SEKHAR RAY Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal arises out of the judgment and order dated 20/12/2004 and 21/12/2004 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, 2nd Fast Track Court, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri in Sessions Trial No. 23 of 2004 arising out of Sessions Case No. 35 of 2004.

(2.) The appellants were tried on a charge of having subjected Smt. Shanti Roy to cruelty to compel her to meet their demand for dowry due to which she committed suicide within a period of 7 years from marriage and thereby committed offences under Section 498A I.P.C., 306 I.P.C. and 304B I.P.C. The appellants pleaded not guilty and came to be tried. It was their case that Smt. Shanti Roy committed suicide as she was not happy with the marriage and at the time of incident none of them were present at home and that they have been falsely implicated by the relatives of the deceased. The trial court on conclusion of the trial found the appellants/accused guilty of having committed offence under Section 498A of I.P.C. and sentenced them to suffer R.I. for 3 years with a fine of Rs. 1000/-, in default, to suffer imprisonment for 3 months. The trial court also found them guilty of having committed offence under Section 306 of I.P.C. and sentenced them to suffer R.I. for 10 years with a fine of Rs. 3000/-, in default, to suffer imprisonment for 6 months and for having committed offence under Section 304B of I.P.C. sentenced them to imprisonment for life with a fine of Rs. 5000/-, in default, to suffer imprisonment for one year. Substantive sentences were directed to run concurrently and they were also given set off. It is the prosecution s case that Shanti Roy, who was the daughter of Late Satyapriya Saha and Smt. Satyabati Saha, was married to Shri Sekhar Roy on 20/02/1994. It was a settled marriage. In marriage a sum of Rs. 16000/- was given in cash to Sekhar Roy demanded as dowry and in addition thereto wooden cot, dressing table, alna and gold ornaments like chain, churi, hair ring, utensils, B. P. L. black and white T.V. and other household items were given. In spite of having given sufficient dowry within a short time additional demand of Rs. 5000/- was made and as family members of Shanti Roy could not arrange for a sum of Rs. 5000/-, she was treated with cruelty to the extent of causing her physical torture. The deceased Shanti Roy disclosed the fact to her brother, mother and other relatives and even requested one acquaintance of her parents to provide a sum of Rs. 5000/-. But as the demand was not fulfilled, she continued to suffer at the hands of her husband and in-laws. At the time of the incident she was pregnant carrying 8 months old foetus and she was not provided with food and treated with cruelty. As a result, on 31/07/1995 she committed suicide in the toilet of her in-laws by pouring kerosene and setting herself on fire. The incident attracted the neighbours who came to her rescue but by the time the neighbours rushed towards the place of occurrence she was burnt to death. On coming to know her relatives came to the village and learnt that the neighbours had taken her to Alipurduar S. D. Hospital where she was declared dead by the doctor. F.I.R. (Exbt. 1) came to be lodged by Chitta Ranjan Saha (P.W. 1), husband of maternal cousin of the deceased. The police prepared an inquest report under Section 174 of Cr.P.C. and the dead body was sent for post-mortem examination.

(3.) Dr. Suprobhat Jana, P.W. 9, conducted the post-mortem examination on the dead body of Smt. Chaya Saha @ Shanti Roy on 01/08/1995. According to him the dead body was identified by C/. No. 879 Aswani Kr. Barman. The whole body was almost burnt with swelling and congestion of face, eye lids and lip. Line of demarcation and vesication present. No external injury was seen, lung was congested. Uterus about 28 weeks pregnancy containing dead female foetus. In his opinion, the case appears to be the case of ante-mortem burns and the cause of death was kept pending till the report of viscera was received. The carbon copy of the P.M. report prepared by him in the same process and signed by him was marked (Ext-5). The viscera report ( Exbt. 6) shows that there was no presence of poison detected in the viscera of the deceased Chaya Saha @ Shanti Roy. Thus in his opinion the cause of death was due to ante-mortem burns. In the crossexamination, nothing has been brought on record to show that the opinion given by Dr. Jana as to the cause of death was incorrect. Therefore, we can safely conclude that the deceased Chaya Saha @ Shanti Roy died due to ante-mortem burns.