STATE OF HP Vs. JAGDISH RAJ KHANTTA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal by the state is directed against the judgment of the trial Court, whereby the respondent, who was charged with and tried for offences punishable, under Sections 498-A, 306 of the indian Penal Code and Section 30 of the indian Arms Act, 1959, has been acquitted.

(2.) CASE of the prosecution may be stated thus. Deceased Suman was married to the respondent on 6-2-1984. Two children were born from the wedlock. On 7-1-1990, the deceased shot herself to death with the licensed gun of the respondent in the matrimonial home. Relatives of the deceased, including P. W. 3 Ashok Chaudhary, on being informed of the incident reached the spot. By the time the relatives of the deceased reached, police had already started inquest. On completion of the inquest proceedings and preparation of reports, dead body was sent to the hospital for post-mortem examination. Post-mortem was conducted by P. W. 1 Dr. C. S. Rathor, who observed as follows:

(3.) ON the next following day in the evening, P. W. 3 Ashok Chaudhary, a cousin, of the deceased, lodged FIR with the police alleging that the deceased used to be subjected to cruelty by the respondent and because of that she had taken her life. It was alleged that whenever the deceased and the respondent visited the parents or any relative of the deceased, the respondent at odd hours of the night would force the deceased to leave her parents/relatives' house and this he used to do after consuming liquor. He also reported that the respondent was given to excessive drinking and the deceased complained to him several times about the misbehaviour of the respondent. On 13-1-1990, the father of the deceased produced a letter Ext. P-9 along with its envelop Ext. P-10, which he received on 10-1-1990 by post. The letter was written to him by the deceased. In the letter, she wrote that the deceased had been giving beatings to her like beasts for the last six years and she had been tolerating it, but she was not in a position to tolerate it any longer. She also wrote that the respondent was very proud of his black money and often threatened her with divorce. It was also written that she was often dragged by her braid by the respondent in the presence of peons. She requested her father to do something to save her from the cruel treatment or she would be left with no alternative but to commit suicide. Envelop ext. P. 10 in which letter Ext. P-9 was alleged to have been received, bore two dated impressions of postal stamps. One impression of postal stamp bears the date 6-1-1990, the name of the place is, however, not decipherable. The other postal stamp impression is dated 10-1-1990 and the name of the Post Office is Matlahad. Police took into possession some admitted writings of the deceased and sent the letter and the envelop along with admitted writings of the deceased to the Govt. Examiner of Questioned Documents, who vide opinion Ext. P-17, opined that the writings on the letter and the envelop, Exts. P-9 and P-10, respectively, tallied with the admitted writings Mark A-1 to A-10 of the deceased.