IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA Cr.Appeal No. 68 of 1997 Decided on: May 28, 2010. State of H.P. …Appellant VERSUS Ram Dass ….Respondent Coram The Hon’ble Mr.Justice R.B.Misra, Judge The Hon’ble Mr. Justice V.K. Ahuja, Judge Whether approved for reporting?1 No For the Appellant: Mr. Rajinder Dogra, Addl. A.G. and Mr. Vikash Bhardwaj, Dy. A.G. For the respondent: Mr. D. K. Khanna, Advocate V.K. Ahuja, Judge (Oral): This is an appeal, filed by the State of Himachal Pradesh against the judgment of the court of learned Sessions Judge, Solan, dated 1.8.1996, vide which the respondent was acquitted of the charge, framed against him, under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code. 2. Briefly stated, the facts of case are that on 21.3.1994, the statement of Smt. Tarawati, mother of deceased, Champa Devi, was recorded by the police officer. She alleged therein that she had married her daughter, Champa Devi with one Manoj Kumar about four years ago, who died in an accident. Thereafter, Smt. Champa Devi came to her house and about one and a half Whether the reporters of the local papers maybe allowed to see the judgment? …2… years, prior to March, 1994, she performed marriage of Smt. Champa Devi with the respondent. It was alleged that after the marriage, her daughter had come to her house once or twice and once she told her that respondent gave her beating under the influence of liquor. She asked her son-in-law, who assured not to repeat this act in future. She further alleged that the respondent or his family members never made any demand of dowry from her. She further alleged that she learnt about the death of her daughter, which took place yesterday and she suspected that her husband had killed her. On this report, a case was registered and after investigation, challan was filed against the respondent under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code before the court of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Solan, who committed the case to the learned Sessions Judge, Solan, who tried the respondent accordingly for the offence, as detailed above, leading to his acquittal. 3. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and also gone through the record of the case. 4. A perusal of the evidence, led by the prosecution it is clear that this fact stood established that deceased Champa Devi had not been murdered, but she died as a result of suicide, committed by her. The postmortem report, conducted by PW-9 Dr. R.P. Sahni, Ex. PW-9/A, is on record. Apart from that, there is a report of Chemical Examiner and the Medical Officer, Ex. PW- 8/C and on perusal of the report of the Chemical Examiner and on observation, the Medical Officer had opined that the deceased died due to asphysia and as such death was caused by hanging …3… with wire. Inquest report Ex. PW-8/C is on record and the only conclusion that can be drawn from this report is that the deceased died due to suicide. This fact stands established. 5. The next question for consideration is whether the respondent had abetted the commitment of suicide by the deceased. For that, reference has to be made to the prosecution evidence. 6. PW-1, Tarawati, has stated that accused used to harass her, after taking liquor. She further stated that she used to beat her. However, she does not know how Champa Devi had died. She also does not know as to why Champa Devi had committed suicide. She did not elaborate as to when beating was given and when the complaint was made to her and there is no charge framed against the respondent under Section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code since on investigation by the police no case under Section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code was made out. 7. PW-2, Het Ram, brother of the deceased, also stated that the respondent used to ill-treat his sister, after taking liquor. He had ill-treated Champa Devi in his presence once. He further stated that she was killed by the accused. He has also not stated as to when the respondent gave beating to the deceased. He has also not stated that he does not know the year, month or date when the deceased was beaten. 8. PW-10, Mangal Singh, is the father of the deceased, who stated that during the period she remained with the accused, she used to visit them quite often. She told him that accused causes harassment to her and when he enquired this fact from …4… the accused, the accused had begged to be excused. He did not give any cause for harassment or stated about the time, date or year when this complaint was made to him by his daughter. 9. PW-4, Puran Chand, has stated that the deceased committed suicide, but he does not know why the deceased committed the suicide. 10. From the above discussion, it is very much clear that the evidence led suggests only of some harassment by the respondent, but the evidence is not specific and is vague in nature and there is no charge of cruelty under Section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code. The charge to prove the offence under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code, there has to be immediate provocation compelling a person to commit suicide, but there is no evidence, led on record in this regard that any quarrel took place in between the respondent or the deceased or there was any cause for the respondent to compel the deceased to commit suicide. The evidence has been properly appreciated by the learned trial court, who has come to a right conclusion that the guilt of the accused has not been proved and thus the judgment of the learned trial court cannot be termed as perverse. In view of the above discussion, we accordingly hold that there is no merit in this appeal, which is dismissed accordingly. ( R.B.Misra ) Judge May 28, 2010(K) ( V.K. Ahuja), Judge