VINOD BHALLA Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 13-8-1985 of Sessions Judge, Rewa, passed in Sessions Trial No. 75 of 1983, where by the accused appellants have been convicted under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to imprisonment for life.

(2.) The brief history of the case is that accused appellant No. 1 Vinod Bhalla was married to Smt. Rajni (deceased) on 3/02/1982 at Allahabad. The accused-appellant No. 2 is the mother of accused-appellant No. 1 accused-appellant No. 1 is employed as cashier-cum-clerk in the State Bank of India at Sidhi, nearly 90 K. Ms. from Rewa (place of incident). Smt. Rajni (deceased) was living along with her mother-in-law (accused-appellant No. 2) in the house situated at Rewa. It is alleged that accused persons were demanding dowry from the father of the deceased and they were dissatisfied with the dowry given by the parents and relations of Smt. Rajni.

(3.) On 27-5-82, dead boy of Smt. Rajni was found in a supine position in one of the rooms situated in the first floor of the house and by the side of the store-room. Some tiles, bamboos and rafters used for supporting the tiles, were also fallen on the body. Some of those articles were also burnt. The matter was reported to police by telephone. The said information was recorded in Roznamacha Sanha No. 1429 in the city Kotwali, Rewa. Thereafter, Mahipat Singh, Town Inspector, registered a Marg vide Roznamacha Sanha No. 1444 and visited the spot. The Panchnama (Exs. P-10 and P-11) of the body of deceased Smt. Rajni were prepared. The photographs of the body and the room (Exs. P-22 to P-25) were also taken and the body was sent far post-mortem examination. P.W. 9 Dr. N. R. Moghe conducted the autopsy on the body of deceased Smt. Rajni. Since the body skin was almost burnt in all parts; including heart, kidney, spleen and liver, as such, no definite opinion could be given about the cause of death of the deceased. Viscera was preserved by the doctor for chemical analysis. P.W. 9 Dr. N. R. Moghe gave the post-mortem report (Ex. P-14). The post-mortem report, photographs and map of the spot were sent to Forensic Expert at Bhopal. P.W. 11 Dr. Heereshchandra, vide his report (Ex. P-20) and the diagram (Ex.P2l), has opined that the death, in all probability, was homicidal and had occurred between two to three hours of last meals. The accused-appellant No. 2, who was present during Panchanama proclaimed the death to be suicidal and further proclaimed that the death occurred during the morning hours.