IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD MONDAY, THE TWENTY EIGHTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND ELEVEN Present HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G. BHAVANI PRASAD CRIMINAL APPEAL No.515 of 2008 Between: State of A.P. .. Appellant AND Naramsetti Venkata Dayananda Rao & another .. Respondents The Court made the following: HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G. BHAVANI PRASAD CRIMINAL APPEAL No.515 of 2008 JUDGMENT: The criminal appeal is directed against the acquittal of the accused in S.C.No.65 of 2004, on the file of the Additional Assistant Sessions Judge, Srikakulam, by the judgment, dated 27.12.2005, of an offence punishable under Section 304-B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short, “I.P.C.”). 2. The factual background is that the Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Srikakulam, filed a charge sheet against the accused in Crime No.88 of 2003 of II Town Police Station, Srikakulam, alleging that Naramsetty Srivalli is the wife of the first accused and daughter-in-law of the second accused with her marriage being performed on 19.02.2003. The accused were stated to have been given 20 tulas of gold and Rs.8,000/- towards household articles, but the accused were harassing the deceased Srivalli for additional dowry. The mother-in-law was harassing the daughter-in-law with the support of the husband which was informed to Voonna Vykunta Rao, Voonna Janakibai, Boyina Vykunta Rao and Boyina Bhagyalaxmi. When Srivalli came back to the parents-in-law’s house after Ashadhamasam, the accused took Voonna Vykunta Rao to task for not observing conventional formalities. Ultimately, Srivalli committed suicide by hanging herself to the ceiling fan with a nylon rope after bolting the doors from inside and on the report of Voonna Vykunta Rao, the crime was registered and investigated into. 3. After the offence was taken cognizance by the Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Srikakulam, copies of documents were furnished to both the accused when they entered appearance. The case was committed to the Court of Session in P.R.C.No.32 of 2003 and the Court of Session made over the case to the trial Court which framed charges under Section 304-B I.P.C. against both the accused on their appearance. The accused pleaded not guilty and during trial, P.Ws.1 to 16 were examined and Exs.P-1 to P-22, Exs.D-1 to D-3 and M.O.1 were marked. The accused denied the incriminating circumstances appearing in the evidence against them when they were examined under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short, “Cr.P.C”) and they produced no other defence evidence. 4. The trial Court rendered the impugned judgment referring to the evidence disclosing that P.Ws.4, 9 and Devarasetti Surya Rao settled the marriage at the house of P.W.4 and P.Ws.1 and 2 admitted that they did not even participate in the negotiations. P.Ws.1, 2 and 4 also stated that prior to settling the alliance of the first accused, they could not secure any other alliance for Srivalli. The evidence of P.Ws.1 and 2 was, therefore, considered to be not of relevance in arriving at what was deliberated between the accused and the bride’s party. The trial Court further noted that Devarasetti Surya Rao, stated to be the brother of the first accused, was claimed to have been given 20 tulas of gold and cash of Rs.8,000/- to be given to the first accused which was not specified in Ex.P-1-Report and the trial Court noted the discrepancies in the evidence of the witnesses about the manner and purpose of giving the gold and cash. The trial Court also found that there is a convention of exchanging a marriage agreement deed called Daramattu in Vysya community at the time of settlement of the marriage and no such document was there in respect of the marriage between the first accused and Srivalli. P.W.9 was noted to have not stated anything about any harassment or cruelty or demand for additional dowry and he only heard about the same. P.Ws.1 to 3 deposed about the first accused and Srivalli visiting P.W.1’s house twice after the marriage and Srivalli alone visited on the third occasion. The marital life was admitted to be happy during the first month after the marriage and the evidence of P.Ws.1 and 2 or Ex.P-1 did not disclose about Srivalli informing P.Ws.1 and 2 about any harassment. P.Ws.1 to 3 only claimed to have overheard the comments of the accused and any demands for any dowry or gifts were considered improbable in the absence of any Daramattu agreement. The trial Court further referred to the improbability of the deceased disclosing about any harassment and cruelty by the accused during her third visit, while she and the first accused were quite happy during the first two visits. The deceased was noted to have been at the house of P.W.4 for most of the time during Ashadhamasam and P.W.12 was noted to have stated that P.Ws.1 to 4 did not state to him about any disclosure by the deceased Srivalli to them concerning any abuses or harassment or cruelty by the accused for additional dowry. While P.Ws.1 to 4 were not direct witnesses to any culpable conduct of the accused, the absence of even any exchange of letters between P.Ws.1 to 3 and the deceased was also taken adverse note of. P.W.1 even claimed telephonic conversations, while P.Ws.2 and 3 admitted that there was no telephone connection for the house of P.W.1. When P.W.4 visited the house of the accused, he did not find any strain in the relationship of the deceased with them and P.Ws.5, 6 and 8, the neighbours, did not state anything against the conduct of the accused. The trial Court also noted that the deceased was five months’ pregnant by the time of her death and it was considered by the trial Court as indicating Srivalli conceiving even prior to the marriage. From the admissions of P.Ws.1 and 2 and the evidence of P.W.10-the doctor, the trial Court opined that the probability of foetus being seven months old, indicated the probability of the deceased probably suffering mental distress about her own sins leading her to put an end to her own life. The trial Court was unhappy with the investigation done and Exs.P-2 to P-7-photographs were considered to be not indicating the probability of the accused hanging the deceased to the ceiling fan. The deceased was admittedly found hanging with M.O.1-Nylon Rope and relying on P. VASU AND ANOTHER VS. STATE OF A.P. [2005 (1) ALT (Criminal) 134] rejecting the hearsay evidence of the parents of the deceased about any harassment and cruelty for dowry and P. LAXMA REDDY VS. STATE OF A.P. [2005 (2) ALT (Criminal) 316] on the drawal of the presumption under Section 113-B of the Evidence Act, 1872, and three other precedents from this Court on the effect of absence of any direct evidence and the credibility of hearsay evidence, the trial Court concluded that the accused were not guilty of the charge under Section 304-B I.P.C. 5. The consequent acquittal led the State, represented by the learned Public Prosecutor, to present the present appeal contending that the cogent and consistent evidence of the prosecution witnesses inspiring confidence should have been accepted as proof of harassment and cruelty soon before her death for Srivalli and, hence, it was requested that the acquittal be reversed. 6. Sri Rudresh Deshpande, learned counsel representing the learned Public Prosecutor/the appellant and Sri P. Raj Kumar, learned counsel representing Sri Ch. Dhanamjaya, learned counsel for the accused/respondents are heard. 7. The point for consideration is whether there are any strong and convincing circumstances to reverse the acquittal of the accused by the trial Court. 8. P.W.1 is the father of the deceased and the offending words said to have been uttered to Srivalli which were allegedly disclosed to him by her during her visit in the fourth month after the marriage were not stated to have resulted in any positive physical violence by either accused against Srivalli. The failure of the accused to serve proper food to Srivalli resulting in ill-health to her was not corroborated by any medical evidence and the evidence of P.W.1 does not disclose about his giving 20 tulas of gold and Rs.8,000/- towards Sari Saman being after any agreement between the parties at the time of settling the alliance. P.W.1 only thought that the accused themselves might have hanged Srivalli and he admitted that there was never any exchange of letters between Srivalli and himself after the marriage. P.W.1 spoke about the custom of Daramattu agreement being executed between the parties at the time of settlement of alliance, if there were demands and counter demands between the parties and the admission that there was no such document for this marriage may indicate that there were no demands or counter demands for dowry at that time due to which any demands later for additional dowry or any harassment for the inadequacy of the dowry may appear unnatural. P.Ws.1 and 2 were not even parties to the settlement of the terms of alliance and P.W.1 had to admit that he did not state in Ex.P-1 or to the police about the offending words of either accused to the deceased regarding dowry. The gold articles given to Srivalli were admitted to have been returned and P.W.1 claimed to be not remembering his own telephone number which is but unnatural and, hence, the claim that there were any telephone conversations with the deceased cannot be relied on. Though in Ex.P-15, P.W.1 stated to the Mandal Revenue Officer about giving gold and cash, the same is not devoid of the possibility of deliberation due to the silence in the earliest version Ex.P-1. 9. P.W.2, the mother of Srivalli, also admitted Srivalli being happy for a month after the marriage and positively stated that Srivalli was carrying sixth month when they took her to the house of the first accused during Sravanamasam, while Srivalli died on 04.08.2003 within less than six months from her marriage on 19.02.2003 lending credence to the analysis by the trial Court about the possibility of Srivalli conceiving even prior to the marriage which must have been the cause for the mental distress and suicide of Srivalli. P.W.2 deposing similarly as P.W.1, did not state about any positive acts of cruelty or harassment against Srivalli by the accused and admitted that they did not raise any dispute before any elders. P.W.2 stated that there was no telephone at their house in Visakhapatham contradicting the claims to the contrary by P.W.1 and P.W.2 also admitted that Srivalli was in a happy mood during her first two visits to their house along with the first accused. 10. P.W.3 is the brother of the deceased Srivalli who claimed the cash given to be Rs.18,000/- and not Rs.8,000/- as claimed by P.Ws.1 and 2. He also stated that Srivalli was happy when she visited their house for the first time after the marriage. His claim that Srivalli informed about the accused beating her was not even the claim of P.Ws.1 and 2 who only stated about verbal harassment and not physical cruelty. P.W.3 admittedly visited the house of the accused after the marriage two times and Srivalli and the first accused visited their house on two occasions and on none of the occasions, P.W.3 claimed to have found any marital discord in the life of Srivalli. P.W.3, who was not present at the time of settlement of the alliance, also stated about there being no exchange of words between the families when they reached the house of the accused on knowing about the death of Srivalli and if the alleged cruelty and harassment were true, the emotionally upset members of family of Srivalli would not have so kept quiet. 11. P.W.4 claimed to have acted as an elder along with two others for settlement of the marriage and his claims about information by Srivalli about the harassment by the accused regarding insufficiency of dowry were not corroborated by any oral or written communication from her to anybody during the life of Srivalli. P.W.4 who settled the marriage did not state about any demands from the side of the accused not having been met at the time of marriage and when P.W.4 visited the house of the accused, he found the hospitality by the accused and Srivalli to be normal and the first accused and Srivalli to be happy. The evidence of P.W.4 again that Srivalli informed about the abuses and harassment after his visit without remembering the details of the visits by Srivalli does not inspire confidence. The contents of Ex.P-16-Statement of P.W.4 to the Mandal Revenue Officer were contradicted by himself and the discrepancies between the statement to the Mandal Revenue Officer, the statement to the police and the evidence make his claims not straight away dependable. 12. P.W.5 is a neighbour to the accused and while he reached the scene on being attracted by the knockings of the doors, he made no reference to any ill-treatment of Srivalli by the accused. P.W.6 is another neighbour who was similarly attracted to the scene and P.W.8 is an opposite neighbour who stated that the first accused and Srivalli lived normally. He denied stating to the police as in Ex.P-8 and the evidence of the neighbours, thus, does not suggest any harassment or cruelty meted out to Srivalli as to attract the attention of any neighbours. 13. P.W.9, who claimed to have acted as an elder in settling the alliance, is a panchayatdar for Ex.P-9-Panchanama and he turned hostile to the prosecution. It is stated that the panchayatdars did not come to any conclusion as alleged in Ex.P-9 and the medical evidence of P.W.10 about the cause of death is not in controversy, but his evidence concerning the foetus carried by Srivalli led the trial Court to infer Srivalli to be in her seventh month of pregnancy as admitted by P.W.2. 14. While the evidence of the Investigating Officer throws no further light on the questions involved, on such evidence as above referred to, any positive conclusion about the cruelty or harassment to Srivalli could not have been assumed and the evidence of the other Police Officer about the process of investigation could not throw any further light. 15. The mother-in-law, during her examination under Section 313 Cr.P.C., stated about Srivalli being moody always which was corroborated by the neighbours in their evidence and Srivalli was claimed to have been found to be three months pregnant when she was got examined at the instance of the accused for her vomitings and ill-health soon after the marriage. As such, the probability of Srivalli conceiving some time prior to the marriage as presumed by the trial Court cannot be dismissed as unnatural or improbable and though any surmises or conjectures about Srivalli being persuaded to end her life for that reason could not have been a positive ground to acquit the accused, in the absence of any evidence worth inspiring a judicial mind to accept any harassment or cruelty by the accused in connection with any demand for dowry, the death of Srivalli being a dowry death cannot be considered proved. Though the death of Srivalli was otherwise than under normal circumstances within seven years of her marriage, in the absence of proof that soon before her death, she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or mother-in-law in connection with any demand for dowry, even the statutory presumption under Section 113-B of the Evidence Act, 1872, does not become available to the prosecution and under such circumstances, the acquittal of the accused by the trial Court does not appear to be such as to warrant interference by this Court in appeal. 16. Hence, the Criminal Appeal is dismissed. ___________________ G. BHAVANI PRASAD, J Date: 28th November, 2011 KL HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G. BHAVANI PRASAD CRIMINAL APPEAL No.515 of 2008 Date: 28th November, 2011 KL