MOHAN LAL Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal against the judgment/order dated 4-1- 2003/6-1-2003 of the Additional Sessions Judge, Narnaul whereby he convicted Mohan Lal son of Nand Lal, Sat Parkash son of Mohan Lal and Smt. Savitri wife of Mohan Lal under Sections 302/34, IPC and sentenced them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/- each, in default to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for one month.

(2.) The case of the prosecution is unfolded by the statement Ex.PD/4 given by Renu wife of Deepak to Mr. Ajay Tewatia, J.M.I.C., Narnaul on 15-9-2001 at 12.20 p.m. in Civil Hospital, Narnaul. Renu stated that all the members of the family harassed her. A boil had developed under her armpit. After making arrangement of milk etc. for her, her husband went out of station. Her mother-in- law used to say that Renu is telling a lie and she had no problem. Her father-in-law used to ask her to show the boil to him, to which Renu replied that the place where the boil is, it cannot be shown to him. Her Jeth (husband's elder brother) also used to harass her. Her husband did not cause any harassment to her. On that day, her mother- in-law, father-in-law and Jeth confined her in a room and after pouring kerosene oil on her, set her on fire. Her father-in-law remarked that on her failure to show him the place where the boil was, she will die by burning in this manner. They put her on fire at 7.45 a.m. on 15-9-2001. She had been suffering from fever in the morning. Her jeth Sat Prakash and father-in-law Mohan Lal set her on fire. They used to harass her for seeking dowry. She was further asked by the J.M.I.C. as to whether she wanted to say anything else. She replied in negative. On the basis of this statement Ex.PD/4, FIR Ex.PF was recorded on 15-9-2001 at 3.10 p.m. A special report reached the J.M.I.C., Narnaul on 15-9-2001.

(3.) The prosecution to prove its case, brought into the witness-box Dr. Alok Jain as PW1, Dr. Ravi Sudhan Sharma as PW2, Mr. Ajay Tewatia, J.M.I.C., Narnaul as PW3, Constable Mahesh Kumar as PW4, Head- Constable Jagdish Parshad as PW5, Vinod Kumar as PW6, Babu Lai as PW7, Smt. Soma Devi as PW8, SI Rajender Singh as PW9, Inspector Joginder Nath as PW10 and Constable Surender Singh as PW11.