ASHIM KUMAR CHAKRABORTY Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The violence against the womanhood continues unabated despite strong condemnation and outcry. This is an another sad story of a young housewife being charred to death within few months of her marriage. The prosecution case, as disclosed in the FIR and narrated during the course of the trial, was to the effect that since the inception of her marriage with the appellant Ashim Kumar Chakraborty, the young housewife Rumi Chakraborty had to face humiliation and hardship in her matrimonial house. She was quite often rebuked for her physical incapacity to domestic work. She was severely castigated after she had lost one of her ear rings. Despite promise being made by her relations to make another ring, the situation did not improve. Her ordeal continued. It reached the climax when on 07.05.94 at about 3-30 in the afternoon, her mother-in-law and husband reported to her father Subrata Kishore Chowdhury that his daughter had committed suicide by setting her ablaze. On receiving such information, her father and other relations rushed to her matrimonial house. On reaching there, they found the door of the bathroom closed. They pushed through the door into the bathroom to find her still ablaze. The body was taken out of the bathroom and thereafter it was sent to the hospital by an Ambulance. Finding the body ablaze with the appellants doing nothing to rescue the daughter, the informant had a firm conviction that his daughter had been murdered by the appellants.

(2.) With the incident being reported to the local police station, a specific case was registered against the appellants. In course of the investigation, the place of the incident was visited by the Investigating Officer. A sketch map of the place of occurrence with index was prepared. The Investigating Officer also took measurement of the door of the latrine of the bathroom. He followed it up by taking photographs of the place of occurrence. Some of the incriminating articles found at the spot were also seized. The accused persons, who were found at the place of occurrence, were also arrested. The inquest of the dead- body was made on the following date. The investigation went on with the examination of the available witnesses. The post-mortem report and as well as other reports were collected. Eventually, on collection of all those materials, chargesheet was submitted.

(3.) Both the appellants were charged with commission of offence under sections 498A IPC, 302/34 IPC and 201/34 IPC. They were charged with having committed the offence under section 498A IPC by subjecting the housewife called Rumi Chakraborty to continuous physical and mental torture. They were charged with having committed murder. Finally, they were charged with having committed the offence under section 201/34 IPC for having caused disappearance of evidence by concealing the corpse of the deceased Rumi Chakraborty in the latrine of their quarter. The appellants, however, denied all the accusations levelled against them. The trial commenced with their denial of the charges. In course of the trial, the prosecution side examined as many as seventeen witnesses. Amongst the notable witnesses were the relations and neighbour of the deceased, the doctors who examined the body from time to time and the police officers who participated in the investigation. Two witnesses also deposed on behalf of the defence. Placing strong reliance on the evidence of her relations and some of the neighbours and the factum of death as evidenced by the postmortem report, the learned Judge was pleased to convict both the appellants for commission of offence under section 302/34 IPC. Both of them were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs. 6,000/- each, in default, to suffer further rigorous imprisonment for two months. The appellants, however, were exonerated of the charges under section 498A and 201/34 IPC.