BUNA PANIGRAHI Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellants in this appeal assail the judgment and order of conviction passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge (Fast Track Court), Chatrapur for commission of offences under Sections 498A/302/34, IPC read with Section 4 of the D.P. Act. The learned Additional Sessions Judge (F.T.C.) has sentenced each of them to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 2000/ - and in default to undergo imprisonment for six months for the offence under Sections 302/34, IPC and to undergo R.I. for two years and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/ - and in default to undergo R.I. for three months each for the offence under Sections 498A/34, IPC and to undergo R.I. for six months and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/ - and in default to undergo R.I. for one month each for the offence under Section 4 of the D.P. Act, which are to run concurrently. The prosecution case is that appellant No. 1, who is the son of appellant No. 2, had married the deceased Jyochhana Panigrahi as per Hindu rites and customs. Before the marriage, appellant No. 1 had made a demand of Rs. 14,000/ - in cash and Rs. 10,000/ - for purchasing furniture as dowry. Out of the said demand of Rs. 24,000/ - the bride party had given only Rs. 14,000/ - at the time of marriage and promised to pay the balance amount of Rs. 10,000/ - later. After the marriage, the deceased stayed in her matrimonial home and sometime thereafter, the appellants demanded the balance amount of dowry of Rs. 10,000/ -. Since the said demand was not fulfilled, both the appellants tortured and assaulted the deceased every now and then. Whenever the deceased visited her parental home, she intimated her family members about the demand advanced by the appellants to bring the balance amount of Rs. 10,000/ - and also about the torture and assault made by the appellants to which her family members consoled saying that they would make payment at a later stage. Sometimes thereafter, the deceased and appellant No. 1 went to Bombay and stayed there for sometime. Thereafter, they returned to the village. In the village, the deceased was subjected to assault and torture. On 26.6.2002 in the early morning at 5 A.M., appellant No. 1 came to the house of the informant (P.W.4), who is the brother of the deceased and informed that his wife -Jyochhana Panigrahi had died of scorpion bite in the previous night. Getting the information the informant along with his other brother and some of his villagers went to the house of the appellants and noticed injuries on the person of the deceased. The informant suspected that her sister was beaten to death and after gathering information of such assault on the deceased by the appellants in the previous night, he lodged F.I.R. before the O.I.C., Hinjili Police Station, which led to the registration of the case and commencement of the investigation. The I.O. visited the spot, made inquest of the dead body of the deceased and sent the dead body for post -mortem examination and started investigation of the matter. After completion of the investigation, the I.O. submitted the charge sheet as against the appellants.

(2.) THE plea of the appellants was complete denial. Their plea was that the deceased had committed suicide by taking poison and that the appellants never tortured or assaulted her for dowry. The appellant No. 2 took a plea of alibi by stating in her statement under Section 313, Cr.P.C. that she was absent from her house in the night of occurrence and had stayed in the house of her daughter Rajkumari and came to know about the death in the following morning.

(3.) IN assailing the impugned judgment, Mr. Nayak, learned counsel for the appellants made the following submissions;