IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE TWENTY SECOND DAY OF JANUARY TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE K.C.BHANU CRIMINAL APPEAL No.229 OF 2010 Between: The Sate of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by the Public Prosecutor, High Court of A.P., Hyderabad. ..... Appellant/Petitioner AND Kolli Siddalaiah & another ..... Accused/Respondents The Court made the following: THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE K.C.BHANU CRIMINAL APPEAL No.229 OF 2010 JUDGMENT: The Criminal Appeal, under Section 378 (1) & (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, is filed by the State against the judgment, dated 21.06.2007, in Sessions Case No.229 of 2005, on the file of the learned Assistant Sessions Judge, Gudur, whereunder and whereby, the respondents/Accused Nos.1 and 2 were found not guilty of the offences punishable under Sections 498A and 306 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short, “I.P.C.”), and accordingly acquitted. 2. Brief facts, that are necessary for disposal of the present Criminal Appeal, may be stated as follows: Accused No.1 is the husband of the deceased-Suhasini and Accused No.2 is the sister-in-law of Accused No.1. Accused No.1 and his brother’s family were living jointly with their parents. Marriage of the deceased with Accused No.1 took place in the year 2002 and at the time of marriage, an amount of Rs.10,000/- was given in cash along with 55 sovereigns of gold ornaments. Thereafter, Accused Nos.1 and 2 started harassing the deceased for money. On 22.05.2003, the deceased returned to her parents’ house and narrated the harassment made to her by Accused Nos.1 and 2. On 26.06.2003 at about 3.00 p.m., Accused No.2 called the deceased on phone to the house of one Pichuka Gopalaiah and warned her that if she returned to the house she would beat with chappal and or else, she asked her to die. On that, the deceased got vexed with her life and on 26.06.2003 at about 4.00 p.m., she jumped into the well and committed suicide. Thereafter, the dead body was shifted to her parents’ house and P.W.1, who is the father of the deceased, lodged a complaint in the Chillakur Police Station which was registered as a case in Crime No.62 of 2003 for the offences under Sections 498A and 306 I.P.C. on 27.06.2003 at about 10.30 a.m. M.R.O. conducted the inquest over the dead body of the deceased on 27.06.2003 from 12.30 noon to 3.00 p.m. in the presence of the Mediators and he sent the dead body to the Government Hospital, Gudur, for Post-Mortem Examination. P.W.9-Medical Officer conducted the Post-Mortem on the dead body of the deceased and opined that the deceased died as a result of Asphyxia due to drowning. During the investigation, Accused No.1 was arrested on 27.06.2003 and Accused No.2 was arrested on 30.06.2003. After receiving Ex.P10-Post-Mortem Examination Report and completion of investigation, the charge sheet was filed against the accused for the offences under Sections 498A and 306 I.P.C. 3. When the charges for the offences punishable under Sections 498A and 306 I.P.C. were framed, read over and explained to the accused in Telugu, they pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. 4. To substantiate the charges levelled against the accused, the prosecution examined P.Ws.1 to 10 and got marked Exs.P1 to P15. 5. After closure of the prosecution evidence, the accused were examined under Section 313 Cr.P.C. with reference to the incriminating circumstances found against them in the evidence of prosecution witnesses. They denied the same. On behalf of the accused, no evidence either oral or documentary was adduced. 6. The trial Court, after considering the evidence on record, came to the conclusion that there is legal evidence to show that the accused treated the deceased with cruelty or abetted the deceased to commit suicide so as to attract Sections 498A and 306 I.P.C. and accordingly acquitted the accused. Challenging the same, the present Criminal Appeal is filed by the State. 7. Now the point for determination is whether the prosecution proved its case beyond all reasonable doubt against the accused of the charges under Sections 498A and 306 I.P.C. and whether the judgment of the trial Court is correct, legal and proper? 8. Learned counsel representing the learned Public Prosecutor contended that the death of the deceased is as a result of Asphyxia due to drowning, which is unnatural, and therefore, she prays to set aside the order of acquittal. 9. There cannot be any dispute that in dealing with the Criminal Appeal against the order of acquittal, though the Appellate Court has got full power to reappreciate the evidence available on record, but it will be slow in interfering with the findings in view of the fact that there is a presumption under law that the accused is presumed to be innocent unless contrary is proved by the prosecution beyond all reasonable doubt and that presumption of innocence is further strengthened by an order of acquittal. Unless the findings are perverse, or not based upon any evidence, or admissible evidence has not been taken into consideration, or inadmissible evidence was taken into consideration, ordinarily this Court would not interfere with the same. In short, there must be compelling or substantial reasons while interfering with the order of acquittal. 10. There must be legal evidence to show that the deceased was subjected to cruelty or harassment as defined under Explanation of Section 498A I.P.C., which reads as follows, in order to convict him. “For the purpose of this section, “Cruelty” means: (a) any willful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of the woman; or (b) harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand.” 11. Similarly, for the offence punishable under Section 306 I.P.C., there must be abetment made by the accused to the deceased to commit suicide. What is abetment is defined in Section 107 I.P.C. which says that there must be instigation, or that there must be conspiracy, or that there must be an intentional aiding to facilitate the deceased to commit suicide. 12. Ex.P10-Post-Mortem Examination Report issued by P.W.9-doctor, who conducted autopsy, would clearly go to show that the deceased died as a result of Asphyxia due to drowning. Ex.P15-Inquest Report also shows that the Mediators opined that the deceased died as a result of drowning. Except P.W.9-doctor and P.W.10-Head Constable, who conducted investigation, all the other witnesses turned hostile. The statements of P.Ws.1 to 8 recorded by the police under Section 161 Cr.P.C. during the course of investigation were marked as Exs.P2 to P9. There cannot be any dispute that the statements under Section 161 Cr.P.C. recorded by the police during the course of investigation cannot be used for any other purpose except for contradicting the witnesses in the manner as provided under Section 145 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Except marking Exs.P2 to P9, nothing has been elicited in the cross-examination of P.Ws.1 to 8 to infer that the accused committed an offence punishable under Sections 498A and 306 I.P.C. Therefore, there is absolutely no evidence to show that the accused committed the offences punishable under Sections 498A and 306 I.P.C. Hence, the trial Court rightly acquitted the accused. There are no compelling or substantial reasons to interfere with the same. Hence, the Criminal Appeal is devoid of merit and is liable to be dismissed. 13. Accordingly, the Criminal Appeal is dismissed at the stage of admission confirming the judgment, dated 21.06.2007, in Sessions Case No.229 of 2005, on the file of the learned Assistant Sessions Judge, Gudur. _______________ (K.C. BHANU, J) Date: 22nd January, 2010 KL