SHAM SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant Sham Singh, his wife Amar Kaur, their younger son Harjit Singh, their married daughter Baljit Kaur, her husband Satnam Singh and Ajinder Singh, the elder son of Sham Singh and husband of Surjit Kaur (deceased), were tried for the offence of dowry death, punishable under Section 304b, IPC of the Court of Shri L. R. Roojam, Additional Sessions Judge, Ferozepur, and were convicted thereunder and sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for seven years and to pay a fine of Rs. 2,000.00 each. In default of payment of fine they were directed to suffer further rigorous imprisonment for six months.

(2.) THE prosecution story, in brief, may be noticed as under : The informant/joga Singh had four daughters and a son. The son was younger to his two daughters. Manjit Kaur was elder daughter, while Surjit Kaur (deceased) was younger. His daughter Surjit Kaur was, however, married a fortnight earlier to the marriage of her elder sister Manjit Kaur. The marriage of Surjit Kaur was solemnized with Ajinder Singh appellant according to Sikh rites in May, 1993. After the marriage, she resided with the appellant/ Ajinder Singh. Though Joga Singh (PW 7) had given dowry, including gold ornaments, at the time of the marriage of Surjit Kaur, yet the appellants were highly dissatisfied with the dowry articles given in the marriage. This grievance became more severe since after the marriage of Manjit Kaur, which took place only a fortnight after the marriage of Surjit Kaur because in the marriage of Manjit Kaur, Joga Singh had given more gold ornaments and had also given refrigerator, cooler, television etc. The items, namely refrigerator, cooler, television etc. were not given in the marriage of Surjit Kaur. The appellants, thus, made demand for these items and started harassing Surjit Kaur, who was asked to go and tell her father to provide these things to the appellants. Since Joga Singh failed to provide the same, the harassment and torture of Surjit Kaur continued. It is alleged that the prayer for some time in order to arrange for money after the crops were ready for harvesting, was made by Joga Singh but this did not apparently satisfy the hunger for dowry of the appellants. A Panchayat was also convened to settle the dispute and in this Panchayat, the appellants participated and they were told to behave properly and not to harass Surjit Kaur for the demand of dowry, but the appellants did not desist from their (sic) harassment and torture to Surjit Kaur. Eventually Surjit Kaur died on 1. 4. 1994 as a result of asphyxia due to hanging.

(3.) THE post mortem on the dead body was conducted by Dr. Sunil Juneja (PW 1) and Dr. Sarita Kamra (PW 2) on 2. 4. 1994 at 10. 00 a. m. in Civil Hospital, Abohar. The age of the deceased was around 22 years. It was identified by constables Vijay Kumar and Bhagwan Singh, who had brought the dead body for post mortem examination. The height of the dead body was measured as 5'-1". It was an average built and nourished body. The deceased wore the shirt (Exhibit P1), Salwar (Exhibit P2), Bra (Exhibit P3), a pair o,f gold earrings (Exhibit P4), one golden nose pin (Exhibit P5), clip steel (Exhibit P6), one pair or hair pin (Exhibit P7), piece of glass bangles (Exhibit P8 ). All these items were removed from the dead body and were sealed in a parcel and were handed over to the constables, who had brought the dead body.