THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SAMUDRALA GOVINDARAJU CRIMINAL APPEAL No.803 of 2011 BETWEEEN: The State of A.P. rep. By the Public Prosecutor, High Court of A.P., Hyderabad. … Appellant AND Marpu Ramana Murthy @ Ramana @Gomini … Respondent THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SAMUDRALA GOVINDARAJULU CRIMINAL APPEAL No.803 of 2011 JUDGMENT: The lower Court acquitted the accused/respondent of the charges under Sections 498-A and 306 I.P.C. by the impugned judgment. Marriage of the deceased with the accused took place more than ten years ago. PWs 1 and 2 are natural parents and PWs 3 and 4 are adoptive parents of the deceased. PWs 5 to 11 turned hostile to the prosecution totally. PWs 1 and 2 were residents of another place and therefore, the lower Court did not place any reliance on their evidence because their evidence is based on information and as they have no personal knowledge. The lower Court commented that if really there was any such harassment of the deceased by the accused, then PWs 1 and 2 could not have failed to place the matter before any elders in their village. 2. After some time of the marriage, the accused and the deceased started residing in a portion of the house provided by PWs 3 and 4 where the incident took place. The deceased committed suicide by hanging. As per the evidence of PWs 3 and 4, the accused was harassing the deceased and subjecting her to cruelty, seeking money from her for his vices, particularly drinking liquor. It is their evidence that even on the day of incident also, the accused took away Rs.8,000/- from the house, which amount was DWKRA amount collected by the deceased. It is their further evidence that the accused beat the deceased for three hours continuously and left the house and that thereafter, the deceased committed suicide by hanging. Post- mortem certificate of the deceased did not reveal any injuries on the dead body of the deceased. If really the accused beat the deceased continuously for three hours, the deceased would not have failed to sustain external and visible injuries. There being no injuries on the deceased except hanging ligature, is a circumstance which goes against the evidence of PWs 3 and 4. In those circumstances, the lower Court rightly did not place any reliance on the evidence of PWs 1 to 4. According to the accused, the deceased committed suicide because she was suffering from stomach-ache. The evidence on record is not helpful to show that the accused either harassed the deceased or instigated her, intentionally aided her in committing suicide. There are no grounds to interfere with the order of acquittal recorded by the lower Court. 3. In the result, the Criminal Appeal is dismissed. _____________________________ SAMUDRALA GOVINDARAJULU, J Dated: 08.06.2011 ysk THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SAMUDRALA GOVINDARAJUL CRIMINAL APPEAL No.803 of 2011 DATED: 08.06.2011 ysk