G. Parshwanath vs State Of Karnataka

2. The facts emerging from the record of the case are as under :-

3. After the case was committed to the Court of learned Sessions Judge, Bellary for trial, necessary charges were framed against the appellant, his mother and his sister. The charges were read over and explained to them. They pleaded not guilty to the same and claimed to be tried. Therefore, the 8 prosecution examined 32 witnesses and produced certain documents in support of their case against the three accused. After recording of evidence of prosecution witnesses was over, the learned Judge explained to the three accused the circumstances appearing against them in the evidence of the prosecution witnesses and recorded their further statements as required by Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The appellant filed a detailed written statement inter alia mentioning that his father-in-law, who was a former MLA and influential person, had falsely implicated him and his family. It was stated by the appellant that his father-in-law had neither regular income nor properties except one house, which was given by him on rent to tenants, who were paying meager rent of Rs.1,500/- per month and thus he was totally dependant upon the income of his daughter - deceased Chethana - who was working as computer engineer at Bangalore before her marriage and 9 supporting the family. What was claimed by the appellant was that because of financial crunch from which his father-in-law was suffering, his father-in- law was insisting the appellant to come and stay at Bangalore with him as a "Ghar-Jamai", which was opposed by the appellant and since then his father- in-law was nurturing a grudge against him. According to the appellant, he was a man of an independent nature and had more responsibilities towards his family. According to him, he had the responsibility of running the school established by his family and, in such circumstances, he had refused to accept the offer of his father-in-law and decided to stay at Bellary only. It was mentioned by the appellant that feeling let down, his father-in-law had started pressurizing the deceased to desert the appellant and come back and stay with him at Bangalore and to continue her computer career. The appellant had claimed in his written statement that after the first Deepawali the deceased was 10 forcibly taken from Bellary to Bangalore by his father-in-law with the help of police. It was further stated that when the deceased was pregnant and had delivered the first child, the appellant had requested his father-in-law and mother-in-law to send the deceased to Bellary to enable him and his family to perform some religious ceremonies, but his father-in-law had refused to send the deceased and when he had gone to bring his wife to Bellary, an attempt was made by his father-in-law to assault him through his son. It was also mentioned in the written statement that after the delivery of child Mahaveer, the deceased with the child had come back to Bellary and was living happily with him, but, again her parents had taken away her with the child forcibly and that is why he had to file a divorce petition on the ground of desertion by his wife with a fond hope that his wife and child would be sent back. According to him, he was never serious about the divorce and that is why he had not taken any 11 further steps to pursue the petition and that is why the divorce petition was dismissed for non- prosecution. What was stated by the appellant was that when the divorce proceedings were pending, his wife, i.e., the deceased used to write love letters to him and no complaints were made in those letters about the so-called harassment and cruelty by him to her. It was asserted that due to decline in the income of his father-in-law, the parents of the deceased were pestering the deceased to stay with them whereas the deceased was inclined to stay with the appellant and, therefore, out of frustration the deceased with minor son Mahaveer committed suicide. The explanation offered in his written statement further proceeded to state that on May 13, 1993, he was at home till 1.00 P.M. and as it was a summer holiday for the schools run by him and the deceased was insisting to get the refrigerator back from the repair shop, he had gone to the shop of Sattar Hussein at whose shop the 12 refrigerator was sent for repairs and informed Sattar Hussein that the refrigerator should be sent to his home immediately. It was mentioned by him that thereafter he had proceeded to his school where someone had informed about the fire having taken place in his house and, therefore, he had rushed back on his motorcycle and found that his wife and son were dead. According to him, the PSI had arrested him, taken his signatures on blank paper and after deliberations with his father-in-law, concocted the present case falsely not only against him but also against his mother and sister, who were totally innocent and this was done only with a view to harassing him and seeking vengeance. In his written statement the appellant had made attempt to point out certain discrepancies appearing in the investigation and had ultimately prayed to acquit him of all the charges.

6. Feeling aggrieved the appellant preferred appeal, which has been dismissed by the High Court, giving rise to the present appeal.

A. i) Body is in a pugilistic attitude, (ii) smell of kerosene emanating from the body,

(iii) intestine protruding out, (iii) heat ruptures present over the trunk and limbs,

(iv) head hair is almost singed, (v) skull, vertebrae and brain congested (vii) larynx & trachea congested with presence of soot, (viii) pericardium & heart contains current jelly 33 blood clot, (ix) Large contains bright red blood

(x) Peritoneum congested, (xi) stomach is empty, (xii) Liver is congested, (xiii) 5th degree burn present on body except on back of trunk whereas 6th degree burn on both the knees, wrist & right ankle.

18. At this stage, it would be relevant to refer to Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology by H.W.V. Cox wherein burns inflicted before or after death is dealt with at Page

24. The evidence on record has been rightly appreciated by the trial court and the High Court. On appreciation of evidence, the appellant is found guilty. Neither the reasons given by the trial court nor given by the High Court can be termed as perverse so as to call for interference of this court in the instant appeal. The appeal lacks merits and is, therefore, liable to be dismissed.

25. Hence, the appeal is dismissed.

August 18, 2010.