SURENDER SINGH & ORS. Vs. STATE OF RAJ.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner No. 3, is the father-in-law of the deceased Santosh. Petitioner No. 2 is her sister-in-law and petitioner No. 1 is the husband of petitioner No. 2. The case against them is under Sec. 304 (B), 306 and 498A I.P.C. There are other accused persons also and the husband of the deceased has been released on bail under section 439 Crimial P.C.

(2.) The present application is under section 438 Cr. P.C. The manner in which Santosh died is said to be suicide and she left a note for her father-in-law and mother-in-law, in which she did not make any allegations against anybody. But there is another note written to her father and mother in which she has mentioned that she was illtreated by everyone in her in-laws family and that she was also harassed for dowry. The matter is under investigation.

(3.) The learned counsel for the petitioners has contended that there is a general allegation about demand of dowry and there is no material to show that immediately before her death Santosh was illtreated, therefore on the basis of this general allegation, the petitioners who were not regular residents of Kekri where the deceased was residing should not be allowed to be arrested. It is also pointed out that all the three are Government servants, petitioner No. 1 being posted at Nasirabad, petitioner No. 2 and petitioner No. 3 being posted at Bhinay. Reliance has been placed on 1988 Cr. L.J. (Raj.) 157 where an old lady of 60 years was given indulgence of the provision of section 438 Cr. P.C. when there was a general statement against all the members of the family regarding demand of dowry, but no supporting evidence was found.