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TMI Blog2014 (12) TMI 1375X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ars rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs. 2,000/- and one year rigorous imprisonment, respectively, for each of them. Hence, this appeal. 2. It is the prosecution case that the marriage between the second Appellant-Narendra Singh-son of the first Appellant-Vijay Pal Singh and the deceased Saroj daughter of Ramesh Singh took place on 10.02.1991. PW-1 was informed on 25.05.1991, by the first Appellant-Vijay Pal Singh through his son Rakesh Singh that Saroj was found missing from the intervening night of 23/24th May, 1991. This information, PW-1 received around 08.00 a.m. on 25.05.1991 and, thereafter, he lodged a complaint at the Police Station, Jaspur. On the same day, PW-2-Samar Pal Singh, Village Pradhan, lodged a report at Police Station, Dillari stating therein that one Sukhe had informed him that he had seen a dead body of an unknown woman in burnt condition in the forest area on the side of the road. Thereafter, the case was registered Under Section 302 read with Section 201 of Indian Penal Code. PW-8-Ashok Kumar was entrusted with the investigation. The usual formalities on inquest etc. were undertaken and the body was sent for postmortem examination. PW-10-Dr. S.K. Arora c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... at his son-in-law Narendra Singh, father of his son-in-law-Vijay Pal Singh, brother of his son-in-law-Rakesh Singh and brother-in-law of his son-in-law, Gyan Chandra, had committed the murder of his daughter Saroj and had also tried to destroy the dead body by burning the same near village Sahaspuri. It was further alleged that Vijay Pal Singh mislead him by sending the missing information. 5. In view of the above complaint, another FIR was registered on 26.05.1991 at Police Station, Dillari and the investigation was taken over by Mahindra Singh Tyagi, Deputy Superintendent of Police-PW-9. As per his report Under Section 173(2) of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as "the Code of Criminal Procedure.), the Appellants are guilty of offences punishable Under Sections 304B, 498A and 201 of Indian Penal Code and Section 3/4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. 6. Charges of offences punishable Under Section 304B read with Section 34 of Indian Penal Code, Section 302 read with Section 34 of Indian Penal Code, Section 498A of Indian Penal Code and Section 201 of Indian Penal Code were framed against the Appellants. The charges were read over and explained to t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... transpires that the Respondents/accused first committed murder of Saroj at their house at Village Kasampur by throttling her neck and thereafter in order to destroy the evidence, they burnt the dead body and planted it on road in the forest of village Sahaspuri at a distance of 35 Kms from Village Kasampur and with intention to mislead the complainant Ramesh Singh, they sent a false missing information of the deceased through Respondent/accused Rakesh. Thus, in this way, the Respondents/accused have also committed offence punishable Under Section 201 Indian Penal Code. 10. On the basis of the above conclusion, the following finding was entered: 34. Therefore, in view of the above-said discussion, I am of the considered view that the trial court was not correct and justified in acquitting the Respondents for the offence punishable Under Sections 304B r/w Section 34 Indian Penal Code, 498-A and 201 of Indian Penal Code. The prosecution has successfully proved its case against the Respondents/accused beyond reasonable doubt under the aforesaid sections and they are accordingly convicted. 11. On the basis of above finding, the following sentence was passed: 35. Accordingly, the a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to the Appellants to make submissions on sentence. 13. Learned Counsel appearing for the Respondent-State, Mr. Tanmaya Agarwal, however, contends that the findings of the trial court being absolutely perverse, High Court is fully justified in reversing the finding and reaching a correct conclusion. According to the learned Counsel for the State, all the ingredients of Section 304B have been made out in the present case and the punishments awarded to all the Appellants are liable to the sustained. 14. The postmortem report shows the following injuries on the body: i) Lacerated wound 10 cm x 4 cm x skull deep on the occipital region of head underneath occipital, left parietal, temporal bone fractured. ii) Contusion semi-circular 20 cm x 3 cm on the front of neck underneath blood vessel lacerated and clotted blood present and cornua of hyoid bone both side fractured. One post-mortem injury was also found on the dead body of the deceased, which reads as under: i) P.M. burn whole of body including both extremities, abdomen, chest, face and back. 15. The cause of death, according to the postmortem report is asphyxia caused by strangulation. 16. It is rather strange that the H ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... eyond doubt. The second situation mentioned above finds illustration in those incidents in which, even though the circumstances raise a strong suspicion that the death was not accidental, yet, proof beyond reasonable doubt may not be forthcoming that the case was really one of homicide. Thus, there is need to address oneself to the substantive criminal law as well as to the law of evidence. 18. In the Statement of Objects and Reasons for the Act 43 of 1986, in the Bill, it is stated as follows: The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 was recently amended by the Dowry Prohibition (Amendment) Act, 1984 to give effect to certain recommendations of the Joint Committee of the Houses of Parliament to examine the question of the working of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 and to make the provisions of the Act more stringent and effective. Although the Dowry Prohibition (Amendment) Act, 1984 was an improvement on the existing legislation, opinions have been expressed by representatives from women's voluntary organizations and others to the effect that the amendments made are still inadequate and the Act needs to be further amended. 2. It is, therefore, proposed to further amend the Dowry ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in nature and not to extricate husbands or their relatives from the clutches of Section 302 Indian Penal Code if they directly cause death. This conceptual difference was not kept in view by the courts below. But that cannot bring any relief if the conviction is altered to Section 304 Part II. No prejudice is caused to the accused-Appellants as they were originally charged for offence punishable Under Section 302 Indian Penal Code along with Section 304B Indian Penal Code. 20. In a recent decision, this Court in Jasvinder Saini and Ors. v. State (Government of NCT of Delhi) (2013) 7 SCC 256, observed thus: 15. It is common ground that a charge Under Section 304B Indian Penal Code is not a substitute for a charge of murder punishable Under Section 302. As in the case of murder in every case Under Section 304B also there is a death involved. The question whether it is murder punishable Under Section 302 Indian Penal Code or a dowry death punishable Under Section 304B Indian Penal Code depends upon the fact situation and the evidence in the case. If there is evidence whether direct or circumstantial to prima facie support a charge Under Section 302 Indian Penal Code the trial cour ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y the punishment should not be appropriately enhanced but why we reluctantly decline to do so, we shall explain in the later part of the judgment. 24. In two of the early decisions of this Court, after the introduction of Section 304B of Indian Penal Code, the ingredients of the offence and the interplay of Section 304B of Indian Penal Code with Sections 498A, 302, 306 of Indian Penal Code have also been discussed. In State of Punjab v. Iqbal Singh and Ors. (1991) 3 SCC 1, the Court in paragraph-8 stated that: 8. ... The legislative intent is clear to curb the menace of dowry deaths, etc., with a firm hand. We must keep in mind this legislative intent. It must be remembered that since crimes are generally committed in the privacy of residential homes and in secrecy, independent and direct evidence is not easy to get. That is why the legislature has by introducing Sections 113A and 113B in the Evidence Act tried to strengthen the prosecution hands by permitting a presumption to be raised if certain foundational facts are established and the unfortunate event has taken place within seven years of marriage. This period of seven years is considered to be the turbulent one after whic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... any demand for dowry, then the court shall presume that such person has committed the dowry death. The meaning of "cruelty" for the purposes of these sections has to be gathered from the language as found in Section 498A and as per that section "cruelty" means "any wilful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life etc. or harassment to coerce her or any other person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand". As per the definition of "dowry" any property or valuable security given or agreed to be given either at or before or any time after the marriage, comes within the meaning of "dowry".... 26. Unto the latest decision available on this point, in Baljinder Kaur v. State of Punjab (2014) 13 SCALE 96, except for the required thrust with respect to the factual situation available in each case, the law has been consistent as to the requirements for constituting the offence Under Section 304B of Indian Penal Code. 27. Back to the facts of the instant case, the main evidence in t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lutely no evidence to show that any demand was made to the deceased Saroj. This contention is difficult to digest. Demand for dowry so as to come under the purview of Section 304B or Section 498A need not be to the married woman. The demand can as well be to the father, mother, brother, etc., of the married woman. Any demand to them is as good as a demand to the married woman since she is the one to suffer in case the demands are not met, as has happened in the instant case. 31. Yet another serious contention raised by Mr. Dey is that in any case, there is no evidence of cruelty or harassment meted out to the deceased on account or in relation to the demand for dowry. Cruelty or harassment need not always be demonstrated in the form of physical violence. The fact that a married woman had to go out of her in-laws' house and that the in-laws' had made demand for dowry as a pre-condition for taking her back and that even a Panchayat was held at the local level to sort out the issue, are sufficient indicators of cruelty or harassment, mental, if not, physical. Thus, all the ingredients of Section 304B of Indian Penal Code have been established in the instant case. 32. Inciden ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ate of Punjab v. Karnail Singh (2003) 11 SCC 271, Chandrappa and Ors. v. State of Karnataka (2007) 4 SCC 415, which have dealt with the issue, this Court held that unless the judgment of acquittal is based on no material or is perverse or the view taken by the court is wholly unreasonable or is not a plausible view or there is non-consideration of any evidence or there is palpable misreading of evidence, the appellate court will not be justified in interfering with the order of acquittal. While endorsing and reaffirming those principles, we are of the considered view that on the facts of the present case, there has been a palpable misreading of evidence by the trial court. As we have already discussed herein above, the conclusions drawn by the trial court is apparently against the weight of evidence and thus perverse, and it is so perverse that no reasonable man could reach conclusions. 34. Now, the question as to why the High Court, having entered a conclusion that it is a case of murder at the hands of the Appellants, yet chose to convict them only Under Section 304B of Indian Penal Code. As we have already indicated, it could have been a case for the High Court or for that matt ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... issues that came up for consideration before this Court on acquittal Under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code is whether on account of acquittal Under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code, the accused could claim acquittal Under Section 304B of Indian Penal Code. It was clarified by this Court that the acquittal Under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code will not lead to automatic acquittal Under Section 304B of Indian Penal Code. Even if an accused is acquitted Under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code, if there is evidence available so as to satisfy the ingredients of Section 304B of Indian Penal Code, the accused can still be convicted Under Section 304B of Indian Penal Code, in case there is no rebuttal of presumption on the death as caused by the accused. To quote: 15. We also see no substance in the submission that merely because the Appellant had been acquitted Under Section 302 Indian Penal Code the presumption Under Section 113B of the Evidence Act stands automatically rebutted. The death having taken place within seven years of the marriage and there being sufficient evidence of demand of dowry, the presumption Under Section 113B of the Evidence Act gets invoked. There is no evidenc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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