SANJEEV KUMAR SHARMA Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ''Through the instant petition, petitioner, Sanjeev Kumar Sharma, who is presently lodged in District Jail, (Jammu) is praying for the concession of regular bail in case FIR No.105/2003 registered at Police Station, Nowabad (Jammu), initially under Sections 498A/302 read with l20B RPC, but subsequently altered to Section 306 RPC, when handled by Central Bureau of Investigation (for short referred to as CBI).

(2.) SINCE the case on hand has peculiar facts, therefore, it calls for somewhat lengthy flash back.

(3.) SINCE the complainant side was not happy with the investigation being conducted by concerned Police of Nepal, one Shri Davinder Kumar Sharma S/o Lok Nath Sharma R/o Jammu and real uncle of the deceased (elder brother of father of the deceased) filed a private complaint in the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jammu for registration of the case against the petitioner and his parents in India, which was forwarded under Section 156 (3) Cr.P.C. to the Police Station, Nowabad, Jammu, pursuant to which, the present FIR (No. 105/03) was registered. The petitioner is now seeking bail in it only, copy thereof (in English version) is annexed as Annexure -D, the gist of which is that at the time of marriage, as per the demand of the in -laws of Romika (since deceased), everything was given to them, but despite this all they started making demand for more dowry as they were not satisfied. It is then alleged that, they used to torture Romika physically and tease and taunt her for bringing less dowry. During her stay in India, Romika was subjected to torture by her in -laws for not bringing dowry to their satisfaction and demand for Maruti car was raised. It is then alleged that when Romika went to Nepal and stayed with her husband, the same demand again surfaced and she was told that in case she did not bring car, her life would be miserable, upon which the father of the deceased booked a Maruti car on 1.7.2003 with Shaurya Motors, 13B/C, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu and paid an advance of Rs.15,000 in cash. The demand, however, got intensified after the parents of the petitioner reached Nepal in first week of July, 2003. The deceased sent a e -mail to her parents to Jammu that they will not let her live (attached with the complaint). It is then alleged that as the demand of car was intensified, the father of the deceased deposited an amount of Rs.l,73,913 with the aforesaid Company on 8.7.2003 for immediate delivery of the said vehicle. It is then alleged that incidentally on 10.7.2003, while the deceased was adjusting the documents of her husband in order, she saw one letter and a photograph of a girl and after going through the contents of that letter, she came to know that her husband had some love affair with that girl. When she asked her husband about said affair, she was given thrashing. The parents of the petitioner also manhandled the deceased and directed her to stay away from the private life of their son (petitioner). The complainant then describes the incident of 13th of July, 2003 in the same manner, as narrated by the mother of the deceased in her report with Kathmandu Police and the fact that thereafter the accused side tried to dispose of the dead body of the deceased. He then doubts the investigation conducted by Nepal Police as the petitioner had managed to manipulate the investigation by exerting pressure on it.