BIMAL KANT MISHRA Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Above named sole appellant has preferred the instant appeal against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 17th and 20th September, 1990 passed in Sessions Trial No. 35 of 1987 by the learned 2nd Additional Sessions Judge, Darbhanga whereby the appellant has been found guilty for the offence punishable under sections 302, 304B and 328 of the Indian Penal Code as well as section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act. For the offence under section 302 IPC the appellant was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life whereas for the offence under section 304 B IPC he was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years and for the offence under section 328 IPC he was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 7 years and rigorous imprisonment for one year under section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act. All the sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

(2.) Munni Kumari daughter of the informant (PW 6) Kapildeo Jha was married with Bimal Kant Mishra-appellant merely seven weeks (25th May, 1986) prior to the occurrence. The couple started residing in the house of the informant but the informant s daughter used to tell that she was being assaulted in the night and demand of Rs. 15,000/- and one scooter was made. The husband used to threat her that she would be poisoned to death. The informant used to pacify on the ground of his helplessness and poverty. On 19.7.1986 at about 8.00 AM the informant had been to his senior advocate Krishnakant Jha (PW 17), his unwell son aged five years at that time was sitting with his mother namely, the wife of the informant. At about 10.00 AM the informant s wife felt that some altercation is going on inside the room between the informant s daughter and his husband. When informant s wife went to open the door and shouted for opening it, Bimal Kant Mishra namely, the accused opened the door and speeded through bicycle. As soon as the informant s wife entered inside the room, then she found her daughter dead and foul smell was coming out from her mouth. Informant s wife started crying and sent her another minor son aged 7-8 years for calling the informant and informed him about the death of Munni Kumari. The informant suspected that his daughter has been done away. The written statement (Ext. 2) resulted into formal FIR (Ext. 15) of Sadar Darbhanga P.S. Case No. 123 of 1986 under sections 302, 328 of the Indian Penal Code and sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act. In course of investigation inquest report (Ext. 3) was prepared, post mortem report (Ext.4) was procured, sanction for prosecution ( Ext. 9) for offence under section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act was also obtained. The viscera was sent for chemical examination and the report ((Ext. 19) was received. Place of occurrence was investigated into and after investigation chargesheet was submitted and accordingly, cognizance was taken and the case was committed to the Court of Sessions where charge under sections 302, 304B, 328 of the Indian Penal Code and section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act was explained to the appellant to which he pleaded innocence and preferred to face trial.

(3.) In order to substantiate its case, the prosecution has examined PW 1 Kusheshwar Mandal, PW 2 Mod Narain Jha, PW 3 Bhagya Narain Jha, PW 4 Ashok Kumar Srivastava, PW 5 Dr. Chandra Mohan Jha, PW 6 Kapil Deo Jha, PW 7 Babu Saheb Jha, PW 8 Ram Nandan Jha, PW 9 Chandra Kant Jha, PW 10 Ratan Kumar Jha, PW 11 Rajeev Kumar Mishra, PW 12 Baleshwar Mishra, PW 13 Ganesh Kumar Jha, PW 14 Vinod Kumar, PW 15 Sewa Nand Singh, PW 16 Nirmala Devi, PW 17 Krishna Kant Jha, PW 18 Vishwanath Jha, PW 19 Rameshwar Tiwari, PW 20 Braj Bhushan Jha, PW 21 Bechan Kumar, PW 22 Md. Sadirruddin Ansari, PW 23 Singheshwar Thakur, PW 24 Sakaldeep Rai, PW 25 Chadndra Prakash Taneza and PW 26 Binay Kumar Jha.