Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 1 of 13The factual matrix emerging from the record is that on 21.04.1997, on receipt of DD No.17A, SI Sanwar Mal along with Ct.Subash Chand reached at House No.Q-6/105, Mangol Puri where a dead body of deceased Mithlesh was found lying at a takhat.There were ligature marks on the front side and left hand side of the neck of the deceased.It was revealed that the deceased had committed suicide by hanging.One saree was produced by appellant Malti which was seized.On 22.04.1997, SDM got the post-mortem conducted on the dead body of the deceased.On 23.04.1997, statements of Jawahar Lal and Yogesh Kumar, father and brother of the deceased respectively were recorded.Thereafter, the SDM had ordered for registration of FIR.In the marriage, he gave dowry articles though no dowry was settled.After 2/4 months of marriage, his daughter fell ill and came to his house.She told that her in-laws used to tell her that she had brought insufficient dowry and used to demand scooter or motorcycle.She also told that accused Rajinder Kumar Kohli was having illicit relations with her Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 2 of 13 mother-in-law; he used to reside there; they used to take liquor; eat meat and appellant Sham Sunder also used to take liquor.After taking liquor, appellant Sham Sunder used to beat her and abuse her and say that motorcycle was not given in the dowry.He used to tell the deceased to bring scooter or cash in lieu thereof.Deceased came to the house of the complainant; started weeping and asked him to pay the cash or scooter else her husband, mother- in-law and Rajinder Kumar Kohli would beat her.The complainant paid Rs.15,000/- to his daughter.After two months, his daughter called him again and stated that her husband and mother-in-law used to harass her for dowry and demanded cash.In July 1996, his daughter was pregnant but she was beaten up for demand of dowry which led to a miscarriage.The deceased used to send letters to the complainant demanding money; complaining against her mother-in-law, husband, Malti and Kanhiya Lal that they used to give beatings to her.Thereafter, accused persons and others came to the house of the complainant and took the deceased.In the said panchayat, they promised not to demand dowry and not to beat the deceased.Thereafter also, the complainant received letters from the deceased that she was being harassed on account of dowry and the complainant had paid Rs.30,000/- in instalments.In February 1997, appellant Sham Sunder came to his house and demanded Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 3 of 13 Rs.40,000/- for running a factory and after mortgaging his agricultural land, the complainant gave Rs.20,000/- to him.On 21.04.1997, the complainant received a call that his daughter Mithlesh had expired.Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 2 of 13Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 3 of 13During investigation, the police seized the letters allegedly written by the deceased.Mahesh, PW11 Dr.K.K. Goel, PW12 HC Naresh Kumar, PW13 Ct.Subash and PW14 SI Sanwar Mal.The statements of the accused persons were recorded under Section 313 of the Cr.P.C. Accused persons did not examine any witness in their defence.The grounds challenging the judgment of conviction is that Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 4 of 13 there is no iota of evidence against the appellants to substantiate the charge against them.During the matrimonial life, the deceased had been living with appellant Shyam Sunder and had been visiting her parental home but neither she nor any of her family member ever make any complaint regarding any demand of dowry or harassment by the appellants.No independent witness from the locality of the house of the appellants or from the house of the deceased had been produced by the prosecution.He was working in a factory at 395, Gali No.6, Tuglakabad Extn.as a tailor.He used to visit the deceased.Mithlesh told him that accused Satyawati had relations with one Rajinder as husband and wife; they both used to drink liquor together and Rajinder used to sleep with Satyawati; PW1 produced the letters and photographs handed over to him by Mithlesh and proved the same as Ex.PW1/1 and Ex.PW2 Yogesh Kumar, brother of the deceased had deposed that on 26.02.1995, his sister Mithlesh was married to accused Sham Sunder.Whenever his sister used to come to their house, she used to tell that her mother in law Satyawati was living with Rajinder Kohli and used to take liquor with him.Sham Sunder also used to take liquor with them.His sister was beaten by them.He further deposed that all the accused persons used to demand motor cycle and cash and used to harass his sister.His father agreed to pay money in instalments of Rs.2,000/- or Rs.3,000/-.Once, his father gave Rs.15,000/- to accused Sham Sunder to purchase motor cycle.His sister used to write letters to them.In Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 6 of 13 the year 1996, his sister became pregnant and she was beaten and the doctor informed that the child had died inside her womb.In the month of December 1996, 10-12 persons including the accused persons came from Mangol Puri and said that the sister of PW2 would be kept properly and would not be harassed.After one/two months, they received a letter from Mithlesh and also by telephone, she informed that she was being harassed and beaten and money was being demanded.In February/March 1997, accused Sham Sunder came to their house and demanded Rs.40,000/- for running a factory.His father after mortgaging agricultural land gave Rs.20,000/- to accused Sham Sunder.Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 6 of 1314. PW4 (PW9) Mohan Singh was the neighbour of the appellants.In his deposition, he had deposed that on 20.04.1997 when he was going to attend the call of nature and was passing from the house of the appellants, he heard Rajinder Singh and Satyawati saying to Mithlesh that she was asked to bring Rs.40,000/- and why she had brought Rs.20,000/-.She was asked to bring Rs.20,000/- more else she would be killed.He deposed that he gave Crl.P.S.TEJI, JAggrieved by the judgment of conviction dated 30.05.2001 convicting the appellants, namely, Smt.Satywwati, Shyam Sunder, Kanhiya Lal, Subhash Chand and Smt.Malti finding them guilty under Sections 304B and 498A/34 IPC and order on sentence dated 31.05.2001 vide which the appellants were sentenced to undergo seven years rigorous imprisonment for the offence under Section 304B IPC and also to undergo one year rigorous imprisonment for the offence under Section 498A IPC with fine of Rs.1,000/- each, in default of payment of fine they were ordered to further undergo Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 1 of 13 simple imprisonment for one month, the present appeal has been preferred.After completion of investigation, charge sheet was filed in the Court.5. Charge under Sections 498A/304B/34 IPC was framed against all the appellants to which they pleaded not guilty.The prosecution had examined as many as fourteen witnesses, namely, PW1 Bhagwan Singh, PW2 Yogesh Kumar, PW3 Rajinder Kumar, PW4 Mohan Singh (also PW9), PW5 Jahwar Singh, PW6 Ramesh, PW7 HC Ram Chander, PW8 Vinay Bhushan, PW10 Ct.The letters produced on record by the prosecution allegedly written by the deceased do not suggest any demand of dowry.It is further submitted that there is no evidence on record to say that there was demand of dowry or that the deceased was ever harassed or beaten by any of the appellants for or in connection with demand of dowry.Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 4 of 13Per contra, arguments advanced by learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State are that the appellants have been rightly held guilty under Sections 498A/304B IPC by the trial court.The father as well as other relatives of the deceased have duly supported the case of prosecution that the deceased was subjected to cruelty and harassment on account of demand of dowry by the appellants.There is sufficient evidence against the appellants to hold them guilty for the offences of harassment on Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 5 of 13 account of demand of dowry and of dowry death.Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 5 of 13Arguments advanced by the counsel for the appellants as well as learned APP for the State were heard.In his testimony, PW1 Bhagwan Singh had deposed that the deceased was his real brother's daughter.A. No.437/2001 Page 7 of 13 Rs.2,000/- to his daughter on three occasions and Rs.4,000/- on two occasions and Rs.15,000/- on one occasion.In February 1997, accused Sham Sunder came to his house and demanded Rs.40,000/-.This witness gave Rs.20,000/- to accused Sham Sunder after mortgaging his land.Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 7 of 13From the testimony of PW1 to PW5, it is amply clear that the deceased was being harassed by the appellants for or demand of dowry.In their testimony, these witnesses have deposed that after the marriage of the deceased with the appellant Sham Sunder, she was harassed and beaten up by the appellants for or in connection with demand of dowry.They have stated that the appellants used to demand motorcycle or cash in lieu thereof from the deceased and for the same, they used to harass her and also gave beatings to her.It is also stated by the witnesses that Jawahar Singh, father of the deceased gave Rs.2,000/- or Rs.3,000/- to the deceased on several occasions.It is also stated by the witnesses and specifically by PW5 Jawahar Singh that PW5 gave Rs.20,000/- to the appellant Sham Sunder after selling his agricultural land.Thus, from the testimony of above witnesses, there is enough evidence on record from which it has been established that the deceased was being harassed by the appellants for or in connection with demand of dowry.Therefore, the conviction of Crl.It was further observed that before an accused is found guilty for commission of an offence, the Court must arrive at a finding that the ingredients thereof have been established.It was held that statement of a witness for the said purpose must be read in its entirety.It is not necessary for a witness to make a statement in consonance with the wording of the section of a statute.What is needed is to find out whether the evidences brought on record satisfy the ingredients thereof.Necessary ingredients of dowry death as provided under Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 9 of 13 Section 304B of IPC are :Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 9 of 13(i)Deceased was the subject matter of cruelty on account of dowry and culminates into guilt of accused under Section 498A IPC;(ii)The death should have taken place due to bodily injuries other than normal circumstances; and(iii)Such death was the subject matter of cruelty soon before death.As far as death of the deceased Mithlesh is concerned, it is not in dispute that she died due to hanging which shows that the death of the deceased was not under normal circumstances and was due to the bodily injuries which fulfil the first ingredient for the commission of offence under Section 304B IPC.The second ingredient that death of the deceased had taken place within seven years of her marriage with the appellant is established from the evidence, as marriage had taken place on 26.02.1995 and her death took place on 21.04.1997 i.e. within three years of her marriage.The next and the most important ingredient required to be proved from the evidence is that the deceased was subjected to cruelty and harassment on account of demand of dowry by her husband or any relative of her husband and that was done soon before death.The prosecution has produced PW1 to PW5 to prove these ingredients.PW1 happened to be uncle of the deceased, Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 10 of 13 PW2 & PW3 happened to be brothers of the deceased, PW4 happened to be neighbour of the appellants and PW5 happened to be father of the deceased.The detailed discussion of their testimony has already been made.Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 10 of 13Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 12 of 13The appeal is disposed of accordingly.Pending application, if any, is also disposed of.(P.S.TEJI) JUDGE MAY 09, 2017 dd Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 13 of 13Crl.A. No.437/2001 Page 13 of 13

Cited provisions: Section 304B in The Indian Penal Code; Section 498A in The Indian Penal Code; Section 34 in The Indian Penal Code; Section 304 in The Indian Penal Code