Vanga Sriniwas vs Public Prosecutor, High Court Of A.P

2) The case of the prosecution is briefly stated hereunder:-

4) Questioning the correctness of the acquittal of the trial Court, the State through its Public Prosecutor filed Criminal Appeal No. 2339 of 2004 before the Andhra Pradesh High Court. The Division Bench, by the impugned order dated 11.10.2006, after accepting the case of the prosecution and considering the entire circumstances and finding that the prosecution has established the guilt for offence under Section 302 beyond reasonable doubt sentenced the accused to undergo imprisonment for life and also to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/-, in default, to suffer simple imprisonment for 6 months. Challenging the said order of the Division Bench, the accused has preferred the present appeal before this Court.

10) The appellant/accused after marriage with the deceased Vanga Vimala were staying in rented accommodation in H.No.9-8-734 in Gajulapet. The deceased used to attend the household work of other houses. PW 1, who is the father of the deceased, in his evidence deposed that after marriage the accused now and then bring his daughter to his home. The accused was not bearing his wife going to market and often questioned her while she was speaking with others. He used to beat her by locking the house. He was demanding dowry and her daughter used to tell all these whenever the accused brought her to his home. He was harassing her for money and once gave her poison by mixing it into water, made her to drink and when she refused; he pressed her throat and made her to consume it. At the time of the incident, PW 1 was at factory and on receipt of information, he went to the house of the accused and found her daughter hanging to a fan with a new saree. It was he who made a complaint to the police. The complaint is Ex. P-1. PW 2 wife of PW 1 and mother of the deceased also reiterated the same.

8) It is seen from the documents - Annexures A1 and A2, the investigating agency, based on the materials, arrived at a conclusion that the accused Vanga Sriniwas suspected the character of the deceased and also tortured her for dowry and when she failed to get the same, the accused murdered her by strangulation and hanged the dead body to the ceiling fan with an intention to screen the offence and, therefore, the offence under Section 304B and Section 201 IPC has been established against the accused. In view of the above facts and circumstances, the Section of law has been altered from 302 IPC to 304B and 201 IPC.

The result of analysis is there was no poisonous substance. The FBL report is Ex.P-10.

Ex.P11 is preliminary Post-Mortem Examination report issued by myself and Doctor Smt. Ramadevi.

Final opinion as to cause of death is Asphysixi due to throttling. The final report issued by both of us is Ex.P-12. The approximate time of death is 24 36 hours prior to PME."

16) Considering the fact that the alleged occurrence took place on 24.01.1997 and the appellant/accused undergone the agony for more than ten years, we are of the view that a sentence of seven years would meet the ends of justice. Accordingly, we modify the conviction and sentence imposed by the High Court; instead the appellant/accused is convicted under Section 304 B IPC and impose a sentence of seven years rigorous imprisonment.

17) In the result, the appeal is allowed in part subject to the above modification.