STATE OF HARYANA Vs. NARESH KUMAR AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS judgment will dispose of Criminal Appeal No. 76 DBA of 1984 State of Haryana v. Naresh Kumar and Ors. and Criminal Revision No. 447 of 1984 Rajinder Parshad Gupta v. Naresh Kumar and Ors. both directed against the judgment dated August 6, 1983, of the Additional Sessions Judge, Kurukshetra, acquitting Naresh Kumar (27) his brother Brij Kumar (25) and their mother Smt. Bhagwanti (45) of an offence under Section 308 of the Indian Penal Code.

(2.) ACCORDING to the prosecution, the deceased Smt. Krishna was married to Naresh Kumar accused about seven years prior to the occurrence. She had a daughter Poonarm, aged about 6 years, from the wedlock. On July 8, 1981, at about 7.30 p.m. Smt. Krishna received extensive burns on her person. Her mother -in -law Smt. Bhagwanti, her Jethani Kusam Lata, wife of her husband's elder brother Mohan Lal were in the house at that time. Bhagwanti removed Krishna by a cycle rickshaw to the local private nursing home of Dr. O.P. Mahindru. The doctor advised that the injured be removed, to PGI Medical Institute, Chandigarh. The husband of Krishna, who is running a grossery store at Shahbad, was informed of the occurrence by a neighbour. He reached the nursing home of Dr. Mahindru. He went to arrange for a conveyance and when he returned to the nursing home, Krishna had succumbed to her injuries at 8.50 p.m. Her dead body was brought back to the house. Dr. Mahindru sent a ruqa to the police. ASI Raj Kumar PW 14 went to the house of Naresh Kumar accused. He prepared inquest report and arranged to send the dead body for post -mortem examination. On inspection of the spot, ASI Raj Kumar found an Angithi lying at some distance from the dead body. There was no fire in the Angithi at that time. He also found a partially burnt blouse and saree of the deceased which were lying there. He took the same into possession and made them into a sealed parcel.

(3.) AT the trial, the prosecution examined Dr. S.D. Arora, P.W. 1, who performed post -mortem on the dead body of Smt. Krishna. He found that the trunk upper and lower limbs and back showed redness of the affected part with the formation of blisters at various places. They were more prominent on the upper limbs. The face was spared. At a few places the skin was peeling off. Dr. Arora gave the cause of death as extensive burns, which were ante -mortem and sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature. Dr. O.P. Mahindru (PW -2) to whose Private Nursing Home the injured was taken with extensive burn injuries and where the injured died was also examined. The prosecution also examined Rajinder Parshad (PW -3) brother of the deceased, Mehar Chand PW -4, brother -in -law of the deceased, Beni Parshad PW -5, father of the deceased and Sat Parkash PW -10, another brother of the deceased. The prosecution also produced various officials of the Post Office Shahbad from where the letters were posted to the parental village of the deceased, namely, Kirmich as well as Pehowa, where letter Exhibit PI was delivered and Malkaganj Post Office Delhi where letter Exhibit PJ was received, to identify the postal cancellation stamps. The police officers who investigated the case or took part in the investigation were also examined.