Telangana High Court
D.Ganesh, vs The State Of Telangana, on 3 June, 2024
Author: P.Sam Koshy
Bench: P.Sam Koshy
THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE P.SAM KOSHY
AND
THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE SAMBASIVARAO NAIDU
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.1399 of 2014
JUDGMENT:(Per the Hon'ble Sri Justice SambasivaRao Naidu) Assailing his conviction ordered by the learned XVI Additional District and Sessions Judge, Cyberabad at Malkajgiri in SC.No.653 of 2007 dated 15-12-2014 by which the trial Court found him guilty for the offence under Section 304-B of Indian Penal Code (for short 'I.P.C.') and sentenced him to undergo Imprisonment for Life for the offence under Section 304-B of IPC along with fine of Rs.2,000/-, the sole accused in the above referred Sessions Case seeks to set aside the said judgment by way of filing this Criminal Appeal under Section 374(2) of Cr.P.C.
2. As per the material allegations made in the charge sheet and according to the evidence of the prosecution witnesses, it shows that one Smt.Dandge Jyothi @ Naga Jyothi (herein after will be referred as 'deceased') was the second daughter of PW.1 and she was married to the 2 PSK,J & SSRN, J CRIMINAL APPEAL No.1399 of 2014 appellant herein on 22-05-2005. At the time of said marriage, the parents of the deceased paid sufficient dowry and other customary gifts. The appellant who was working in a Call Center lead happy marital life with the deceased for some time. They were blessed with a baby, who was 11 months at the time of the alleged offence. The prosecution has claimed that subsequently, the appellant started harassing his wife for dowry, thereby on 07-09-2007 she made an attempt to commit suicide by setting herself ablaze. She was admitted to Gandhi Hospital, Secunderabad with burn injuries and while undergoing treatment, she succumbed to the injuries on 12-09-2007.
3. The prosecution has alleged that since the deceased died otherwise than under the normal circumstances within seven years of the marriage, and as there was demand for dowry just before the death, he has committed an offence under Section 304-B of IPC and accordingly filed charge sheet against him. A charge under Section 304-B of IPC has been framed against the appellant who denied the charge. To prove the charge, the prosecution sought to rely on the oral evidence of PWs.1 to 13 and Exs.P1 to P11. The burnt Nighty 3 PSK,J & SSRN, J CRIMINAL APPEAL No.1399 of 2014 of the deceased was marked as MO.1 and plastic white bottle which was seized from the scene of offence is marked as MO.2.
4. The appellant herein denied the allegations and claimed that he was falsely implicated in this case. The learned counsel for the appellant has submitted that the trial Court failed to appreciate the oral evidence of the witnesses in a proper way. All the material witnesses examined by the prosecution are interested witnesses. The prosecution was not able to make out a case under Section 304-B of IPC, therefore, sought for acquittal of the appellant herein.
5. As already stated, the charge framed against the appellant herein was under Section 304-B of IPC which reads as follows:
304B. Dowry death.--(1) Where the death of a woman is caused by any burns or bodily injury or occurs otherwise than under normal circumstances within seven years of her marriage and it is shown that soon before her death she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or any relative of her husband for, or in connection with, any demand for dowry, such death shall be called "dowry death", and such husband or relative shall be deemed to have caused her death.
4 PSK,J & SSRN, J CRIMINAL APPEAL No.1399 of 2014 Explanation For the purpose of this sub-section, "dowry" shall have the same meaning as in section 2 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 (28 of 1961).
(2) Whoever commits dowry death shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than seven years but which may extend to imprisonment for life.
6. Therefore, to prove the charge, the prosecution need to establish that a newly married bride died under unnatural circumstances within seven years of the marriage and soon before her death, there was harassment in connection with any dowry by the appellant. Here is a case where it is specifically alleged that the deceased was married to appellant herein on 22-05-2005 and she succumbed to burn injuries when she made an attempt of suicide while undergoing treatment in a Government Hospital on 12-09-2007. Therefore, the death of the deceased due to burn injuries was within seven years of the marriage. The material witnesses including the mother of the deceased categorically deposed that the deceased was subjected to dowry harassment. Even if the evidence of these witnesses is considered to be evidence of interested witnesses, still there 5 PSK,J & SSRN, J CRIMINAL APPEAL No.1399 of 2014 is statement of the deceased which she made before PW.10. According to the evidence of PW.10, who worked as III Metropolitan Magistrate, Secunderabad, on receipt of a requisition from S.H.O., Malkajgiri, she rushed to the Hospital and having identified the declarant with the help of duty Medical Officer and after putting some preliminary questions and on satisfaction that the declarant was in a fit condition to give a statement, obtained her statement under Ex.P8. The Judicial Officer, who recorded the statement could obtain the certificate of the Medical Officer about the mental condition of the deceased being fit before commencement of recording the statement and also after conclusion. In the said statement, the deceased categorically stated that the appellant herein demanded money, abused her in filthy language, he used to quarrel with her for the past two years and on the date of incident, he has increased the harassment. Therefore, unable to bear the said harassment, she set herself ablaze. However, the appellant himself tried to extinguish the fire and got her admitted in the Hospital. Even though, PW.10 was cross-examined by the learned counsel for the appellant herein, nothing could be elicited to believe that the statement 6 PSK,J & SSRN, J CRIMINAL APPEAL No.1399 of 2014 under Ex.P8 was outcome of any other external force like tutoring the deponent.
7. As could be seen from the allegations in the charge sheet and according to the statement under Ex.P8, the marriage of the deceased was performed about two years prior to the incident. She had already got a female child, who was aged about 11 months. Unless, there are such strong circumstances, a lady like deceased herein with a kid of 11 months may not venture to commit suicide. She has categorically stated before PW.10 that the accused had a quarrel with her as they paid less dowry. She has also stated before PW.10 that on the date of incident, he returned home at 6.30 p.m., and had a quarrel with her, abused her and there were similar quarrels since from the date of marriage, and he has intensified the abuses and she was unable to bear the pain, thereby, she committed suicide.
8. Apart from this statement, according to the evidence of PW.1 - the mother of the deceased, it is very clear that at the time of marriage they agreed to pay Rs.1,00,000/- as dowry but they paid only Rs.75,000/- and promised that they would pay the balance at a later date. The appellant 7 PSK,J & SSRN, J CRIMINAL APPEAL No.1399 of 2014 started demanding the deceased to bring the balance amount. He used to beat her and the deceased used to inform the said harassment to her mother. However, since she was unable to arrange the money, the demand was not satisfied. It is also in the evidence of PW.1 that on the date of incident at about 11.00 a.m., the deceased came to her house, informed her that the appellant was demanding Rs.50,000/- and 5 Tulas of Gold for performing Tonsure ceremony to her daughter. Therefore, PW.1 agreed to pay Rs.20,000/- and on the same day, the appellant made a call to her and enquired about the money and at about 8.30 or 8.45 p.m., she came to know that her daughter was admitted to Yashoda Hospital with burn injuries. When they visited the Hospital, she was told by her daughter about the suicide in connection with the above dowry demand. Though the mother of the deceased was cross-examined at length, there is nothing to believe that she was deposing falsehood. Therefore, these circumstances would clearly shows that the suicidal death of the deceased was only due to the demand for money made by the appellant herein as such, all the ingredients of Section 304-B of IPC 8 PSK,J & SSRN, J CRIMINAL APPEAL No.1399 of 2014 have been proved beyond all reasonable doubt and the trial Court rightly found him guilty for the said offence.
9. While advancing arguments, the learned counsel for the appellant has submitted that the record produced before the Court itself shows that the deceased died due to suicide attempt by the deceased itself. The appellant himself extinguished the flames and got her admitted to the Hospital and tried his best to save his wife. The appellant is a young man and already served sentence of 8 years. Therefore, sought for modification of the sentence. The record placed before the Court shows that the above referred judgment was pronounced on 15-12-2014. The appellant was immediately sent to jail to serve the sentence. During the course of time, his bail application was considered by this Court on 25-01-2022 and on the ground that as he has served 8 years of sentence and as he himself extinguished the fire and took the deceased to Hospital and on the ground that he had no intention to do harm to the wife, he was ordered to be released on bail on certain conditions. Taking all these circumstances into consideration and taking the age of the appellant and about his responsibility to look after his 9 PSK,J & SSRN, J CRIMINAL APPEAL No.1399 of 2014 daughter, this Court considers the request of the learned counsel to modify the sentence.
10. In the result, appeal is partly allowed. The sentence imposed by the trial Court is modified from Imprisonment for Life to Rigorous Imprisonment for a period of 10 years by maintaining the fine ordered by the trial Court.
Consequently, Miscellaneous petitions if any, are closed. No costs.
___________________ JUSTICE P.SAM KOSHY __________________________ JUSTICE SAMBASIVA RAO NAIDU Date: 03.06.2024 PLV