RAJINDER KUMAR Vs. STATE OF HP

JUDGEMENT

(1.) APPELLANT has appealed against the judgment of Sessions court (Fast Track Court, Charnba), whereby he has been convicted of offence, punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal code, and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of rs. 20,000/-; in default of payment of fine to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a further period of two years.

(2.) PROSECUTION case, as it emerges from the evidence on record, may be summed up thus. Deceased Kamla was initially married to an employee of Public Works Department. Her husband died while in service. She was given appointment as a Class IV employee, on compassionate grounds. After some time she remarried the appellant. The appellant, who is resident of Batala Town in Gurdaspur district of Punjab and works as a mechanic at Banikhet, started living with the deceased at her parental place in village Gurdial (Sudli ). He was not happy with the marriage, because the deceased had not conceived even after about one year of the marriage. On 14th April, 2004, when the deceased was at home, appellant went there from his place of work and picked a quarrel with her, on the pretext that she had not cooked meals. He took the deceased forcibly to the kitchen and there he poured kerosene on her head from a plastic can and then lighted a matchstick and set her on fire. The deceased cried for help. Attracted by her cries. P. W. 1 Kesru ram, her father's cousin, her sister-in-law p. W. 2 Bohtu Devi, brother P. W. 3 Puran and mother P. W. 4 Manglu Devi reached the spot. They extinguished the fire. Appellant also joined them in extinguishing the fire. P. W. 5 jagdish Chand, the Pradhan of the panchayat, was informed. He, in turn, arranged to send the deceased to Civil Hospital, dalhousie, in a vehicle (Commander Jeep ). As soon as the deceased reached the hospital, the doctor informed the police. P. W. 16 ASI Amar Singh rushed to the hospital. After ascertaining from the doctor, in writing, whether the deceased was fit to make statement and on doctor's certifying that she was fit for the purpose, he recorded her statement Ex. P. W. 13/c, under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The deceased stated that the appellant had poured kerosene on her head from a can and set her on fire by lighting a match-stick. The said statement was sent to the Police Station, through P. W. 10 Constable Yogeshwar singh and the case was formally registered, on the basis of the said statement, vide FIR ex. P. W. 13/b. Spot was inspected the same day by P. W. 16 ASI Amar Singh. He seized from the kitchen, among other things, a plastic can Ex. P-5 and a match-box Ex. P4. He also got the scene photographed. The photographs are Ex. P. W. 16/1 to Ex. P. W. 16/8. Site plan was also prepared, which is ex. P. W. 16/e.

(3.) FROM Civil Hospital, Dalhousie, the deceased was referred to Zonal Hospital, dharamshala, where she died on 19th April, 2004. Post-mortem was conducted by P. W. 20 Dr. Dinesh Sharma, who found that the cause of death was burn injuries on various parts of the body, to the extent of 65 per cent.