DHARMENDRA KUMAR SINGH Vs. THE STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The sole Appellant has been convicted under Sec. 304-B Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life by a judgment and order of conviction dated 16th July, 2011 and 20th July, 2011, respectively passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court No.4, Gaya, in Sessions Trial No.678 of 2007/193 of 2009.

(2.) The case of the prosecution according to PW 4 (Madhusudan Singh), father of the deceased, Mamta, is that he had married his daughter with the Appellant 6-7 years ago. So long her father-in-law was alive, she was kept well but after his death the Appellant used to demand Hero Honda motorcycle and on refusal he used to assault the deceased. Out of the wed lock, PW 8 (Gaurav Kumar) was also born. The deceased was fed up with the conduct of her husband and used to complain about him to her maternal family including PW 2 (Kamalesh Sharma) before whom she had been assaulted by the Appellant. He had also assaulted her in front of Upendra Sharma, another brother i.e. PW 3. On 26.08.2002, he got telephonic information that his daughter had been burnt at which Kamlesh Sharma (PW2) was informed, who went to see her at village Delha and found her burnt. The Appellant was also present, who challenged him as to how he would save his sister. However, PW 2 took her to the hospital around 4'O clock and he himself reached there at 6.00 PM. He was informed by the deceased in broken voice that the Appellant had sprinkled kerosene oil on her and burnt her. During treatment, she died the next morning at 6.00 AM and then fard-e-bayan was given at the hospital at 8.30 on 27.08.2002.

(3.) During trial, the prosecution examined nine witnesses. PW 1 (Dharmendra Kumar) has been declared hostile. PW 2 (Kamlesh Sharma), PW 3 (Upendra Sharma) are the two brothers of the deceased, whereas, PW 4 (Madhusudan Singh) is the father of the deceased. PW 9 (Kamla Thakur) is the Investigating Officer and PW 5 (Dr. Arbind Prasad) is the Doctor, who performed Post Mortem Examination, PW 6 (Rajeen Ranjan) and PW 7 (Kuna Ram Vaske) are hearsay and formal respectively.