Delhi District Court
State vs . Humender @ Sonu Etc. on 18 September, 2012
Sessions Case No. : 51/11
State Vs. Humender @ Sonu Etc.
FIR No. : 69/11
P.S. : Alipur
18092012
Present : Sh. Shiv Kumar, Ld. APP for the State.
All the accused are present on bail.
ORDER ON CHARGE
1.The present FIR was registered on the statement of father of the deceased. As per the FIR the deceased Rakhi was married with accused Humender on 2122010. It is alleged that after 34 days of the marriage when Rakhi came back to her parents house, she told them that her inlaws used to say that the dowry articles which have been given are cheap and useless. They further used to ask her to go and bring back good articles. It is alleged that the trunk and dressing table were changed by the complainant. It is alleged that one week prior to the death of Rakhi she had told the complainant that her motherinlaw had kicked her in here stomach, accused Humender had given her beatings with belt on her legs and sister inlaw Baby had pulled her hair.
2. It is alleged that the complainant kept quiet as the marriage was recent. It is alleged that daughter of complainant used to Sessions Case No. : 51/11 Page 1 of 8 telephone him secretly. It is further alleged that accused Humender, motherinlaw, sisterinlaw, elder sisterinlaw and Kuku gave beatings to Rakhi who informed the complainant on telephone. It is alleged that Rakhi was asked by the complainant to come to his house on 232011, but on 132011 Kuku (brother inlaw) told that Rakhi had been removed to the hospital. Ashish, son of the complainant, Sheela, wife of the complainant went to Santom Hospital but the complainant could not reach there but he sent his nephew, younger brother Amarjeet and brotherinlaw Shees Pal to the hospital. It is further alleged that the marriage is only three months old and Rakhi was beaten by the accused persons and they used to pressurize her to bring a Santro Car.
3. I have heard, Ld. APP for the State, counsel for the accused persons and have also gone through the records of the case.
4. It is urged by the Ld defence counsel that the allegations are vague and general in nature and not specific. It is further urged that the parents of the deceased have named each and every relative and that the brotherinlaw and the sisterinlaw were living separately and nothing to do with the offence. It is further urged that no primafacie case is made out against the accused persons. It is further urged that the deceased in her suicide note has exonerated all the accused persons. It is further submitted that Sessions Case No. : 51/11 Page 2 of 8 there is nothing on record to show that the deceased was subjected to cruelty with regard to demand of dowry soon before her death. It is further urged that the witnesses have given contradictory statements and the accused persons are liable to be discharged. It is further urged that at the time of framing of the charge the Court can look into the documents though not meticulously to see if any charge is made out against the accused persons. Ld. defence counsel has relied upon :
(a) Harjit Kaur Vs. State of Punjab (1999) 6 Supreme Court Cases
545.
(b) Raman Kumar and another Vs. State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi) 2009 (109) DRJ 305.
(c) Devi Dutt Malhotra and Anr. Vs. State of [Delhi] 2002 [2] JCC
907.
(d) Sarbans Singh & Ors Vs. State of NCT of Delhi 116 (2005) Delhi Law Times 698.
(e) Sunil Bansal Vs. State of Delhi 2007 (96) DRJ 9.
(f) Babita Vs. State (Delhi) 2009 [2] JCC 1247.
(g) Bhagwanti Vs. State 94 (2001) Delhi Law Times 632.
(h) Satya Narayan Tiwari & Anr. Vs. State of U.P. 2011 CRI. L.J.
445.
(i) Yashwant Kumar Vs. State 2011 CRI. L.J. 4527.
5. On the other hand, it is submitted by the Ld APP for the Sessions Case No. : 51/11 Page 3 of 8 State that there are specific allegations against all the accused persons. It is further urged by him that at the time of framing of the charge, it is only to be seen that whether a primafacie case is made out against the accused or not. It is further urged that all the ingredients of section 304 B IPC are present in this case and the deceased had died within three months of the marriage and during those three months beatings were given to her, demand of car was raised and as per the mother and brother of the deceased a sum of Rs. 40,000/ and Rs. 50,000/ were also given. It is further urged by him that there are specific allegations of beatings against all the accused persons. It is further urged by the Ld. APP that the alleged dying declaration is shrouded in mystery and there is no certification by the doctor with regard to fitness of the deceased when the dying declaration was recorded. It is further urged by the Ld. APP that as per the death summary of the deceased she was admitted in Santom Hospital at 3:15 p.m on 132011 and her pulse and BP were not recordable. It is further urged by the Ld. APP that as per the death summary report the deceased had even developed laboured breathing and had to be kept on Vent support IPPV mode so it was not possible for her to give any statement or sign the dying declaration as alleged. It is further submitted that according to the mother and the cousin brother of the deceased whose signatures are there on the alleged Sessions Case No. : 51/11 Page 4 of 8 dying declaration, the mother has stated that she is illiterate lady and only knows how to right her name and according to her the statement of her daughter was already written and her signatures were obtained on the statement. Similarly, Anil, cousin of the deceased has also stated that when they reached the hospital they were not allowed to meet Rakhi and his signatures were obtained on the statement of Rakhi which was already written. It is further urged by the Ld. APP that as per the statement of Anil at that time he was not aware as to what was the statement of Rakhi.
6. It is further submitted by the Ld. APP that when one's daughter is about to die or has recently died, the person is so perturbed and confused and sometimes out of his or her senses, he does not no what to state or what not to state. So in what condition and under what circumstances the alleged dying declaration was signed by the mother and cousin brother of the deceased can only be looked into at the time of trial. Otherwise, there are allegations of demand and beatings. It is further urged by the Ld. APP that it is not understood as to why any young and educated girl would take poison by mistake.
7. The Apex Court in the case of Kunhiabdulla Vs. State of Kerala, 2004 (4) SCC 13 : (AIR 2004 SC 1731), held that in order to attract application of Section 304 B IPC, the essential Sessions Case No. : 51/11 Page 5 of 8 ingredients are as follows :
(1) The death of a woman should be caused by burns or bodily injury or otherwise than in normal circumstances; (2) Such a death should have occurred within seven years of her marriage;
(3) She must have been subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or any relative of her husband; (4) Such cruelty or harassment should be for or in connection with demand of dowry;
(5) Such cruelty or harassment is shown to have meted out to the woman soon before her death.
8. In the present case the marriage had taken place on 2122010, and deceased Rakhi had died within 3 months of the marriage i.e on 232011. As per the statement of Jagdish, father of the deceased, Sheela mother of the deceased, Ashish, brother of the deceased, there are specific allegations of beatings being given to the deceased. There are allegations of demand of Santro car and giving of Rs. 40,000/ in the month of February and thereafter a sum of Rs. 50,000/. It is also alleged against the accused persons that the deceased had phoned at her parents house and told her father that all the accused persons had given beatings to her. The marriage lasted for only about three months and as per the allegations in those three months there were Sessions Case No. : 51/11 Page 6 of 8 beatings and demands from the deceased.
9. There is no straight jacket formula to arrive at a conclusion whether the demand and cruelties were soon before her death. Each case has his own facts. In the instant case, primafacie it appears from the statement of the witnesses that during the entire period of three months the deceased was beaten and subjected to cruelty and she lived under fear as alleged by the father of the deceased.
10. As far as the dying declaration is concerned, the veracity of the same would be tested at the time of trial because the mother of the deceased has specifically denied that no such declaration was made by her daughter in her presence and moreover, as per the death summary the pulse and BP was not recordable and deceased even developed laboure breathing and had to be kept on vent support IPPV mode. There is no certification regarding the fitness of the deceased when the said dying declaration was recorded, moreover, the perusal of the MLC also shows that there are no signatures of the doctor on the MLC where the deceased had been declared fit for statement at 5:30 p.m. So the veracity of the dying declaration can only be tested at the time of the trial. As far as the judgments relied upon by the counsel for the accused persons are concerned, there is no dispute to the proposition of law laid down in the said judgments but in the facts and Sessions Case No. : 51/11 Page 7 of 8 circumstances of the present case the witnesses have levelled serious allegations against all the accused persons regarding beatings and demand during the period of three months.
11. Therefore, in view of the discussions mentioned hereinabove, from the perusal of the statement of the witnesses recorded and other material on record, a primafacie case U/s 498A/304 B/34 IPC is made out against all the accused persons. Now to come up for framing of formal charged against all the accused persons on 05102012.
(Announced in the open Court today i.e on 18092012.) (RAJNISH BHATNAGAR) ASJII, OUTER DISTRICT ROHINI COURTS : DELHI 18092012 Sessions Case No. : 51/11 Page 8 of 8