SRIKANT Vs. STATE OF M P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellant No.2 Ram Charan has died during the pendency of this appeal, hence appeal against him has been abated.

(2.) This criminal appeal has been preferred under Section 374(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure being aggrieved by the judgment, finding and sentence dated 20.12.1990 passed by Additional Sessions Judge, Dindori (M.P.) in S.T. No. 10/1990, whereby the appellant has been convicted under Section 498-A and 304-B of I.P.C. and sentenced to R.I. for 3 years and R.I. for 10 years. Both the sentences were directed to run concurrently.

(3.) The prosecution case in short is that Mamta Bai was married with this appellant Srikant in the year 1986 in the Collective Marriage Conference held at Jabalpur. At that time no any dowry was settled but afterwards the appellant started demanding dowry of Rs.15,000/- and used to harass her and subjected to cruelty on account of not fulfilling the demand. Badri Prasad Gupta (PW-17) the brother of Mamta who was Sub Engineer in Irrigation Department at Baikunthpur managed the appellant to open a hotel at Baikunthpur which was run by him for 2/4 months but the business of hotel could not run properly hence it was closed. Thereafter appellant had gone to Bhopal for business purposes. From there also he returned to Baikunthpur and intended to start the business of stationery at Vikrampur, therefore, Badri Prasad Gupta gave Rs.2500/- to him. Thereafter also he persisted his demand and got the letters written by his wife Mamta (deceased) and brother Ramakant but the parents and the brothers of deceased could not manage the same. Therefore he continued the harassment of his wife Mamta Bal. On 25.07.1989 Mamta poured kerosene over her and her daughter Ruby aged 2 years and a blazed the fire on account of which they sustained burn injuries. Guljarilal (PW-7) informed at outpost Vikrampur on the same day. This report was written in Rojnamcha Sanha (Ex.P-33C) by Ravishankar (PW-37). Sardar Makhan Singh, Principal of Government Higher Secondary School, Vikrampur recorded her dying declaration (Ex.P-26). Mamta and her daughter Ruby were sent to P.H.C. Dindori where they were admitted. Dr. S.K. Khare (PW-11) intimated the concerned police for recording her dying declaration, therefore, at the request of concerned police C.L. Yadav (PW-8), Naib Tahsildar and Executive Magistrate recorded her dying declaration (Ex.P-6). On 26.07.1989 at 3:05 a.m. Mamta died, her daughter Ruby also died. Marg intimation No.0/89 was registered at Police Station Dindori from where it was sent to Police Station Shahpur where the marg intimation No. 15/89 under Section 174 of Cr.P.C. was registered. After preparing panchnama of dead body of Mamta the postmortem examination was conducted by Dr. S.K. Khare (PW-11) and Dr. R.M. Mishra (PW-29). According to their opinion the cause of death was shock as a result of extensive burns. However, viscera and articles were preserved for further chemical and his to pathological examination. The inquiry was made. The spot map was prepared. The container of the kerosene and match box etc were seized from the spot. Other articles were also seized. On the basis of inquiry of marg intimation, F.I.R. of Crime No.81/89 under Section 306 of I.P.C. was registered at Police Station Shahpur. The statement of the witnesses were recorded during the course of investigation. The seized articles were sent to F.S.L. Sagar for chemical examination. After completing the investigation, the charge sheet was filed in the Court of J.M.F.C. Dindori who committed the case to the Sessions Court for trial.