DEVENDER SINGH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Social problems many a times lead to very serious consequences when they are left unattended and unsolved. The case in hand is one of the most unfortunate cases where in an incident of burning lives of Sumitra alias Suman (daughter-in- law), aged 25 years, Sonu (her son) aged two years and Hoti Lal (father-in-law) aged about 50 years, have been lost. The incident took place on 11.3.1987 in the area of Police Station City, Ballabgarh. The matter was reported to the police vide statement Ex.PT and on its basis F.I.R. Ex.PT/2 was recorded. Inquest report Ex. PC/1 was prepared. The Investigating Officer Amir Singh, Sub Inspector (PW-10), prepared the rough site plan Ex. PV of the place of occurrence with marginal notes thereon.

(2.) The post mortem on the dead body of Sumitra alias Suman was conducted by (PW2) Dr. Rajesh Gupta and in the opinion of the said doctor the cause of death was shock due to extensive burns which were ante mortem in nature and sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature. The post mortem examination on two other dead bodies was also conducted.

(3.) During the investigation of the case, the statement of Thakur Singh father of the deceased and her mother Smt. Geeta Devi were recorded. They claimed that right from the inception of the marriage there was lust in the mind of in-laws of the deceased that they expected more valuables from the parents of the girl and when they did not receive the articles in the dowry they felt unhappy and dissatisfied. Still they had the hope that inadequate dowry given to them would be made good in times to come but still nearly about two years had passed but the husband and the in-laws did not get any relief and they remained annoyed on account of that. It also transpired during the course of investigation that the husband Davender Singh in addition to the aforesaid expectations of dowry articles also wanted money in cash from his in-laws so that he could build a house. He insisted upon the same demand time and again but that too could not be considered seriously by the parents of the girl. This perhaps led to the utmost unhappiness in the mind of the in-laws and they started maltreating the deceased (daughter-in-law).