IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA Cr.Appeal No.265 of 1999 Decided on: 15th June, 2010 State of H.P …..Appellant. VERSUS Karam Chand and others …..Respondents. Coram The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Deepak Gupta, Judge. The Hon’ble Mr.Justice Sanjay Karol, Judge. Whether approved for reporting?1 No For the Appellant: Mr.Vivek Singh Thakur, Additional Advocate General with Mr.Rajesh Mandhotra, Dy.Advocate General. For the Respondents: Mr.D.Dadwal, Advocate. Deepak Gupta,Judge (Oral) This appeal by the State is directed against the judgement dated 3.4.1999 delivered by the Learned Additional Sessions Judge (I), Kangra at Dharamshala in Sessions Case No.17-K/97 whereby the four accused 1 Whether the reporters of the local papers may be allowed to see the Judgment?Yes …2… namely Karam Chand, Kikkar Chand, Amin Chand and Jai Ram charged for the commission of offences punishable under Sections 306 and 201 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and the other accused persons charged with having committed offences punishable under Section 201 read with Section 34, IPC have been acquitted. 2. The undisputed facts of the case are that the deceased Tripta Devi was married to Jai Ram, accused No.3, son of Karam Chand. According to the prosecution, Tripta Devi committed suicide on the night intervening 31st May, 1995 and 1st June, 1995 by hanging herself from the ceiling of the room with a ‘Dupatta’. According to the prosecution, the accused No.1 to 3, father-in-law, paternal uncle and husband of the deceased and Kikkar Chand (deceased) were guilty of having committed offence punishable under Section 306, IPC and the other accused were guilty of destroying the evidence in as much as they got the dead body of the deceased cremated without getting the post mortem done. 3. It is not disputed that Tripta Devi came to her parental home on 27.5.1995 and stayed there till …3… 31.5.1995. On 31.5.1995 she returned to her matrimonial home alongwith her younger sister, Varsha Devi (PW/7). As per Vasha Devi (PW/7), the key of the room of Tripta Devi was not given to her by her mother-in-law, sister-in- law and accused Karam Chand and Amin Chand and, therefore, she was forced to break open the lock of the door. Thereafter, Varsha and Tripta went inside the room but the father-in-law of Tripta alongwith maternal uncle (Kikkar Chand) of the accused consumed liquor and started abusing the deceased. At About 1.00 a.m Varsha went to sleep and when she got up at 4.00 a.m., she saw that Tripta was hanging from the ceiling of the room. She cut down the Dupatta, brought her sister down and informed the other family members about the incident. Admittedly the parents of the deceased were informed about the fact that Tripta was not well and came to the house of her inlaws which is barely at a distance of 1 km. from their house and the dead body of Tripta was laid in the ‘Verandah’. 4. According to Sh.Jaishi Ram (PW/4), father of the deceased and Dhano Devi (PW/8), mother of the deceased, all the accused persons pressurized them to sign the Panchayatnama, Ext.PW-4/A in which the father …4… consented that the body of his daughter be cremated without informing the police or getting post mortem done. According to the prosecution, PW/7 Varsha Devi became unconscious and regained consciousness 4 days later. 5. The prosecution story further is that for the next 3-4 days, the father of the deceased alongwith other villagers including PW/5 Purshotam, Pradhan of the Panchayat kept visiting the police station to lodge the report but no report was lodged. Thereafter, they met the Deputy Commissioner, Kangra and handed over to him the representation, Ext.PW4/B addressed to the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh in which it was alleged that the complainant, Jaishi Ram suspected foul play in the death of his daughter, Tripta Devi. The complainant also alleged that he was forced to sign the Panchyatnama, Ext.PW4/A. According to the complainant, his other daughter, Varsha was still unconscious but in the same complaint, it is mentioned that Varsha informed them that the father-in-law of the deceased, Karam Chand, maternal uncle, Kikkar Ram and paternal uncle Amin Chand after consuming liquor taunted the deceased. They did not open the lock and Tripta broke the lock with …5… a stone. In the morning, she found that her sister was hanging from the ceiling. This complaint was made on 7.6.1995, i.e., almost one week after the incident. 6. It would be pertinent to mention here that in this complaint, there is no allegation that Jaishi Ram had been going to the Police Station but the police had not recorded the complaint. In fact, this version of the prosecution cannot be accepted since PW/5 also denied that he ever visited the Police Station alongwith Jaishi Ram. It would also be pertinent to mention that in this complaint which has been typed out and obviously typed by some other person, there is no allegation made by the deceased being previously ill-treated by her inlaws on any account. There is no allegation of demand of dowry. The only allegation is with regard to the occurrence which took place in the evening of 31st May, 1995. 7. While appearing in Court, the father, the mother and the sister of the deceased have given three totally different versions. According to the father of the deceased, whenever the deceased used to come to her parental home, she used to complain that she was being ill-treated for bringing inadequate dowry. The mother of …6… the deceased gives a totally different version. According to her, the father-in-law of the deceased used to enter the room of the deceased whenever she was combing the hair and would lie on a cot and make obscene gestures towards her. Varsha, sister of the deceased stated that her sister had never complained to her about any ill-treatment meted out by her inlaws. 8. In case the deceased was ill-treated then in natural course, the deceased would have first of all confided in her younger sister before going to her other family members. Varsha categorically stated that the deceased had never complained to her about any ill- treatment meted out to her by her inlaws. Therefore, the oral testimony of these three witnesses cannot be relied upon for various reasons. Firstly, the version given in the Court is different to the one given in the complaint. Secondly, each of the three witnesses had given a different version with regard to the illtreatment. Thirdly, PW/4, the father of the deceased has failed to give any proper explanation as to why he signed the Panchayatnama, Ext.PW4/A. No doubt, PW/4 stated that he was forced to sign the same but this version cannot be believed. We are dealing with a Panchyatnama which …7… had been signed by PW/4 as well as eight residents of the village. It cannot be believed that all of them would have ganged up to support the accused. There is nothing on record to show that the other eight co- accused were in any manner closely related with the three main accused. It has also come in evidence that the two villages are close to each other. It could reasonably be expected that the funeral would have been attended by the co-villagers of Jaishi Ram also. The case of Jaishi Ram is that his younger daughter, Varsha was unconscious at the relevant time. If Varsha was unconscious and Jaishi Ram was aware that his other daughter, Tripta had committed suicide, he would definitely not have signed the Panchayatnama. This clearly shows that he is not telling the truth. Therefore, his statement cannot be relied upon. 9. Now we come to the letters written by the deceased to Jai Ram, her husband, by Jai Ram to the deceased and by the deceased to her father, Jaishi Ram. A perusal of these letters shows that the mother-in- law of the deceased was very ill and was suffering from a major ailment. On 16th May, 1995 she had been taken to Delhi for treatment. She was first treated at the Railway …8… Hospital then at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and finally at the Army Hospital. Despite such treatment, the prognosis was not favourable and it appears that in all the hospitals, the family members were told that there is not much chance of her survival. It would be pertinent to mention that the husband of the deceased at the relevant time was serving in the CRPF and was not in the village. The mother-in-law of the deceased had been taken by the accused Karam Chand, the maternal uncle and the deceased herself to Delhi. They stayed at Delhi for about 10 days and returned to their village on 26th May, 1995. On the next day, the deceased went to her parental home and returned to her matrimonial home on 31st May, 1995. It appears that during this period, the deceased was under tension because of the illness of her mother-in-law and in her letter (Ext.P/13) written to her husband had clearly indicated that she could not bear these pressures, where she had to work from morning to evening, lookafter the mother-in-law, arrange money for her treatment and would commit suicide. She also alleged that despite her making arrangement, her father- in-law had been squandering money on consuming liquor. She complained that the relatives have not given …9… money and she has to arrange the money and her father-in-law was thinking of taking her mother-in-law to Ludhiana for treatment. Even if all the allegations in the letter Ext.P/13 are taken to be correct, it does not spell out any act of cruelty on behalf of the accused or an act which would amount to abetment to commit suicide. 10. As far as Jai Ram, husband of the deceased is concerned, we fail to understand how he has been made an accused. There is no allegation against him. The only allegations were against the father-in-law and the maternal uncle that too with regard to the night in question, when they allegedly consumed liquor. Even if we accept the fact that after consuming liquor, they taunted the deceased, this would not amount to abetment within the meaning of Section 306, IPC. 11. In view of the aforesaid facts, we find no merit in the appeal which is accordingly dismissed. Bail bonds, if any, furnished by the accused are ordered to be discharged. ( Deepak Gupta ) Judge. 15th June, 2010 (Sanjay Karol) (m) Judge …10…