KRISHNA GOPAL Vs. STATE OF MP

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Criminal Appeal has been filed under section 374 of CrPC, 1973 against the judgement and sentence dated 16/10/2003, passed by Additional Sessions Judge, Seonda, District Datia in Sessions Trial No.99/2000, whereby the appellant has been convicted under Section 304-B of IPC and sentenced to undergo the rigorous imprisonment of ten years.

(2.) The undisputed fact for disposal of the present appeal is that the appellant is the husband of the deceased Manju. The marriage of the appellant was performed with the deceased Manju about one year before her death. The prosecution story, in nutshell, is that an information was given by Bhagwan Singh Parihar (PW1) to the Police Station Pandokhar, to the effect that the deceased Manju, the wife of the appellant, has expired and on the basis of which an inquest enquiry was conducted. The enquiry was done by Sub-Inspector Hakim Singh Yadav and during enquiry, it was found that the appellant (husband of the deceased), Bhagwan Das (father-in-law of the deceased), Devabai (mother-in-law of the deceased) and Vikram (brother-in-law of the deceased) were harassing the deceased by making demand of motorcycle and money. It was also alleged that the deceased died because of hanging. On 14/4/2000, the co-accused Bhagwan Das along with Chowkidar informed the police that appellant Krishna Goptal, Devabai and he went to their field for harvesting the crops and the deceased Manju was all alone in the house and at about 09:00 am, the appellant along with her parents came back and found that the house was locked from inside. On knocking of the door, the grand-daughter of Bhagwan Das opened the door and he found that the deceased was hanging. The appellant brought her down and found that she was already dead. Devabai started weeping, as a result of which the neighbourers came there and they also noticed the dead body of the deceased Manju. After the inquest enquiry, as a case of dowry death was, prima facie, found against the accused persons, accordingly, FIR Ex.P3 was lodged on 15/04/2000. Lash Panchnama Ex.P2 was prepared. Certain injuries were found on the body of the deceased Maju. The spot map ExP4 was prepared and the dead body of the deceased was sent for postmortem and the postmortem report is Ex.P8. The statements of the witnesses were recorded. Seized articles were sent for chemical examination to FSL, Sagar through Superintendent of Police, Datia and FSL report is ExP7. After completing the investigation, charge sheet was filed for offence under Section 304-B/34 of IPC against Bhagwan Das, Devabai, Vikram and the appellant. The trial Court by order dated 07/09/2000 framed charge under Section 304-B/34 of IPC.

(3.) The accused persons including the appellant, abjured their guilt and pleaded not guilty.