IMTIYAZ KHAN Vs. STATE OF JHARKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants stand convicted and sentenced for offences under Ss. 304-B and 498-B, I.P.C. and for the offence under S. 304-B, IPC for 10 years' R.I. and the rest of the appellants for 7 years' R.I. and for the offence under Section 498-A, IPC, no separate sentence has been awarded.

(2.) The questions to be answered in this appeal are (i) what should be the standard of evidence for proving marriage for conviction under Section 304-B, I.P.C., when the marriage is not admitted and (ii) whether the fardbeyan of the victim girl in the circumstances of the case can be treated as her dying declaration?

(3.) The questions aforesaid arise out of the prosecution being initiated on the basis of the fardbeyan, Ext. 4, of the victim girl recorded on 3-5-1998 at 14 hours at R.M.C.H. by the A.S.I., S. M. Jahangir, P.W. 10, disclosing that on 13-4-1998 at about 7-8 p.m. while she was preparing meal in her Sasural, her husband Imteyez alias Sohu called on her and took her to a room where all the accused persons were there and she asked as to why she had been called for, her husband told her as to why she did not bring dowry amount of Rs. 50.000/-. She told that her father was not in a position to pay the amount. Thereafter the accused-Imtiyaz Khan tied her hand from behind, accused- Gyas Khan brought K. Oil, accused-Sazad Khan brought match and the other accused persons along with her step-mother-in-law and step-sister-in-law caught her. It is alleged that her husband threw a lighted match on her body and she started burning. Thereafter the accused persons closed the door from outside and when they were convinced that she died, they went inside the room. In the meantime, own mother-in-law of the deceased came from outside and started weeping and that the injured was brought to R.M.C.H., Ranchi, on 15-4-1998 where her treatment was going on.