Criminal Appeal No.880-SB of 1998 -1- **** IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Criminal Appeal No.880-SB of 1998 Date of decision : 22.8.2008 Satish .....Appellant Versus State of Haryana ...Respondent **** CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S. D. ANAND Present: Mr. Atul Kaushik, Advocate as Amicus Curaie for the appellant. Mr. S.S.Mor, Senior Deputy Advocate General, Haryana for respondent-State. S. D. ANAND, J. Appellant Satish is in appeal against his conviction at the hands of learned Trial Judge for an offence under Section 304-B IPC. Three others ( namely Chander Sain, Smt. Dropati and Smt. Meena) who are brother, mother and sister respectively of the appellant were also tried with him but earned a verdict of acquittal. The deceased lady i.e. Mst. Shamwati, daughter of PW- 3 Nawal Singh and niece of of PW-2 Sri Ram ( and also Satbir who was not examined at the trial), was married to appellant Satish on 25.2.1994. Inspite of the fact that PW-3 Nawal Singh spent quite a huge amount on the marriage, the appellant was not satisfied with the adequacy of dowry brought by her and used to harass his Criminal Appeal No.880-SB of 1998 -2- **** deceased wife to compel her to bring a scooter from his natal family. On a visit to her natal house, Shamwati brought the grievance afore- mentioned to the notice of her father PW-3 Nawal Singh. On a particular occasion, she was fetched from her natal house by the appellant and few others. In January, 1995 Shamwati was at her natal house. Appellant Satish along with a friend of his, went over to fetch Shamwati but PW-3 Nawal Singh did not send her along. After few days thereof, the appellant again went over to parental house of the deceased lady. He was, on that visit, accompanied by his brother Chander. The appellant held out an assurance that Shamwati would not be harassed in future. In token of acceptance of that assurance, PW-3 Nawal Singh sent her along. On 9.3.1995, appellant Satish came over to the house of PW-3 Nawal Singh to enquire whether Shamwati had come over there or not. On being told by PW-2 Sri Ram that Shamwati had not come out to their house, the appellant went back. PW-2 Sri Ram looked for Shamwati at the house of their relative but could not locate her. On 12.3.1995, Sri Ram and some other respectables of the village went over to the house of the appellant to find out the whereabouts of Shamwati. There the appellant told that Shamwati had eloped with some other person. Sri Ram notified the police vide his statement Ex. PB made on 12.3.1995 that Shamwati was missing. Later on, the police informed Sri Ram that dead body of Shamwati had been recovered from the Badhkal Lake. The prosecution presentation to the effect that Shamwati Criminal Appeal No.880-SB of 1998 -3- **** committed suicide as she had been subjected to dowry-related torture, was supported by testimony on oath of PW-1 Sohan Lal, PW-2Sri Ram, PW-3 Nawal Singh, PW-4 ASI Jaibir Singh, PW-5 Dr. R. Mathu. PW-1 Sohan Lal, Draftsman, had prepared the scaled site plan (Ex. PA) under the orders of Jaibir Singh Incharge, PP Badhkhal, on 11.5.1995. PW-2 Sri Ram and PW-3 Nawal Singh are uncle and father respectively of Shamwati deceased lady. PW-4 ASI Jaibir Singh is the investigating officer of the case. PW-5 Dr. R.Mathur had, along with Dr. S.S. Arora, conducted the post-mortem examination on the dead body of Shamwati on 16.3.1995. The Board observed as under:- “The length of the body was 5’3-1/2”. It was well built and nourished, wearing a red petticoat, green Bu-shirt and Brassiers with red coloured bangles in the right fore-arm. The body was very foul smelling. The right eye was protruding out, rigor mortis was absent with epidermis peeled off at many places. Abdomen was distanded, front was coming out of mouth. There were bluish coloured bruises on the back of nape of the neck 3 inch x 1 inch in size. The right and left lung were swollen and on cut froth was coming out. The larynx and trachea were containing muddy material. The stomach was also containing muddy Criminal Appeal No.880-SB of 1998 -4- **** water and straw. Other organs were normal and healthy.” The Board further opined that death had occurred on account of “asphyxia as a result of drowning which was ante-mortem and sufficient to cause death in ordinary course nature.” The appellant raised a simple plea of innocence with the following averments:- “I am innocent. The marriage was performed in a simple manner. Shyamwati was living happily at matrimonial home. There was no dispute of any sort on any account between Shyamwati on the one hand and I amd other members of my family on the other hand. Like all villages of Badkhal, Shyamwati, other females of my family and the male members used to go towards the lake side to answer the call of nature. Ladies also used to go to collect fodder for the cattle. On 9.3.95, Shyamwati had gone towards the lake side. However, she did not come back. We searched for her and I had also gone to the house of my in-laws to inquire about her. It was after deliberation and consultation that a false case was got registered against me.” The appellant did not adduce any defence evidence. In the course of the FIR, there is only vague allegation that the appellant used to harass and belabour his deceased wife and had also held out a threat that she would be done to death. There is not even a word in FIR that the appellant used to harass Criminal Appeal No.880-SB of 1998 -5- **** and beat Shamwati on account of her inability to bring along with more dowry from her parental family. Infact, the only averment made in the coruse of FIR is that Shamwati was not to the liking of the appellant and it was for that reason only that he used to belabour her. However, in the course of his deposition on oath, PW-2 Sri Ram averred that Shamwati had informed that she was being harassed on account of 'demand of dowry'. Even PW-3 Nawal Singh, father of deceased lady, also testified on oath that Shamawati was being harassed on account of non-fulfillment of the demand for a scooter. Thus, both father and uncle did not own up the averment in the FIR that the deceased lady was harassed and belaboured as she was not to the liking of her husband (i.e. Appellant). PW-2 Sri Ram made a categorical statement to the effect that “about ten days prior to her death Satish had approached us with the demand of Rs. 10,000/- but we refused to pay him.” No such averment was made by PW-3 Nawal Singh. The FIR is conspicuously silent about this averment. If the appellant had actually made that demand about ten days prior to death of Shamwati, there is no reason why PW-2 Sri Ram would not have indicated that fact in the FIR and further why her father would not have been testified to that effect at the trial. Further more, there was unexplained delay in lodging of the First Information Report with the police. On the own showing of Criminal Appeal No.880-SB of 1998 -6- **** PW-2 Sri Ram, appellant Satish visited former's house on the 9th of the relevant month at about 9.00 p.m. to find out if Shamwati had come over to her parental house. The FIR was lodged on 12.3.1995 at 10.00 P.M. The averment at the trial that delay had occurred on account of the convening of a Panchayat is not proved on record. The self-serving statement made by PW-2 Nawal Singh to that effect is not corroborated by any independent evidence of any respectable who was part of the alleged Panchayat. Though the death of deceased lady occurred within seven years of her marriage by drowning, there is complete want of evidence to prove that the appellant had any role in it. The impugned finding of conviction cannot be sustained for want of any material to support it. The appeal shall stand allowed. The impugned finding of conviction is set aside. The appellant is acquitted of the charge. August 22, 2008 (S. D. ANAND) Pka JUDGE