Case: Virbhan Singh And Anr Vs. State Of U.P

It is an unfortunate and disturbing phenomenon that has recently arisen in many parts of our country that instances of bride killing are alarmingly on the increase. If society should be ridden of this growing evil, it is imperative that whenever dastardly crimes of this nature are detected and the offence brought home to the accused, the courts must deal with the offender most ruthlessly and impose deterrent punishment. The case before us is one of its kind. While, in the vast major ity of such cases, the harassment and killing of the bride is traceable to the abominable and pernicious practice of demanding and extracting dowry and the failure on the part of the brides parents to adequately satisfy the greedy demands of the husbands people, the reason for the torture and murder of the innocent wife in the present case was that she was considered an "inauspicious" girl. That was for the reason that she did not bear children for four or five years after the marriage and even though thereafter, she conceived twice and successively gave birth to two male babies, both those babies did not survive beyond a few weeks or days. Having branded the young wife as inauspicious, the selfish animal nature in the husband and his parents came out in the form of their determination that the husband should remarry after doing away with the obstacle in the shape of his existing wife. That led the husband and his mother to commit the dastardly murder Of the young wife in a most gruesome fashion.Sileti Singh, his wife, Smt. Gyani Devi, and his son, Virbhan Singh, were arraigned before the Sessions Judge, Etawah, charged with the murder of Smt. Gyani, the wife of Virbhan Singh, in furtherance of the common intention of all of them, by intentionally causing death by beating the deceased and then hanging her with a rope. The deceased was married to Virbhan Singh about 9 years prior to the time of the occurrence. She did not give birth to any c hild for about five to six years after marriage. According to the prosecution case, the husband of the deceased and his parents used to harass her and beat her on this account and they used to say that they would get the second marriage performed for Virbhan Singh. In or about the seventh year after the marriage, the deceased gave birth to a male child but that child survived only for about 9 or 10 months. There- - after, the ill-treatment of the deceased at the hands of the husband and his parents is said to have commenced again. A few months prior to the occurrence, the deceased gave birth to another male child but that baby too died within 6 or 7 days of its birth This precipitated matters and the deceased is said to have been branded as an "inauspicious" woman, who could no longer be retained in the family. According to the prosecution, she used to make complaints of severe harassment by the accused to her sister, Shrimati Ram Kumari (P.W.1), who too was married to a person in the same village-Nangla Incha. On 14th August 1968 at about 5.00 p, m., Shrimati Ram Kumari had gone to the house of the deceased with an intent to meet her but she was told by the husband, Virbhan Singh and his mother that the deceased had gone with the father-in law to obtain some medicine. The next morning, P.W 1 heard a general rumour in the village that her sister had been killed. There upon, she called her husbands younger brother, Krishna Gopal (P.W.4) and again went to the house of the accused along with him. She found Virbhan Singh and his mother, Smt. Gyani Devi, in the house and she asked them to show her the dead body of the deceased. At first they refused but on a hue and cry being raised by her, they showed her the dead body lying in a roon in a swollen condition, emitting a foul smell. On 15th August 1968, at about 9.30 a.m. Sileti Singh lodged a report at the Police Station Jaswantnagar to the effect that the deceased had committed suicide by hanging herself with a rope. Sub-Inspector Netrapal Singh (P.W. 11) went to the place of occurrence and held an inquest on the dead body with the assistance t of panchas. Most strangely, in spite of the body being in a fairly advanced state of decomposition, thereby clearly indicating that the death had taken place a long time prior to the report given by Sileti Singh, which should have normally aroused serious suspicion in the mind of any reasonable person about the version of suicide given by him, the Sub-Inspector and the panchas were inclined to record the cause of death as suicide by hanging and close the case without any further investigation. However, Ram Kumari (P.W.1) and her brother-in-law, Krishna Gopal (P.W.4), strongly protested and demanded that the body should be sent for post-mortem and due to their persistence, the request was acceded to. The post-mortem examination was conducted by Dr. Lakhotia on 15-8-1968 at 5.30 p m. In the opinion o f the doctor, the death had taken place between one and a half to two days prior to the time of his examination, i.e. between 5.30 p.m. On 13-8-1968 and 5.30 a.m. On 14-8- 1968. The post-mortem report disclosed that there were the following ante mortem injuries on the person of the deceased.. Ligature mark 8" x 1/2" on the neck in the upper part between larynx and chin, in front and on sides just below the chin. On dissection the margins were found congested. It was directed upwards obliquely following the lower jaw and was almost behind. Its base was pale, hard and leathery.      2. Abrasion 1-1/2" x1/2" on the neck lower part left side.      3. Contusion covering whole of the upper eye lid of left eye. Conjunctive was congested.      4. Contusion covering the whole of upper eye lid of right eye. Conjunctive was congested.      5. Contusion 4" x 4" on the chest left side upper part below the clavicle.      Under the ligature mark greater curve of hyoid bone was broken on the right side. There was congestion around the big vessels of the neck.

Court's reasoning:
The High Court, however, took the view that the presence of Sileti Singh at the time of the commission of offence was not established beyond doubt and hence it acquitted him giving him the benefit of doubt.The conviction of Virbhan Singh and his mother, Smt. Gyani Devi, uls 302 I.P.C. was confirmed b y the High Court. This appeal has been preferred by thed twoe find no merit at all in the appeal. Since we are in complete agreement with the findings entered by the Sessions Judge and the High Court regarding the cause of the death of the deceased and the manner in which she was done to death, it is unnecessary for us to burden this judgment with a repetition of the details of the evidence. The case no doubt turns purely on circumstantial evidence. But the circumstances are so telling that the only conclusion reasonably possible is the one arrived at by the courts below that the deceased did not commit suicide by hanging herself but was done to death by being brutually assaulted and thereafter hung by the neck with a rope. The medical evidence clearly goes to prove that it would not have been possible for the deceased, who had sustained severe injuries of the type and nature described in the post-mortem report in the stomach and liver, to hang herself. The husband, Virbhan Singh and his mother, Smt. Gyani Devi, were throughout present in the house and no outsider had come to the house at the relevant time. According to the opinion of the doctors the latest point of time at which the death of the deceased could have taken place was 5.30 a.m. on 14-8-1968 but even on the evening of that day when P.W. 1, Shrimati Ram Kumari, sister of the deceased went to their house and enquired for the deceased, she wa s told by Virbhan Singh and his mother that the deceased had gone out with the father-in-law for getting some medicine. On the next day (15th August 1968) rumours spread in the village that the deceased had been done to death and it was only when P.W.l accompanied by her brother-in-law, P.W 4 went to the house of the accused and insisted on being shown the body that she was finally allowed to see the dead body of her sister which, by then, was already in a state of decomposition. Significantly, it is only subsequent thereto that Sileti Singh went to the Police Station and lodged the report stating that the deceased had commit ted suicide by hanging. The conduct of the appellants is consistent only with their active in volvement in the commission of the crime. It has come out in the evidence that on the evening of the 14th August 1968 at about 7.30 or 8.00 p.m. Sileti Singh had made attempts to remove clandestinely the dead body from the locality for which purpose he had met Brahma Nand (P.W.3), a truck owner, and unsuccessfully tried to hire his truek to transport the dead bodyOn a scrutiny of the evidence, we age fully satisfied that the conclusion recorded by the learned Sessions Judge and by the High Court, that the appellants are guilty of the murder of the deceased in a most brutal and heinous fashion, is perfectly correct and sound. We may observe that the reasons stated by the High Court in acquitting Sileti Singh, by giving him the benefit of doubt, have not appealed to us as sound and convincing but since the State has not preferred an appeal, his acquittal will stand.