TMI Blog1990 (12) TMI 343X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ; married Varsha, the deceased herein on 4.12.82. After the marriage, she came to Ahmedabad and stayed with her husband who was in joint family of Roopam society at Ahmedabad. After having stayed for about one month with her husband, she returned to her parents' place at Bombay and after about a month, Soni took her back to the matrimonial home. According to the prosecution that even during her stay with her husband for about a month, the matrimonial life was not happy as it ought to be as the lady members of the house used to taunt her. She was not even allowed to see and freely talk to her father and brother in private when they used to visit her. While so, on 7.7.83 the deceased wrote a letter Exh. 18 to her parents informing them that she was being ill-treated by her husband and in-laws and other relatives complaining that her father did not give her anything at the time of marriage and that only Almighty could save her from threatened danger. After the receipt of the letter, the father of the deceased contacted the father of Soni who asked the father of the deceased (PW 5) to come to meet him personally. Thereafter, there was a chain of correspondence between the parents o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ited the scene of offence on 10.1.84 and obtained two letters Exh. 18 and 19 said to have been written by deceased, Varsha which letters were found attached with the panchnama. Though PW-21 tried to contact Dr. D.G. Desai (PW 11) on 12.1.84 and 16.1.84 for obtaining his opinion about the cause of death, he could not contact him as the Doctor was on leave. He sent the letters said to have been found beneath the pillow and the letters Exh. 18 and 19 to the Handwriting Expert for his opinion. Then he recorded the statement of other witnesses and received the opinion of the Handwriting Expert on 5.6.84 and the opinion of PW-11 on 6.6.84. On 16.8.84, he arrested the appellant and produced him for remand. The specimen handwritings of the appellant were obtained. After completing the investigation, he laid the charge-sheet on 13.10.1984. To establish the charges levelled as against Soni, as many as 23 witnesses were examined and 105 exhibits were filed. The defence of the accused was one of denial. 5. The Trial Court found the appellant guilty of having committed the murder of his wife Varsha and convicted him Under Section 302 IPC and sentenced him to imprisonment for life. It seems that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l, we shall at the threshold find out certain salient features which are beyond controversy. 8. The marriage of the victim, Varsha (aged about 25 years at the time of occurrence) with the appellant, Soni was solemnized on 4.12.82. She died on 1.8.83 i.e. after about 8 months of the marriage. Her marital life was not happy and congenial but on the other hand it was deplorable, whatever might have been the reasons for it. Whilst the prosecution has come forward with a case that the victim, Varsha was subjected to harassment for not having brought adequate dowry, the defence version is that the deceased has created a hell of her own as she was not married to her lover at Bombay and her request for divorce from the appellant, Soni was not acceded to. At the time of the occurrence, she was residing in her marital home with her husband, in-laws and relatives and the deceased was found lying dead in her bed on the morning of 1.8.83. 9. The crucial question that arises for consideration is, as to whether the deceased committed suicide by taking poison on account of the alleged failure in love or whether she was murdered by her husband, Soni. There is no direct evidence to prove either of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... le witness. In the cross examination this witness has stated as follows: In my statement recorded on the date 19.8.84, I had stated that, Prior to the date 1.8.83 Varshaben had come to my place for taking treatment and I have an impression that since she was having effect of fever and cold, I had given her chloroquine or B.I.O. Manigen with Decacrome and this injection was given in the muscles above the elbow on her left arm. 12. PW-8, the youngest brother of Devjibhai (father of the appellant) has deposed that on receipt of a telephonic message he reached the scene house at about 7.30 or 7.40 A.M. and found Varsha dead; that on enquiry he came to know that the deceased seemed to have consumed poisonous substance; that he went to the police station at the instance of Devjibhai i.e. father of the appellant and waited at the police station for 2 or 3 hours for the arrival of PW-17 and then informed PW-17 that the deceased had consumed some poisonous substance. A report was obtained from him, namely, Exh. 46. 13. PW-17 who was then the Sub-Inspector of Police has testified to the fact that on 1.8.83 at about 11.15 a.m. he on being informed about the death of the deceased by PW-6 namel ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t of service . There would be no fresh bleeding of menstruation after death. External injury. No. 3 corresponds with internal injury Nos. 2 and 3. 16. The Medical Officer on the strength of the visceral report of the Assistant Director gave his final opinion about the cause of death as follows:..1m20 Death occurred due to pancreatic and splenic haeomorrhage. 17. It seems that this Medical Officer has been subjected to a searching and incisive cross examination with reference to various text books, namely, Modi's Medical Jurisprudence, Tailor's Medical Jurisprudence and Grant Wolf's Medical Jurisprudence and questioned as to whether the injuries found by him on pancreas and spleen could be possible by a fall, but PW-11 was assertive that the injuries could not have been caused by a fall. In the cross examination the following evidence was elicited from the Medical Officer: It is not true that in such type of poisoning and death, no poison can be detected in the chemical examination at the Forensic Science Laboratory. My say is that mostly the poison would be detected in the chemical analysis report. Severe erosion in the stomach, severe erosion in the mouth and severe er ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... mptoms only after several days. In one recorded case no complaint was made for 36 hours after the injury. Death from rupture of the spleen is usually rapid, but occasionally it is delayed. Recovery may sometimes ensue without operation. 20. Then he referred to a passage in Parikh's Textbook of Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology, wherein at page 353 the author has registered his opinion as follows: The rupture of the spleen usually involves the concave or inner surface and causes death from hemorrhage. In some cases, symptoms of gross intra-abdominal bleeding may not occur for several hours or days after the rupture due to haematoma collecting under the intact capsule. Serious symptoms become apparent only when the capsule ruptures. Spontaneous rupture of a diseased spleen has been reported. While the possibility of spontaneous rupture of a much enlarged spleen cannot be denied, what can be positively denied is that a normal or even a moderately enlarged spleen can rupture spontaneously. This is specially emphasised, as in a case in which a person is accused of having caused the death of another by assaulting him so that this spleen was ruptured, the defence, relying on statem ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Bombay and that her marriage with the appellant Soni had been solemnised against her will and that the appellant had refused to accede to her request for divorce and that, therefore, she was committing suicide as she had reached a point of no return in her life. This letter is shown to have addressed to her Fai (Aunti), father, mother, Kaki (Aunti) and all members of her family. This letter Exh. 80 alleged to have been written by the deceased was sent to the handwriting expert for comparison with the handwritings of Varsha in Exh. 18 and 19. According to the father and brother of the deceased Varsha, i.e. PWs 5 and 7, Exh. 18 and 19 are in the handwriting of the deceased. The expert, namely, Assistant State Examiner of Questioned Documents, Ahmedabad by his report (Exh. 54) dated 2.6.1984 gave his opinion that the writings found in Exh.80 are not written by the one and the same person who wrote Exh.18 and 19. PW 7, the brother of the deceased has deposed that Exh.18 is an inland letter addressed to PW 5 and that Exh. 19 is a letter written to the uncle of the deceased at Dubai and that his attempt to get the handwriting of the deceased from the college was not successful. The High ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion holding in paragraph 23 of its judgment thus: ...It appears that Exh.80 has been got written by the accused in the hand writing of some other person but the fact established is that Exh.80 is certainly not in the hand writing of the deceased. 28. We after bestowing our painstaking consideration on the genuineness of this document hold that Exh. 80 is not proved to be under the handwriting of the deceased, Varsha and, therefore, no reliance can be placed on this document. 29. Coming to the medical evidence, PW-11 has testified to the fact that the nails of the deceased were cyanosed suggesting the high carbon dioxide in the blood due to lack of oxygen and that he did not find anything abnormal in the deceased, Varsha suggestive of any disease and that in the case of throttling or pressing there would be cynoised and that there was bleeding from her Virginia and the deceased would have taken her last food by about 10.00. P.M. and she should have died by 2.00 A.M. past mid-night and that in the present case there was no rupture of spleen or stomach or intestine. According to the medical officer the internal injury No. (1) namely pancreatic haematoma does not correspond to any of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ve a mark on the abdominal wall. 32. In Modi's Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology, the following text is found: Pancreas Wounds of the pancreas are extremely rare. They may occur from direct violence applied to the epigastrium or from penetrating wounds of the abdomen. They are usually accompanied by injuries of the other abdominal organs. But when the stomach is empty, the pancreas alone may be vertically ruptured by being pressed against the spinal column by the object struck, and may produce severe shook probably due to damage to the sympathetic and semilunar ganglia. 33. Further it is stated in the same book that a spleen subjected to traction forces may be torn from its pedicle. 34. In Medical Jurisprudence by Gordon Turner and Price (Third Edition) at page 670-671 the author has stated that the injuries of the spleen may be caused by forces of compression of traction forces and that pancreas may be injured by compression forces when the viscera are crushed against the posterior abdominal wall. 35. The High Court in paragraph 32 of its judgment for discussions made by it in its preceding paragraphs has concluded as follows: From the aforesaid medical evidence, the follow ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... was always sitting with her, and that he received a letter Exh. 18 on 7.7.83 under the handwriting of his daughter, Varsha and came to know from that letter that Varsha was subjected to harassment in her matrimonial home. He continues to state that he had telephonic talk with the father of the appellant, namely, Devjibhai who requested him to meet him in person and put down the receiver. Thereafter, he wrote a letter to Devjibhai requesting that his daughter should not be put to any harassment. Three days thereafter, he contacted Devjibhai. At that time also, Devjibhai asked PW-5 to go to Ahmedabad so that they could sit together and settle the matter. While it is so, at about 9.00 a.m. on 1.8.83, he received the massage from his neighbour that there was a telephonic call from Ahmedabad asking him to go over to that place. Thereupon, PW-5 contacted Devjibhai who told him that Varsha had suffered from brain haeomorrhage. Then he left Bombay and reached Ahmedabad. 41. PW-3, Indiraben Rameshchandra Soni testified to the fact that when the deceased had been at Ahmedabad after one and a half months of her marriage, Varsha complained to this witness that she was being tortured by her mo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... wever, he admits that the marriage couples would sleep in their respective bed rooms by closing the doors from inside. The brother of the appellant is also examined as PW-16. He too speaks in the same line of his mother and father. The evidence of these four witnesses, namely, PWs. 13, 14, 15 and 16 who are none other than the aunti, parents and brother of the appellant is highly tainted with interestedness and hence their plea of absence of the appellant in the scene house on the night of 31.7.83 cannot be accepted because according to PW-23, it was the appellant who came to his house at about 8.00 a.m. on the morning of 1.8.83 on a scooter and took him to the scene house to examine Varsha. It is found in the evidence of PW-13 that when all the family members pushed Varsha's room a little, the door had opened. This indicates that the door was not locked from inside. Therefore, from these circumstances, one could safely infer that Varsha had slept in her room with her husband on the intervening night of 31.7.83 and 1.8.83 and that the appellant had come out of the room and that Varsha was found dead in her bed. 46. As spoken to PWs 13 and 14 if Varsha and her husband, the appel ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e taken her last meal about 4 hours before her death. If it is so, there could not be any reason for the deceased to commit suicide. 50. On the other hand, the medical evidence reveals that her life should have been put to an end on account of some external pressure on the anterior part of the stomach on the region of pancreas and spleen. External injury No. 3 - namelyhaematoma, surrounding the peritoneum - measuring about 4 cm x 4 cm corresponded to internal injury Nos. 2 and 3 and the posture of the dead body on the cot as noticed by PW-23 unerringly lead to a conclusion that some heavy pressure was used on the pancreatic and splenic region by some other human agency. In our considered view, that agency, in the circumstances of the case, was only the appellant. 51. We have already expressed our opinion about the defence theory of suicide as a complete hoax and incredulous one falsely invented by the appellant in order to escape from his guilt and the legal punishment and also to drift the course of the investigation. We are not taking this false explanation or false plea taken by the appellant as an additional link to the chain of the circumstantial evidence in establishing his g ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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