DIN BANDHU MANDAL Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The facts leading to the present appeal may be stated as follows:

(2.) The sole appellant in Criminal Appeal No. 112 of 1998 is Prafulla Kumar Mandal. There are two appellants in Criminal Appeal No. 50/1998, namely, Dinbandhu Mandal and Bharat Mandal. All the three appellants are own and full brothers. They are inhabitants of village Narayanpur, P.S. Ranishwar in the District of Dumka. Prafulla Kumar Mandal was married to Saraswati Devi. She was daughter of Sudhir Mandal and sister of Biranchi Pada Mandal. At the time of the marriage, the father of the bride agreed to pay Rs. 42,000/- in dowry, but actually Rs. 28,000/- could be arranged. Appellant-Dinbandhu Mandal received Rs. 10,000/- while the appellant Bharat Mandal received its, 18,000/- as advance. The marriage was then performed with Saraswati Devi. After the marriage Prafulla Mandal remained at his sasural for three months, and only after panchayat regarding payment of balance dowry amount, he took his wife Saraswati Devi to his house. Whenever Saraswati Devi came to naiharT she told her brother that the balance of the dowry amount must be given to her husband otherwise her-in-laws would kill her. On 6-4-1995, Saraswati Devi died in mysterious circumstances. No information was given to her parents about her death.

(3.) Biranchi Pada Mandal gave a fardbeyan on 6-4-1995 to the officer-in-charge, Ranishwar Police Station at Narayanpur on the basis of which a case under Sections 304/34 and 498-A, Indian Penal Code and Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act was registered against these three appellants and Aloka Mandal wife of Dinbandhu Mandal. The entire prosecution case is contained in the fardbeyan of Biranchi Mandal, which formed the prosecution case. The learned Additional Sessions Judge in paragraph 2 of his judgment has given the version of Biranchi Mandal, as extracted below: