his negligent and perfunctory investigation, the life of the petitioner was ruined and she was put to humiliation in the society and fell prey to the evicts of the society. It is further stated that the Investigating Officer does not know the botanical and generic names of the plants containing varieties of the poisons, that the State Government and the Head of the Police Department were also equally responsible for the agony caused to the petitioner inasmuch as they failed to supply the details of list of poisons referred to by ordinary names, botanical names and generic names thereby the Investigating Officers are handicapped in investigating the case. It is further stated that the plant Jallidu is called Mader in its botanical name and its generic name is "Calotropis Gigantea" which is a vegetable poison, whereas Musti chekka is know as "strychnos Nux Vomica" in its botanical name which is a spinal poison. Thus there is a difference between Jilladu vegetable poison and Musti Chekka spinal poison. It is further submitted that the clinical analysis results establish the presence of "Mader" vegetable poison. Therefore, it is clear from the above that the father of the deceased has administered Mader poison and the petitioner did not give Musti Chekka. Therefore, the petitioner was falsely implicated in the crime and for the action of the servants, the Government is liable to compensation to the petitioner for the mental agony and sufferance undergone by the petitioner. It is further submitted that the petitioner, who was accused in SC No. 59 of 1991 before the Additional Sessions Judge, Khammam, for the said offence was found not guilty and acquitted of the offence under Section 302 IPC on 8-1-1992.