ALAMURI LALITHA DEVI Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants in Crl. A. No. 269/89 on the file of First Addl. Sessions Judge, Machilipatnam have preferred this revision against the judgment dated 26/09/1991 confirming their conviction and sentence for offence under Section 498A IPC in C.C. No. 1/88 on the file of Judicial Magistrate of first Class, Gudivada.

(2.) The three Revision petitioners along with another as A-2 were tried for offence under Section 498A IPC by the Judicial Magistrate of first class, Gudivada, in C.C. No. 1/88. The substance of accusation against them was that A-3 being the husband of Madhavi and the other accused being his relatives had subjected her to cruelty an offence punishable under Section 498A IPC.

(3.) The case for prosecution is in brief as follows : A1 is the wife of A4, A2 and A3 are their sons. They all belong to Gudlavaller and were living together. A3 was working in Adithya Finance Corporation at Machilipatnam and he used to go to Machilipatnam from his village by bus. P.W. 1, Baburao is the husband of Tayaramma P.W. 2. Madhavi (the deceased) was their eldest daughter. P.W. 3 was the younger sister of Madhavi. Madhavi was studying second year Law degree in the Law College at Machilipatnam. At that time, the parents of Madhavi wanted to celebrate her marriage with A3. But, Madhavi was interested in continuing her studies and was not willing for the marriage. The parents persuaded her to marry and she agreed on condition that she should be allowed to continue her studies even after the marriage. The marriage of the deceased Madhavi and A3 took place on 1-6-1986 at their village Pedana. At the time of marriage, some jewellery and other articles were presented to Madhavi and some cash was also given to A3 as dowry. Some time after the marriage, Madhavi joined her husband. A3 and A4 the husband and the father-in-law of Madhavi did not like her continuing the studies. So, she was forced to give up her studies and she was very much dissatisfied on account of it. After the marriage, it is alleged that the husband and her father-in-law persuaded Madhavi to get a Scooter for A3, so that he could conveniently go to Machilipatnam where he was employed, every day from the village to attend to his duties. Madhavi in turn told her parents about this demand. But, her parents did not comply with that. It is further alleged that the husband of Madhavi insisted on her to get a sum of R. 25,000/- from her parents for investment in the Finance Corporation on the ground that such investment would advance his prospectus in the Finance Corporation. Even this request was not conceded by the parents of Madhavi. It is further stated that A3 used to say often that if he had married elsewhere, he would have got more dowry than what he got by marrying her. Thus, on account of failure to comply with all these unlawful demands, the deceased was subjected to harrassment and cruelty. She told the same to her parents, sisters and also P.W. 4 who was their neighbour at Pedana. She was in the habit of writing diary and Ex. P. 2 was the diary written by her. The entries in the that reflected the mentally agony she suffered at the house of her in-laws. One G.V.L.N. Sastry was an employee in the Agricultural University at Hyderabad and he was also doing Archakatvam at Anjanayaswamy temple. His parents were residing at Pedana, native village of Madhavi. So, she happened to know him and used to treat him as her Guru. She wrote letters Exs. A3 the and A4 to him. In one of the letters dated 19-1-87 marked as Ex. P4, she has written that her husband is harassing her to get scooter from her father Baburao. P.W. 5 had deposed to these facts. He, also stated as Madhavi having complained to him that A3 has been often stating that he would have got more dowry if he had married some other girl.