RAJNISH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment of mine shall dispose of Criminal Appeal No. 296-SB of 2000 preferred by Rajnish accused-Appellant (herein referred as, 'the accused') and Criminal Revision No. 1347 of 2000 filed by the complainant, against the judgment dated 23.2.2000/7.3.2000 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Jagadhri, vide which Mohinder, Mewa Devi, Binder and Phool Chand were acquitted, whereas, Rajnish accused was convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for eight years under Section 304-B and rigorous imprisonment for two years and to pay fine of Rs. 1000/- under Section 498-A IPC.

(2.) This is yet another case where Nirmla deceased having failed to bear the maltreatment and torture at the hands of her husband, ended her life within seven months of the marriage. Eventually FIR No. 54 dated 25.1.1998 was registered against the accused (husband), his brother Mohinder, his parents Phool Chand and Mewa Devi and Binder wife of Mohinder. The case has been registered at the instance of Jai Pal. The relevant translated extract of the statement made by Jai Pal is as under:

(3.) On the aforesaid statement made by Jai Pal on 25.1.1998, FIR Ex. PF was registered and the case was investigated. ASI Dalip Kumar recorded the statements of the witnesses, got the dead body of Nirmla postmortemed, arrested the accused Rajnish and during interrogation he disclosed that he had kept concealed a rope under an iron box in his house and he could get the same recovered and thereafter he got the said rope recovered which was taken into possession by the Investigating Officer. The postmortem report revealed that the cause of death was asphyxia due to strangulation which was anti-mortem in nature and sufficient to cause death in the normal course. On completion of the investigation, challan against all the accused was presented in the court.