BASANTA Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) NIDHI Agrawal was the wife of Mohanlal Agrawal applicant No. 3. She committed suicide in July, 1997, two years after her marriage. Vlth Additional Sessions Judge, Durg framed a charge under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code against the applicants, who are her husband, mother-in-law, sister-in-law and brother-in-law. An alternative charge under Section 304-B of the Indian Penal Code was also framed against applicants No. 2 and 3 who are sister-in-law and husband of the deceased.

(2.) IT is argued on behalf of the applicants that after the deceased had set herself on fire, she had made a dying declaration in the hospital in which she had stated that her relations with her in-laws were good. In her statement under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure recorded on the same day also there are no allegations against any of the applicants. Hence there was no ground for framing a charge against any of the applicants.

(3.) WE have heard Counsel for both sides and have also perused copies of the documents filed with the petition. It is true that the dying declaration does not implicate any of the applicants. But we do not agree that this is a decisive factor for framing a charge. We find that during investigation the statements of Anarkali Agrawal, Jharna Agrawal and Rakesh Agrawal were also recorded by the Police. They are the mother, younger sister and brother of the deceased. They have categorically stated that Nidhi was being continuously harassed and ill-treated in her matrimonial home. She used to complain about this to her mother. Her mother has spoken about the mental torture she was sufferingat the hands of the applicants. Her sister Jharna Agrawal has given an eye-witness account of the ill-treatment and physical violence meted out to her sister when she had gone to her on a short visit. Rakesh Agrawal has also spoken about the sufferings of his sister Nidhi. Such consistent course of maltreatment driving a woman to commit suicide would be covered under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code and it cannot, therefore, be said that there was no material to frame a charge for abetment of suicide. It was not at the stage of the charge that the Sessions Judge was required to assess and evaluate the dying declaration of the deceased. The value of the dying declaration depends on many factors and it can only be determined on the basis of the evidence that may be adduced at the trial that the dying declaration was reliable and trustworthy and was made without tutoring in a fit condition of mind.