Basisth Naryan Yadav vs Kailash Rai And Ors

Before venturing into the facts of the case it would be expedient to mention the names of the persons involved in this case which are as follows:

The testimony of the informant Basisth Narayan (PW-5) is vital one as he is the brother of the deceased. He has stated that the incident occurred on the night intervening 29.07.1989 and 30.07.1989. He received the information of death of his sister in the morning of 30.07.1989 and went to her place. He found large assemblage of people outside the house. On going inside the house he found the dead body of his sister which was covered with pink colour terrycot saree. On removing the saree he found both her hands were tied with iron wire and flesh of both the hands was reddish while neck also appeared to be tied with something. On enquiring from the crowd assembled outside the house he learnt that the previous night at around 9 PM, all the ten accused persons were making conversations inside the house and even sound of crying was heard. People also told him that in the morning when the accused persons were trying to dispose of the dead body, the village chowkidar had seen them, so they all fled away. He has further testified to the harassment met out with the deceased after her marriage at the hands of the accused persons. He deposed with respect to the dowry demands which we have already recorded in the alleged facts from the side of prosecution and, for the sake of brevity, we are not repeating them. He has further deposed that 21.06.1988 he had gone to Bishnudeo Rai who is the father of Sarita Kumari to whom Ranjit Kumar was rumored to marry soon. He had requested Bishnudeo Rai not to let his daughter marry Ranjit Kumar as it would ruin the life of his sister (now deceased) but it was dismissed by Bishnudeo Rai. Later he learnt that Ranjit Kumar was marrying Sarita Kumari and so he had taken his sister (now deceased) to her matrimonial house and due to this reason the marriage was postponed from 24.06.1988 to 27.06.1988. Thereafter, it is alleged that Ranjit Kumar did marry Sarita Kumari, however, no conclusive proof is brought fore to prove this fact.

With respect to the other accused persons i.e. Ranjit Kumar and his father Yogendra Rai, who were ordinarily residents in the house where the deceased died of burn injuries, neither of the two accused persons has offered any reasonable explanation as to how did the deceased suffer the ante mortem injuries and died due to burn injuries. In these circumstances, we find the two accused persons, being Ranjit Kumar and Yogndra Rai, as guilty for commission of crime. Accordingly, the judgment and order of the Trial Court, so far as it convicted and sentenced Ranjit Kumar and Yogndra Rai, is restored and the appeals are allowed to this extent. Ranjit Kumar and Yogndra Rai shall be taken into custody forthwith to serve out the sentence.

……………………………..J (Pinaki Chandra Ghose) ……………………………..J (Uday Umesh Lalit) New Delhi;

July 03, 2015.

Hon'ble Mr. Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose pronounced the reportable judgment of the Bench comprising His Lordship and Hon'ble Mr. Justice Uday Umesh Lalit.

The appeals are allowed in terms of the signed reportable judgment as follows: