RAM LAKHAN MANDAL Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This criminal appeal is directed against the order of Shri Vinod Kumar Sinha, the 5th Additional Sessions Judge, Giridih dated 25/5/1999 and 26/5/1999 whereby and where under the learned Court held the appellants guilty in Sessions Trial No. 251 of 1994 and convicted all of them under Sections 304-B and 498-A of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced each of them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for nine years under Section 304- B of the Indian Penal Code and fine of Rs. 2,000/- each and in default simple imprisonment for three months and further to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years under Section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code and a fine of Rs. 500/- and in default one month imprisonment . However, both the sentences were ordered to be run concurrently.

(2.) The conviction arose out of the following prosecution story as appearing in the fardbeyan (Ext. 1) lodged by Ghanshyam Mandal the father of the victim girl.

(3.) It is not at all in dispute that the deceased Anita Devi was not married to Appellant No.1 and she did not die within seven years of the marriage. The autopsy of the dead body of Anita Devi was conducted by PW 5 Dr. who also proved the Post-mortem report (Ex. 2) and found no evidence of any injury on the person of the deceased and he could not ascertain the cause of death and consequently preserved the viscera but the viscera report did never reach the trial Court and therefore whether the viscera contained poison supporting the prosecution allegation of administering of poison to the deceased remains absence. The conviction is mainly based on the oral dying declaration of the deceased and its corroboration by the statement of doctor before the police (Ext. 8) who examined the deceased when she was first brought to him.