Criminal Appeal No.434-MA of 2009 -1- **** IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Criminal Appeal No.434-MA of 2009 Date of decision : 24.10.2009 State of Punjab .....Appellant Versus Sukhwinder Singh and others ...Respondents **** CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S. D. ANAND Present: Mrs. Ravinder Kaur Nihalsinghwala, Additional Advocate General, Punjab for the appellant. S. D. ANAND, J. The impugned finding of acquittal draws sustenance from the fact that though the deceased lady visited her parents about one week before the date on which she committed suicide, did not make a grievance qua the behaviour of her in-laws. Her brother entered the witness box and conceded that no complaint had ever come to be lodged by the natal family of the deceased lady with the police or the panchayat. That refrain on their part does not fit in with the testimony of that witness at the trial that the respondent/accused started inflicting dowry-related torture upon the deceased after 2-3 months of the marriage and that she had disclosed that fact to her parents and other members of her family. It is also in the testimony of brother of the deceased lady that husband of deceased lady used to occasionally visit their house after marriage in the company of his wife. If the deceased had been subjected to any dowry-related torture, there is no reason why she could not have brought the facts to the notice of the members of her natal family. It is further in the testimony of brother Criminal Appeal No.434-MA of 2009 -2- **** of the deceased lady that there never was any quarrel between the deceased lady and her husband. He was not in a position to quote any specific instance of harassment or mental cruelty in the context. On the other hand, father of the deceased lady who appeared as PW-8 conceded that the deceased was on medication and that she used to accompany her mother-in-law to obtain medicines. She used to bring those medicines whenever she would visit her natal house. On that basis, the learned Trial Judge found preponderance of probability in the defence view that she was under treatment and mental depression due to her ailment. It is also in evidence that respondent-accused Sukhwinder Singh was not at home on the date of occurrence. Further, it was on 5.5.2007 that she had gone to the matrimonial house. She consumed poison on 15.5.2007. She never talked to her father even on telephone during that period. The line of reasoning adopted by the learned Trial Judge is in accord with the settled principle of appreciation of evidence in the light of fragility noticed by the learned Trial Judge in the evidence on which no finding of conviction could have been recorded. There is no perversity or illegality in the manner of appreciation of evidence at the hands of the learned Trial Judge. The plea for obtaining leave of the Court to appeal against the acquittal shall stand declined. Dismissed. October 24, 2008 (S. D. ANAND) Pka JUDGE Note: Whether to be referred to Reporter: Yes/No