Rajesh Bhatnagar vs State Of Uttarakhand

2. The facts, as they appear from the record of the case, are that Ms. Renu (deceased) was daughter of Smt. Vimla Devi Bhatnagar, widow of Rajbahadur, resident of Mohalla Kayasthwada, Sikandrabad, Police Station Bulandshahar. Vimla Devi had sought a marriage alliance for her daughter Ms. Renu. Finally, the mother of Ms. Renu and Mukesh’s family had agreed to alliance of marriage between Mukesh and Renu. When the engagement (sagai) ceremony was to be performed at the house of Mukesh, family of Ms. Renu along with their relations, Sanjay Bhatnagar, Shailendera Bhatnagar and others had gone to the house of Mukesh. At that time itself, Mukesh, his brother Rajesh and his mother Kailasho (all the accused) demanded a refrigerator as dowry. The mother and relations of the deceased expressed their inability to buy a refrigerator but their request brought no results and the accused family pressurized them to pay Rs.10,000/- for purchasing the refrigerator then and there. Upon persuasion by their own relations, the family of Ms. Renu paid a sum of Rs.10,000/- to Rajesh Bhatnagar for purchasing the refrigerator, whereafter the ceremony was performed. On 26th May, 1994, the marriage between the parties was solemnized as per Hindu rites at Roorkee. The family of Ms. Renu had come to Roorkee from Sikandrabad to perform the marriage at Roorkee to the convenience of the boy’s family. After performing the marriage, Ms. Renu went to her matrimonial home while her other family members came back to their house at Sikandrabad (Bulandshahar). Not even one and a half months of the marriage had elapsed but Mukesh is stated to have brought Renu to her parental home, where he informed her family that a television and a cooler had not been given as dowry in the marriage and these articles should be given immediately. If this was not done, he would not take Renu back to her matrimonial home. The members of Renu’s family tried to impress upon Mukesh not to pressurize them so much, but Mukesh persisted with his demands. At that time, Ms Renu also informed her family members that all the accused persons were beating her frequently for not bringing television and cooler as part of the dowry. However, left with no alternative, the mother and uncle of Ms. Renu assured Mukesh that everything would be settled and he need not worry. However, the television and cooler were not given at that time. The behavior of the accused towards Ms. Renu did not change and whenever she came to her parental home, she complained about the behavior of her in-laws and demands of dowry from them. She even wrote letters to her family from time to time complaining of cruel behavior of the accused towards her. In May 1995, Ms. Renu gave birth to a male child. On 18th October, 1995, unfortunately, the father of Ms. Renu expired and thereafter the family was not able to meet the dowry demands raised by the accused persons. Sometime in the second week of November 1995, Ms. Renu came to her parental home at 11.00 p.m. in the night. She was alone and had not even brought her child with her. Being surprised, her mother had asked her what had happened. She started crying and informed her mother and uncle that the accused persons were very unhappy, as the television and cooler had not been given and they had turned her out of the matrimonial home, refusing to even give her, her child. The mother and the uncle tried to pacify Ms. Renu and told her that with the passage of time, things would get settled and she should go back to her matrimonial home. After 20-25 days, Mukesh came to his in-laws’ house. During their meeting, the mother and uncle of Ms. Renu told Mukesh to treat her properly and said that the child should not be kept away from Ms. Renu. They also assured him that as soon as they could make some arrangement, they would give the television and cooler to Mukesh. After this assurance, Mukesh took Renu with him to the matrimonial home. While leaving, Renu told her mother that though they were sending her to her matrimonial home, her in-laws would kill her and she may not come back at all.

4. PW5, Sub-Inspector R.P. Purohit and PW7, Deputy S.P., M.L. Ghai, along with other police officers, reached the place of occurrence, filled the panchayatnama, Ext.Ka-7, prepared the sketch of the place of occurrence and took the body of the deceased into custody vide Exts.Ka-8 and Ka-1. The dead body was sent for post mortem and photographs of the dead body were taken vide Exts. 1, 3 and 3. The articles found at place of occurrence, like container containing kerosene, empty container which was having smell of kerosene, the stove pin, burnt ash, cloth rope, bangles, cloths of the deceased, one match box, etc. were recovered from the site and were taken into custody vide Exts. 18 to 27. The post mortem report of the deceased was Ext. Ka-6 whereafter the dead body was handed over to her family members. Injuries were also found on the person of the accused Mukesh and he was subjected to medical examination on 17th February, 1996 at about 12.30 p.m. vide Ext. Ka-22. When M.L. Ghai, PW7, on 17th February, 1996 before the arrest of the accused persons went to their house, he found the house open and the accused were absconding. He had directed that a lock be put on the door of the house, which was later opened and the site map Ext.Ka-9 was prepared.

9. In light of the enunciated principles, now we will revert back to the facts of the present case. Immediately upon death of the deceased, PW2, Smt. Vimla Devi, mother of the deceased had lodged the report with the police where she had given in writing the complete facts, as we have stated above, and it is not necessary for us to repeat her complaint here. When her deposition was recorded in the Court, she, again, on oath, reiterated the complete facts. According to her, the demand of dowry in relation to various items persisted right from the date of engagement, uptil the death of the deceased. Firstly, demand was raised in relation to purchase of a refrigerator, for which a sum of Rs.10,000/- was given and it was only thereafter that the engagement ceremony could be completed. Thereafter, television and cooler were also demanded, for which they had thrown out the deceased Ms. Renu from her matrimonial home and it was only upon the assurance given by the mother and the uncle of the deceased that Mukesh and his family had agreed to take her back to the matrimonial home. It must be noticed that on 18th October, 1995, the father of the deceased had died, but despite such death, the demands of dowry persisted from the accused persons. Not only this, while Ms. Renu was leaving her home for the last time along with Mukesh, after Mukesh was assured that in future they would arrange for television and cooler, she had categorically stated that she apprehends danger to her life and she may not come back to her home. These circumstances clearly show the kind of threat and fear under which the deceased was living. PW1 is the uncle of the deceased, who also fully corroborated the statement of PW2. According to this witness, Mukesh had climbed up to the roof and said that he would not come down and would not permit the engagement ceremony to be completed, unless a fridge was brought. Then Rs.10,000/- was given to his brother Rajesh Bhatnagar, whereafter the ceremony was completed. There is no contradiction or variation in the statements of PW1 and PW2.

Recording of a statement of the accused under Section 313 is not a purposeless exercise.”

18. For the reasons afore-recorded, we find no merit in the appeals. Both the appeals are dismissed accordingly.