Arun Kumar Sharma vs State Of Bihar

2. The prosecution story is an extremely short conspectus. As many as three persons, being Sitaram Sharma, Gayatri Devi Sharma and Arun Kumar Sharma were tried for offences under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC and alternatively, under Section 304B read with Section 34 and 498A, IPC. Sitaram Sharma is father, Gayatri Devi is the mother while Arun Kumar Sharma (appellant) is the son. The allegation against all the three was that they committed the murder of Sushma Devi, wife of Arun Kumar Sharma for dowry and also subjected her to cruelty on account of demand of dowry. The Trial 2 Court acquitted Sitaram Sharma and his wife Gayatri Devi Sharma but convicted Arun Kumar Sharma of the substantive offence under Section 302, IPC.

3. On 17.06.1994, at about 9.30 p.m., a telephonic massage was received in Lakhisarai police station that a woman was murdered by strangulation. On that basis, an entry, vide Entry No. 516, was made in the police diary and the offence was registered. The police immediately went to the spot of occurrence and got a fardbayaan registered from one Leeladhar Pradhan, the father-in-law of the accused who was ultimately examined as PW-4. It was complained that his daughter Smt. Sushma Devi was married to the accused Arun Kumar Sharma about four years back and after the marriage Arun Kumar always used to demand a motorcycle and a colour television from his wife and also used to threaten her that if his demands were not fulfilled he would drive her out of the house. It was claimed that the deceased always used to complain about this to her parents. It was claimed that 8-9 months prior to the incident, on account of the scolding, harassment and demands of dowry, Panchayat was held and PW-4 had shown his inability to meet the demands made by the accused person. It was further claimed that at about 6 a.m. in the morning Anil Kumar Pradhan (PW-

5. The accused were not found present in the house and the house was found to be open. Ultimately, they came to be arrested only when they surrendered themselves after more than 10 days in the Court.

6. The charge-sheet came to be submitted for offences under Sections 304B, 498A read with Section 34 IPC. However, at the stage of trial, the offence under Section 302, IPC was also added. In support of the prosecution's claim, Anil Kumar Pradhan was examined as PW-1 while Dr. Dharam Nath Chaudhari who conducted the post-mortem was examined as PW-2. One Om Prakash Vidyalankar was also examined as PW-3 in order to corroborate the evidence of PW-1. According to his version, he had seen Arun Kumar running from the house of his sister and expressing that his sister was murdered. Father of deceased Sushma, namely, Leeladhar was examined as PW-4. Including the police witnesses, in all 8 witnesses were examined by the prosecution.

7. Thus, the prosecution depended only on the single eye-witness, namely, Anil Kumar Pradhan as also on the other circumstance that within 7 years of her marriage, Sushma had suffered an unnatural death.

8. The defence of the accused before the Sessions Judge was that this was not the case of murder at all. According to the accused, the deceased had kept the ornaments with her father but the same were not returned to the deceased and, therefore, she committed suicide. Two witnesses were examined as DW-1, Veena Devi, who was the neighbour and who claimed that she had talked to the deceased at about 8 a.m, and DW-2 Narmada Devi, who was the maternal grand mother of the accused Arun Kumar who deposed that on that day she had visited Sushma and Sushma had served break fast to her husband and thereafter she cooked meals and after taking bath she came to her room along with her son. She bolted the door and committed suicide by hanging herself. The witness further claimed to have forcibly opened the door with the help of 2 persons and seen the dead body of Sushma, dangling from the fan.

12. The mainstay of the prosecution is the evidence of PW-1, Anil Kumar Pradhan. Ms. Jha took us through his evidence. According to him, he had gone to his sister's house at 6 a.m. in the morning for giving some articles. At that time he saw that his sister was being held by her in-laws jointly and Arun Kumar was strangulating her. He then specifically said that Arun Kumar pressed her neck and she fell down to the ground. He then proceeded to say that he raised alarm and ran towards her house and met Om Vidyalankar on the way who asked him as to why he was crying, on which he narrated that his sister was murdered.

27. The result is that, firstly the accused has to be given the benefit of doubt and the appeal has to be allowed on that basis. The judgments and orders of conviction passed by the Trial Court and the appellate Court are set aside. The accused is acquitted of all the offences. He is presently reported to be on bail. His bail bond shall stand cancelled.

October 05, 2009