IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA SLA No.70 of 2008 ANITA DEVI Versus 1. THE STATE OF BIHAR 2. NARESH SINGH 3. GANESH SINGH 4. TARA DEVI @ KAMAKHYA DEVI 5. JANARDAN SINGH @ JANNU SINGH 6. AMAR KUMAR For the petitioner : Mr. S.N. Singh, Advocate Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, Advocate For the State : Mr. S.C. Mishra, APP ----------- 3 26.02.2009 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner in support of the application seeking leave to appeal The petitioner-complainant takes exception to the judgment and order dated 16th September, 2008 passed in Tr. No. 763/2008 whereby the accuseds (O.P. nos. 2 to 6 herein) have been acquitted of the charges framed under sections 498A, 323 and 504 of Indian Penal Code. The complainant claiming herself to be the wife of Janardan Singh @ Jannu Singh lodged a case alleging torture at the hands of husband and other in-laws. Records indicate that from the very beginning, a plea was taken by the accused that the lady (complainant) was never married to Janardan Singh. The matter reached this Court in Cr. Misc. No. 11706/2004 wherein this Court observed that whether the marriage was performed or not shall be considered at the time of trial. Therefore, the duty was cast upon the complainant to prove first that she was married to - 2 - Janardan Singh. In course of trial, the prosecution examined altogether 5 witnesses. P.W. 4 Baleshwar Singh did not appear for cross- examination and as such the Trial Court has rightly ignored the evidence of P.W. 4. P.W. 5 Baijnath Singh is the father of the complainant. Categorical case of the father is that the “chheka” was performed in presence of Jagarnath Singh and Kishun Singh. This fact could be gathered from paragraph no. 8 of the judgment. The defence brought Jagarnath Singh as D.W. This witness has not stated about the marriage of the complainant with accused Janardan Singh. In these backgrounds , the learned Trial Court after careful appraisal of the evidence of P.Ws 1, 2, 3 has come to a conclusion that apart from there being material discrepancies in evidence, the prosecution has completely failed to demonstrate that marriage was at all performed with accused Janardan Singh. The Trial Court in paragraph no. 11 held as under: “It is well established that case of complainant/prosecution stand or fail on its own legs and it can not derive any strength from the weakness of defence. Ld. Counsel for complainant has argued that the case of the defence that Janardan Singh was by force taken away by Baijnath Singh and in the meantime Naresh Singh sharply reached there and brought back Janardan Singh have not been proved by either examining Naresh Singh or any police or by producing and proving Sanha entry. This weakness of defence in my view is of no help to the case of complainant. In view of defence case preponderance of doubt is manifest in the case of complainant. Moreover, date of marriage is different in the versions of complainant and her father Baijnath Singh. The evidences regarding stayal period of complainant at Makha Takiya are inconsistent. The date and period - 3 - of assault and cropping of differences are inconsistent. No detailed evidence regarding assault and medical check up report have been provided. There is absolutely no reliable evidence regarding demand of rupees 50,000 and motorcycle. To coverall, there is zero evidence regarding subsisting marriage between Anita Devi and Janardan Singh. Complainant has got no issue. In view of these circumstances of evidences, present case appears to be abuse of the process of Court. It is to be borne in mind that marriage allegedly took place on 18.7.87 whereas present case has been filed on 16.3.2000.” In what I have observed above, the consideration of the matter by the learned Trial Court cannot be said to be perverse and/or illegal meriting interference. The application seeking leave has no merit. It is, accordingly, dismissed. This court, however, observes that the finding so recorded by the Trial Court is/are confined only to judging of the case put up by the complainant-petitioner. pkj ( Kishore K. Mandal, J )