1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 2772 OF 2007 The State of Maharashtra ...Applicant Versus Shyam Manikchand Gupta & Ors. ... Respondents. Mrs. P.H. Kantharia, Additional Public Prosecutor, for the Applicant Mr. S.R. Patil for the Respondents. CORAM: B ILAL NAZKI and S.A. BOBDE, JJ. DATE: JANUARY 21, 2008. P.C.:- This is an appeal against acquittal of the respondents in a case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. 2. The prosecution case was that she was burnt. She had sustained 91% injuries and died. A dying declaration was recorded, in which the deceased stated that she died because of bursting of the stove. There was not any other evidence connecting the accused to the death of the deceased. As such, the acquittal of the accused by the trial Court cannot be faulted, as the view taken by it was a plausible view in the facts and circumstances of the case. 2 3. The learned Additional Public Prosecutor, however, has drawn our attention to the finding of the trial Court that there was evidence to the extent that the accused had demanded money on account of dowry from the deceased; and since the death was caused in unnatural circumstances within 7 years of marriage, therefore, the accused should have been convicted. Maybe, an unnatural death occurred of the deceased, but once she gave a statement in her dying declaration that she died because of the bursting of stove, therefore, the death could not be attributable even to the demand of dowry. There was no charge framed under Section 304-B, I.P.C., and an offence under Section 304-B is not a lesser offence as compared to Section 302. As such, leave cannot be granted. This application is accordingly rejected. BILAL NAZKI, J. S.A. BOBDE, J.