THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA CRIMINAL REVISION CASE No.715 of 2004 JUDGMENT: The petitioner herein, who is Accused No.1, and two others were tried by the learned Additional Assistant Sessions Judge, Anantapur, in S.C.No.789 of 2000, for the offences punishable under Sections 306 and 498-A of I.P.C. During the course of trial, the prosecution examined P.Ws.1 to 10 and got marked Exs.P1 to P8, and on behalf of defence, none were examined, but got marked Exs.D1 to D4. On analysis of the evidence adduced by the prosecution and the defence, the learned Additional Assistant Sessions Judge, Anantapur, though came to the conclusion that the other two accused i.e., Accused Nos.2 and 3 are not guilty of the offences for which they were tried, however found Accused No.1/petitioner herein guilty of the offences punishable under Sections 306 and 498-A of I.P.C. and, accordingly, by his judgment dated 23.09.2002, convicted him to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for a period of three years for the offence punishable under Section 306 I.P.C. and Rigorous Imprisonment for a period of two years for the offence punishable under Section 498-A I.P.C., and further ordered that both the sentences shall run concurrently. As against the said judgment, Accused No.1 preferred appeal in Crl.A.No.189 of 2002 before the V-Additional Sessions Judge (Fast Track Court), Anantapur, who, after considering the matter in detail, by her judgment dated 02.04.2004, while confirming the judgment of the trial Court, dismissed the said Criminal Appeal. Aggrieved thereby, Accused No.1 preferred the present Criminal Revision Case. The case of the prosecution, succinctly, is as follows:- Accused No.1/petitioner herein is the husband of Malleswaramma @ Uma Devi (hereinafter called ‘the deceased’), the daughter of P.Ws.1 and 2. The marriage between the deceased and the petitioner was performed about six months prior to the date of the incident i.e., 31.08.1999, and at the time of marriage, the parents of the deceased gave an amount of Rs.15,000/- and five tulas of gold towards dowry. Stating that the said amount is not sufficient, the petitioner started harassing the deceased demanding her to bring a further sum of Rs.10,000/- from her parents for the purpose of installing a loom. Accused Nos.2 and 3, being the parents of Accused No.1, supported the version of Accused No.1 and used to harass the deceased. Knowing the financial status of her parents, the deceased could not request her parents to provide the said amount and, unable to convince the petitioner about the financial inability of her parents to pay the demanded amount, committed suicide on 31.08.1999. On information, P.Ws.1 and 2 visited the house of the petitioner and found their daughter dead and, as such, P.W.1 approached Uravakonda Police Station on 01.09.1999 and gave a report, on the basis of which, a case in Crime No.111 of 1999 was registered against the accused for the offences punishable under Sections 306 and 498-A IPC. On a requisition, inquest was conducted by P.W.7 in the presence of mediators, and thereafter, the Medical Officer, who was examined as P.W.10, conducted autopsy over the dead body of the deceased and opined that the death of the deceased was due to consumption of poison. The petitioner and his parents, who were arrayed as Accused Nos.2 and 3, were arrested on 24.09.1999 and remanded to judicial custody. After completion of the entire investigation, charge sheet was filed before the learned Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Uravakonda, and thereafter, as it is a matter to be tried by the Sessions Division, the learned Magistrate committed the case to the Court of Sessions, Anantapur. Thereupon, the learned Sessions Judge, Anantapur, made over the case to the Additional Assistant Sessions Judge, Anatapur, by numbering it as S.C.No.789 of 2000. As stated supra, to substantiate its case, the prosecution examined P.Ws.1 to 10 and marked Exs.P1 to P8. On behalf of defence, no oral evidence was adduced, but Exs.D1 to D4 were marked. The parents of the deceased were examined as P.Ws.1 and 2, the brother of P.W.1 was examined as P.W.3 and the brother of Accused No.3 is examined as P.W.4. One of the mediators was examined as P.W.5. The Mandal Revenue Officer, who conducted autopsy, was examined as P.W.7. The Head Constable, who received the report and registered the Crime, was examined as P.W.8. The other Investigating Officer, who conducted the investigation, was examined as P.W.9 and the Medical Officer, who conducted postmortem along with another doctor, was examined as P.W.10. Having analyzed the entire oral and documentary evidence, the trial Court found Accused No.1 guilty for the offences punishable under Sections 306 and 498-A of I.P.C. and, accordingly, by judgment dated 23.09.2002, convicted and sentenced him as stated supra, and the said judgment was confirmed by the appellate Court in Crl.A.No.189 of 2002. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner. Charges under Sections 306 and 498-A of I.P.C. were framed against the accused. As per Section 306 of I.P.C., which deals with abetment of suicide, if any person commits suicide, whoever abets the commission of such suicide shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. The basic constituents of an offence under Section 306 of I.P.C. are suicidal death and abetment thereof. But however, to attract the ingredients of abetment, the intention of the accused to aid or instigate or abet the deceased to commit suicide is necessary. In this context, it is necessary to refer to Section 107 of I.P.C., which reads as under: “Abetment of a thing – A person abets in doing of a thing, who - Firstly – Instigates any person to do that thing; or Secondly – Engages with one or more other person or persons in any conspiracy for the doing of that thing, if an act or illegal omission takes place in pursuance of that conspiracy, and in order to the doing of that thing; or Thirdly - Intentionally aids, by any act or illegal omission, in doing of that thing.” Keeping in view the aforesaid provision of law, if this Court looks at the case on hand, it is clear that the said demand for dowry cannot be said to be falling under the provisions of Section 306 I.P.C. No doubt, the deceased is a young girl who committed suicide within a span of six months from the date of her marriage. But from the same, it cannot be inferred that the said suicide was solely on account of the abetment caused by the petitioner. As per the charge sheet, the allegation is that at the time of marriage, the parents of the deceased gave an amount of Rs.15,000/- and five tulas of gold towards dowry to the petitioner, and after the marriage, the petitioner started harassing the deceased to bring Rs.10,000/- more from her parents. Accused Nos.2 and 3, being the parents of the petitioner, used to support the version of the petitioner and harass the deceased. As the deceased was not in a position to make a request to her parents to provide the said amount and further unable to convince the petitioner about the financial status of her parents, she committed suicide by consuming pesticide. It is not known as to how it can be said that it was the petitioner who abetted the deceased to commit suicide. As stated supra, to bring home the guilt of a person for an offence punishable under Section 306 of I.P.C., the prosecution must clinchingly establish the requirements provided for under Section 107 of I.P.C. Here, the word “intentional aiding” is absolutely “no aiding”. Even if it is accepted that the petitioner was demanding the deceased to bring additional dowry of Rs.10,000/-, it may at best be said to be an offence falling under Section 498-A of I.P.C., but even by a stretch of imagination, it may not be said that because of the said demand only, the deceased had taken the extreme step of committing suicide. Hence, this Court is thoroughly satisfied that the Courts below erred in coming to the conclusion that the petitioner is guilty of the offence punishable under Section 306 of I.P.C. and, therefore, the conviction and the sentence imposed on the petitioner for the offence punishable under Section 306 of I.P.C. is hereby set aside. Coming to the offence punishable under Section 498-A of I.P.C. is concerned, there is clinching evidence to hold that the petitioner was demanding additional dowry. The said aspect was spoken to by P.Ws.1 to 4. Of course, it is the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner that P.Ws.1 to 3 are interested in the deceased and, as such, their evidence cannot be accepted. I am not able to appreciate the said contention. May be it is true that the said witnesses are interested, but it cannot be a ground to totally reject their evidence. During the course of evidence, P.Ws.1 to 3, in unequivocal terms, have stated that the petitioner was demanding the deceased to bring additional amount towards dowry, and in that context, he was ill- treating the deceased. In fact, during the course of inquest also, P.W.1 told the Mandal Revenue Officer, who was examined as P.W.7, that his daughter i.e., the deceased was ill- treated by the petitioner. Hence, it is clear that there was dowry harassment, which attracts the provisions of Section 498-A of I.P.C., and the findings of the Courts below that the petitioner is guilty of the offence punishable under Section 498-A of I.P.C. needs no interference. From the record, it is clear that the petitioner was arrested on 24.09.1999 and was in jail for about a month and, thereafter, he was released from jail by virtue of the bail granted to him by the Sessions Court. Further, when the appeal was dismissed by the lower appellate Court on 02.04.2004, the petitioner was taken into custody and, subsequently, released in view of granting bail by this Court on 13.04.2004. Thus, the petitioner was in jail for a period of more than 40 days. As the alleged offence took place in the year 1999 and the petitioner was in jail for a period of more than 40 days, this Court is of the considered opinion that the sentence of two years of Rigorous Imprisonment imposed by the trial below and as confirmed by the appellate Court, for the offence punishable under Section 498-A of I.P.C., can be reduced to six months. For the aforesaid reasons, the conviction and the sentence of Rigorous Imprisonment of three years imposed on the petitioner, for the offence punishable under Section 306 of I.P.C., is set aside. However, the sentence of Rigorous Imprisonment of two years imposed on the petitioner for the offence under Section 498-A of I.P.C. is reduced to six months. Accordingly, the Criminal Revision Case is partly allowed. _________________________ GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA,J 02.08.2010 v v