Case: RANI @ SAHAYARANI Vs. STATE OF TAMIL NADU

2. Briefly stated the case of the prosecution is that deceased Selvamary is the daughter of Innasi (PW-1) and Barbara (PW-2). On 27.10.1998, PW-1 went for fishing and PW-2 went for selling of fishes. Selvamary was present in the house lonely. When she came back after attending nature call in the morning, the first accused-Malairasan teased her by stoning. The second accused-Rani stated that you keep my younger brother and is having bad character1. Appellant-second accused is also alleged to have stated that deceased Selvamary is a prostitute. Being aggrieved, the deceased Selvamary went inside the house and she poured kerosene and set fire on herself. Upon hearing the cry of deceased Selvamary, Rayappan (PW-6) went inside the house and extinguished the fire and thereafter took her to the hospital. On the complaint, case was registered in Cr.No. 966 of 1998 on the file of South Police Station under Section 174 Cr.P.C. On receipt of intimation from the hospital, PW-9, Judicial Magistrate went to the hospital and recorded dying declaration of Selvamary. Upon completion of investigation, the second accused-appellant and her brother-first accused were charged for the offence punishable under Section 306 I.P.C. The trial court acquitted the first accused appellant. However, the second accused-appellant was convicted under Section 306 I.P.C. and sentenced her to undergo imprisonment for a period of three years.       3. On appeal, the High Court reduced the sentence of imprisonment imposed on the second accused-appellant to one year, maintaining the conviction. Being aggrieved, the present appeal is filed before us.

Court's reasoning:
4. Conviction of the appellant is primarily based on Exhibit P.7 i.e. dying declaration which was recorded by the Judicial Magistrate (PW-9). While the Magistrate was recording the dying declaration, PW-10-Dr.Kanakalakshmi certified that the deceased was conscious and was in a fit state of mind to give the dying declaration. Since the dying declaration (Ex.P.7) was recorded by the judicial magistrate, the same is entitled to great weight. By a reading of the dying declaration annexed with the paper book as Annexure P-2, it is seen that the deceased has clearly stated about the abusive language used by the appellant against her, calling the deceased as a prostitute. The deceased was aged 26 years and being a young unmarried girl could have been upset over such verbal abuse heaped on her which led her to take a decision of committing suicide by setting herself ablaze. Based on the said dying declaration, the courts below rightly convicted the appellant-the second accused. However, the High Court took a lenient view by reducing the sentence of imprisonment awarded to the appellant to a period of one year and we do not find any ground to further reduce the sentence of imprisonment.