SANJEET KUMAR SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants in the two appeals are the husband and sister-in-laws of the deceased.

(2.) They have been convicted under Sec. 304 B of the I.P.C. vide judgment dtd. 30/5/2017 passed by learned Additional District and Sessions Judge -cum- Fast Track Court No. 171 in Sessions Trial No. 192 of 2012 and by order dtd. 31/5/2017, they have been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life.

(3.) The F.I.R. has been lodged by the father of the deceased namely Raman Singh (P.W. 3). He has alleged in his FIR, recorded by Tej Narayan Paswan (P.W. 5) on 5/4/2011, that his daughter was burnt to death. On the same day, he had received a telephonic information that at 7:30 in the evening that the deceased has been put on fire. On such information, he along with his villagers came to the matrimonial home of the deceased and found that one of the rooms on the ground floor was still on fire, which was being doused by many villagers. After the fire was extinguished, he saw the dead body of his daughter, who appeared to him to be totally burnt. The deceased was married to appellant/Sanjeet in the year 2008 and ever since the marriage, she was not treated well by her in-laws. The deceased used to complain regarding bad treatment in her matrimonial home. Because of such treatment to the deceased, P.W. 3 had brought her to his own house. Only four days ago, appellant/Sanjeet came and took her away with the assurance that he shall keep his wife at Patna and not at his village home. Appellant/Sanjeet works at Patna in a private organization. It was, therefore, asserted by P.W. 3 that deliberately the deceased was put on fire by the appellant and others. This fardbeyan led to the lodging of the Siswan P.S. Case No. 40 of 2011 dtd. 5/4/2011 for the offences under Ss. 304 B and 120 B of the I.P.C. The police after investigation submitted charge-sheet only against the appellant and not against others whereupon the appellants were put on trial. The Trial Court, after having examined five witnesses on behalf of the prosecution including the Doctor (P.W. 4) and the I.O. (P.W. 5), convicted the appellants under Sec. 304 B of the I.P.C. and sentenced them for life imprisonment.