GYAN BAI Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellants have filed this appeal against the judgment dated 29th April, 2003 passed by Additional Sessions Judge, Umariya in Sessions Trial No.31/2002 convicting them under sections 302/34 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code and sentencing each of them to imprisonment for life with fine of Rs.1000/- and rigorous imprisonment for 2 years with fine of Rs.1000/- on each count respectively.

(2.) Prosecution case in short is that Archana, the deceased was married to accused Sukhnidhan in the year 1999. Accused Smt. Gyan Bai was her mother-in-law and accused Deep Narayan @ Dippoo was her Dewar. For about one year after the marriage they kept her alright, but thereafter started harassing her by abusing and taunting that they did not like her. Whenever Archana went to her parents' house she told to them her agony. About four months before the incident, which occurred on 27.6.2001, when Gyan Bai and Sukhnidhan quarrelled with Archana, her father-inlaw Ishwardin called her father Dwarika Prasad. Dwarika Prasad advised them to live peacefully. However, accused persons frequently misbehaved with her even before her brother Pradeep and sister Kalpana. It is alleged that on 27.6.2001 with the help of accused Deep Narayan and Gyan Bai, accused Sukhnidhan caused death of Archana by strangulating her, and with a view to screen the offence, after pouring kerosene on the dead body, set it on fire projecting it to be a case of suicide.

(3.) Ishwardin, father-in-law of deceased, gave written intimation of incident to police Naurozabad whereupon marg Ex.P/15 was recorded. ASI Dinesh Tripathi (PW-17), on the same day, went to spot and conducted inquest proceedings. He drew inquest memo Ex.P/2. He sent the dead body of Archana for postmortem examination to Primary Health Centre, Dhuldhuli where Dr.K.L.Baghel (PW-16) conducted autopsy and found burns on whole body of deceased. In his opinion, cause of death of deceased was asphyxia due to mechanical obstruction of air passage. Burns were postmortem. He also found a foetus of about 8-10 weeks duration in the uterus of deceased.