Delhi District Court
3837 And Of Hon'Ble Supreme Court In ... vs . State Of on 27 September, 2012
1 IN THE COURT OF SHRI RAJNEESH KUMAR GUPTA, ADDITIONAL SESSIONS JUDGE01 (WEST):DELHI SC No. 15/10 Unique Case I.D. No. 02401R0054732010 FIR No. 223/09 PS Moti Nagar U/s 306/34 IPC State Vs. Deepak Sharma @ Shiv Mangal Sharma S/o Shri Chhote Lal Sharma R/o H.No. 253/I Juhi Lal Colony PS Kidwai Nagar, UP. 2. Vibha D/o Shri Chhote Lal R/o H.No. 253/I Juhi Lal Colony PS Kidwai Nagar, UP. 3. Sunil Verma S/o Late Shri Jalim Verma R/o H.No. 253/I Juhi Lal Colony PS Kidwai Nagar, UP. ...... Accused Date of Institution : 23.2.2010 Date of arguments : 31.08.2012 Date of Judgment : 27.09.2012 JUDGMENT
In brief the case of the prosecution is that on 25.09.09 on SC No. 15/10 Page 1 of 17 2 receiving of DD No. 15A, ASI Pratap Singh along with Ct. Suresh went to the spot at H. No. WZ19, in Gali No. 14, Ratan Park, Delhi. In one of the room of the premises, Smt. Geeta Rathore (now deceased) was found hanging from the ceiling fan with a Saree. Crime team and the SDM Patel Nagar were called at the spot. At the spot, one suicide note allegedly written by the deceased was found. At the spot, Raju S/o Bache Lal also came and the SDM recorded his statement. In his statement, Raju has stated that the deceased has married with the accused Deepak Sharma and she has committed the suicide as a result of the cruelty and harassment committed by the accused Deepak Sharma upon the deceased. In the suicide note, the deceased has stated that the accused persons namely Deepak Shamra, Sunil and Vibha Sharma are responsible for her suicide. The SDM had directed the SHO to take action as per law, on the basis of the suicide note and on the basis of statement of Raju. The dead body of the deceased was shifted to DDU Hospital. The FIR was registered U/s 306/34 IPC. ASI Pratap Singh prepared the site plan of the spot, seized the stool, suicide note and the Saree. After postmortem of the deceased in the DDU Hospital, the dead body was handed over to the legal heirs of the deceased. The accused Deepak Sharma surrendered in the court and was arrested in this case. The accused persons namely Sunil Verma and Vibha were formally arrested in this case as they were on anticipatory bail.
2. After investigation, the chargesheet has been filed against the accused persons U/S 306/34 IPC. The charge U/s 306/34 IPC was framed against the accused persons to which they had pleaded not guilty. SC No. 15/10 Page 2 of 17 3
3. In order to prove its case, the prosecution had examined 23 witnesses. The accused persons in their statement recorded U/s 313 Cr.P.C has denied the case of the prosecution. The accused persons has not led any evidence in their defence.
4. I have heard the Ld. APP for the state and Ld. counsel for the accused persons and perused the evidence on record.
PW1 Shri Raju Rathore has deposed that the deceased is sister in law of his brother in law Shri Sudhir Rathore. The accused Deepak Sharma was the husband of the deceased. Both the accused and the deceased lived in the area of Malka Ganj, Delhi for 67 months after their marriage. On 24.9.09, the deceased had called him on telephone and he went to her house at 1 p.m. at WZ19, Rattan Park, Basaidara Pur, Delhi. She has told him that the accused used to beat her and he had beaten her one day prior and left her alone. The accused used to work in a company by the name of RACE. On 25.9.09 at about 9.30 a.m., he received a telephone call from the police that Ms. Geeta had expired. He immediately went to Rattan Park and had reached at the house of deceased where he saw the deceased was hanging from the ceiling fan and a suicide note was written by her was lying on the diwan. The police had recorded his statement which is Ex. PW1/A and prepared the site plan of the place of occurrence. The police had cut the Saree with the scissor by which the deceased had hung herself and the same was seized vide seizure memo Ex. PW1/B. The stool was seized vide seizure memo Ex PW1/C. From the drawer of the diwan, ID card, Character certificate of the deceased were seized vide SC No. 15/10 Page 3 of 17 4 memo Ex. PW1/D. The suicide note was also seized vide seizure memo Ex. PW1/E. The dead body of the deceased was removed to the hospital and he identified the dead body vide his statement Ex. PW1/F. On 11.12.09, the accused Deepak Sharma surrendered in the court and he was arrested vide arrest memo Ex. PW1/G. He has identified the suicide note as Ex. P1, I Card of the deceased as Ex. P2 and character certificate of the deceased as Ex. P3, The wooden stool as Ex. P4, the photographs of the scene of crime as Ex. PW5/1 to Ex. PW5/10 and the photograph of the suicide note as Ex. PW5/11.
In cross examination, PW1 has deposed that the accused Deepak along with the deceased had met him in Delhi at his house and had stayed at their house for about 15 days. They were living happily. Thereafter both started living at Malka Ganj, Delhi. From Malka Ganj they had shifted to Basaidhara Pur The deceased has not complaint to him of demanding dowry by the accused Deepak and his family Basaidhara Pur. The mother of the deceased had not complaint him about the behaviour or demand of dowry. He met the deceased one day prior to the incident. She was normal and fit and he remained there for ten minutes.
PW2 Shri Sunil Rathore has deposed that the accused Deepak Sharma is residing near Juhi Depot in Kanpur, UP and he used to come to their house being a friend of his brother Rohit. The deceased, who is her sister was studying in college. After 23 months, since the visits of the accused in their house, the deceased and the accused ran way from their house. Thereafter they searched the deceased for two months but no clue was found. Thereafter he SC No. 15/10 Page 4 of 17 5 received the telephone call of the deceased who told him that the accused is harassing her and demanding money from her. They came to know that the deceased is residing with the accused in Delhi. They arranged Rs. 20,000/. His mother Jamuna Devi came to Delhi and handed over the money to the accused and the deceased. Thereafter he received the information that the deceased has committed suicide. They came to Delhi and he has identified the dead body of the deceased vide memo Ex. PW2/A. In cross examination, PW2 has deposed that he has not told to the police that he received the telephone of the deceased that accused is harassing her and is demanding money from her. He had also not stated to the police that they arranged Rs. 20,000/ and her mother came to Delhi and handed over the money to the accused and the deceased. He used to earn Rs. 100150 per day. He borrowed money and collected Rs. 20,000/ from many persons. He cannot tell whether the deceased asked for money on her own or on being instigated by the accused. He do not remember the date, month and hear when the deceased talked to him on telephone.
PW3 Shri Anil Rathore, the brother of the deceased has deposed that the accused Deepak Sharma used to visit their house with his brother Rohit. His mother had told him that the deceased had run away with the accused. He had not lodged any complaint to the police regarding it. The deceased made a telephone call on his mobile which was received by his mother who told her that accused is harassing and beating her. She also informed that the accused is demanding money. The accused has demanded SC No. 15/10 Page 5 of 17 6 money Rs. Two lacs. He could hardly arrange Rs. 20,000/ which was given to his mother who came to Delhi and handed over the money to the accused and the deceased. After that the deceased had informed to her mother that the accused is beating her mercilessly and also threatening that he would leave her. The accused even threatened to kill her. One day, he received telephone call from the police officials that the deceased has committed suicide. They came to Delhi and identified the dead body of the deceased vide memo Ex. PW2/A. Police has recorded his statement which is Ex. PW3/A. Ex. PW3/A was recorded by SDM and he had identified the writing of the deceased in the suicide note and had stated the same in writing which is Ex. PW3/B. In cross examination, PW3 has deposed that he is a vegetable seller and used to earn Rs. 100200 per day. On the request of the mother, he gave Rs. 20,000/ to her. His mother came to Delhi alone about 34 months before the deceased had died to give her money. The deceased had never called him on the telephone to complain about the accused.
PW4 Jamuna Devi , the mother of the deceased has deposed that the accused had induced the deceased and brought her to Delhi. They had not lodged any complaint regarding the missing of the deceased because of the family reputation. After three months, since the deceased left Kanpur, she made a telephone call to her neighbourer that she had married with the accused. After some days, the deceased made a telephone call to Sunil Rathore on his mobile and she talked to her on telephone and she told her that she was pregnant and the accused was beating her and was demanding Rs. Two lacs for SC No. 15/10 Page 6 of 17 7 starting some business. They arranged Rs. 20,000/. She came to Delhi and handed over the amount to the accused. The deceased told her that the accused wanted to get aborted the child. She requested the accused that when he had married the deceased, why he was aborting the child on which the accused told her that if she paid Rs. Two lacs then he would not abort the child. The accused has left the room and when she along with the deceased were in the room, she advised her to accompany her to Kanpur. The deceased replied that she could not come with her because the accused had taken her obscene photographs in his mobile and the accused had threatened her that he would not leave her anywhere and would defame her. She came back to Kanpur. The deceased told her on the telephone that the sister of the accused Vibha and one boy Sunil Verma who used to instigate the accused to beat the deceased and leave her forever. Both Vibha and Sunil instigated the accused to leave the deceased at Kanpur. When she was in Delhi with the deceased, she noticed injury marks on her body. The deceased died due to cruelty of the accused and instigation of Sunil and Vibha.
In cross examination, PW4 has deposed that she had not seen the documents which proves that the deceased has married with the accused. The deceased has told her that she had married with the accused in the court and they had performed their marriage at Vaishno Devi. She had not lodged any complaint to any police station in Delhi with regard to any injury sustained by the deceased. The demand of Rs. Two lacs made by the accused was conveyed by her to her son Anil Rathore. She has denied the suggestion that the accused SC No. 15/10 Page 7 of 17 8 and the deceased had not married each other and that the deceased has committed suicide being depressed because of her pregnancy.
PW5 Shri Karan Gopal Sapra has deposed that his father namely Shri Daulat Ram had let out one room on the ground floor of WZ19, Gali No. 14, Ratan Park, Delhi for two months to the accused Deepak and the deceased. No rent agreement was executed. One day prior to the deceased committing suicide, he and his wife heard the cries of deceased at about 5.30 a.m. He along with his wife came to the ground floor of their house and found the deceased outside her room and she was crying. The deceased told him that the accused had run away and had also took away his luggage. On the next day, the deceased had committed suicide and he had called the police. One wooden stool which was used by the deceased to committing suicide was seized vide seizure memo Ex. PW1/C and the saree by which she hanged herself with a ceiling fan was seized vide seizure memo Ex. PW1/B. In cross examination, PW5 has deposed that the accused and the deceased was living peacefully and happily. He cannot say what was the cause for committing suicide.
PW6 Smt. Rekha Sapra is the wife of PW5 and has supported the testimony of PW5.
PW7 Dr. Neeraj Kumar Garg has examined the accused Deepak Sharma and proved his MLC as Ex. PW7/A. PW8 Shri Ravinder Singh from DBS College has deposed that as per the record, the deceased was studying in their college in MA Final year SC No. 15/10 Page 8 of 17 9 Economic in the year 200809. He proved the attested copy of form as Ex. PW8/A and the computerized copy of the application form as Ex. PW8/B, the attested copy of the fee paid by the deceased as Ex. PW8/C and the ICard as Ex. PW8/A. PW9 H.C. Mahender Kumar has proved the FIR as Ex. PW9/A. PW10 Shri Pramod Kumar, Deputy Secretary has deposed that on 25.9.09 he was posted as SDM Patel Nagar, Delhi On that day at around 10 a.m., he received a message from PS Moti Nagar about the hanging by a lady namely Geeta at WZ19, Gali No. 14, Rattan Park, Delhi. He reached the spot and directed for investigation by crime team. A suicide note already Ex. PW3/B was recovered handwriting of which was identified by Shri Raju as that of deceased. He recorded the statement of Shri Raju which is Ex. PW1/A and his endorsement is Ex. PW10/A. On 26.9.09, he recorded the statement of Shri Anil Kumar Rathore, brother of the deceased which is Ex. PW3/A and he made endorsement Ex. PW10/B for SHO to take action as per law. Inquest papers were prepared and were submitted to MO Incharge, Mortuary DDU Hospital for postmortem. He got the dead body of the deceased identified from the relatives of the deceased namely Raju Rathore and Sunil Ratore vide Ex. PW1/F and Ex. PW10/D. He also prepared the brief facts of the case which is Ex. PW10/E. He also moved an application for postmortem of the dead body which is Ex. PW10/F in DDU Hospital.
PW11 Ct. Sunil Kumar has taken the exhibits of the case to FSL Rohini from the MHCM and has deposited the same with the FSL. SC No. 15/10 Page 9 of 17 10
PW13 SI Gulshan Kumar was the Incharge of the Mobile Crime Team and he has proved the report of scene of crime as Ex. PW13/A. PW14 Jitender Sharma has taken the photographs of the place of occurrence and he has proved the photographs as Ex. PW5/1 to Ex. PW5/11.
PW15 W/ASI Veena has proved the DD No. 15A as Ex.
PW15/A. PW16 SI Preet Pal Singh has deposed that on 26.9.09, he had gone to DDU Hospital to get postmortem done on the dead body of the deceased. Shri Pramod Kumar SDM also reached at the hospital and he had completed all the inquest papers and after postmortem the dead body of the deceased was handed over to her brothers. The doctor has also handed over the sealed parcels along with sample seal which he seized vide seizure memo Ex. PW16/A. PW17 H.C. Devender Kumar is the photographer to the Crime Team and he has taken the photographs of the place of occurrence and has proved the photographs as Ex. PW5/1 to Ex. PW5/11 and the negatives as Ex. PW17/A1 to Ex. PW17/A17.
PW18 H.C. Rajesh Kumar is the MHCM and he has proved the relevant entries in the register No. 19 regarding the deposit of the case property with the FSL as Ex. PW18/A to Ex. PW18/C. PW19 H.C. M.A. Yadav is the witness to the arrest of the accused Deepak Sharma.
PW20 Ct. Satbir is the witness to the pointing out memo of the SC No. 15/10 Page 10 of 17 11 accused Deepak Sharma and he has proved the pointing out memo as Ex. PW1/J. PW21 Dr. B.N. Sharma has deposed that on 26.9.09, he had conducted the postmortem on the dead body of the deceased. He has proved the postmortem report as Ex. PW21/A. PW23 Ct. Dharmender has taken the copy of the FIR and original rukka from the duty officer and handed over the same to ASI Pratap Singh at the spot.
PW22 ASI Pratap Singh is the investigating officer of the case and he has deposed that on 25.09.09, at about 9.07 a.m. on receipt of DD No. 15A which is Ex. PW15/A he along with Ct. Suresh went to the spot at WZ19, Rattan Park, Moti Nagar, there they found the deceased hanging from a ceiling fan with Saree. He informed about this fact to SHO and SDM also reached at the spot. He called the crime team at the spot. On the direction of the SDM, the Saree was cut and the dead body was brought down. A suicide note was also found on the bed in the said room and on checking the bed, college ICard and character certificate were also found. He also found a stool lying at the spot which was seized vide memo Ex. PW1/C. The cut Saree was seized vide seizure memo Ex. PW1/B and ICard and Character Certificate were seized vide seizure memo Ex. PW1/D. The suicide note was seized vide memo Ex. PW1/E. Brother in law of the deceased namely Raju Rathore also reached at the spot. SDM recorded the statement of Raju Rathore and SDM directed the SHO to take action. He prepared the site plan at the instance of SC No. 15/10 Page 11 of 17 12 Raju Ratore which is Ex. PW22/A. On 11.12.09, the accused Deepak Sharma has surrendered himself in the court and he was arrested vide arrest memo Ex. PW1/G. The accused also pointed out the place of occurrence vide pointing out memo as Ex. PW1/J. The accused Sunil and Vibha were granted anticipatory bail and he formally arrested them. The FSL result is Ex. PW22/B and the Serological report is Ex. PW22/C and the report of handwriting expert is Ex. PW22/D. He has also identified the case property.
PW12 Ct. Suresh Kumar has gone to the spot along with PW22 and he has supported the testimony of PW22.
5. Ld. counsel for the accused persons has argued that the accused persons has been falsely implicated in the case. There is no evidence on record which would prove that the accused persons had abated the commission of suicide by the deceased. The prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt against the accused persons. On these grounds, it is prayed that the accused persons be acquitted. Ld. counsel for the accused has relied upon the judgment of Hon'ble High Court of Delhi in FIR No. 134/2005 of PS Jafarkalan delivered on 26.09.07, 1985 Supp. (3) SCC 7311, AIR 2001 SC 3837 and of Hon'ble Supreme Court in Gangula Mohan Reddy Vs. State of A.P. delivered on 05.01.10.
On the other hand, Ld. APP has argued that from the evidence on record, the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt against the accused persons. Ld. APP has relied upon 2012 STPL (LE) 46539 SC, 2012 STPL (LE) 46234 SC, 2011 STPL (LE) 45472 SC and 2012 STPL (WEB) 434 SC No. 15/10 Page 12 of 17 13 SC
6. Section 306 IPC reads as follows :
If any person commits suicide, whoever abets the commission of such offence, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Section 107 IPC reads as follows:
A person abets the doing of a thing, who First. Instigate any person to do that thing; or Secondly.Engages with one or more other person or persons in any conspiracy for the doing of that thing, if an act or illegal omission takes place in pursuance of that conspiracy, and in order to the doing of that thing; or Thirdly.Intentionally aids, by any act or illegal omission, the doing of that thing.
7. The case of the prosecution is that the deceased has committed the suicide. PW1, PW12 and PW22 had deposed that on 25.09.09, the deceased was found hanging from the ceiling fan with a Saree. In the postmortem report of the deceased which is Ex.PW21/A, PW21 Dr. B.N. Sharma has opined that the cause of death was Asphyxia caused by antemortem hanging by using cloth like Saree as ligature material and the manner of death is suicidal. The time since death was about 1½ days prior to postmortem examination. As per the postmortem report, the date and time when the postmortem started was 26.09.09 at about 1.15 pm. The accused has put a suggestion to PW4 that the deceased had committed suicide being depressed because of her pregnancy. SC No. 15/10 Page 13 of 17 14 From the evidence on record, it is proved that the deceased had committed the suicide on 25.09.09.
8. As per the case of prosecution, the deceased before committing the suicide has written the alleged suicide note which is Ex.P1 and the suicide note Ex.P1 was found in the room in which the deceased has committed the suicide.
PW1, PW12 and PW22 had deposed that the suicide note Ex.P1 was found on the bed. PW1 has identified the suicide note as in the handwriting of Geeta Rathore. PW3 has identified that the writing in the suicide note is in the handwriting of the deceased. From the handwriting report Ex.PW22/D of the FSL, it is also clear that the suicide note is in the handwriting of the deceased.
Keeping in view the evidence on record, the prosecution has proved that the suicide note Ex.P1 is written by the deceased before she committed the suicide.
9. The contents of the suicide note Ex.P1 are reproduced as follows:
"MAI GEETA RATHOR JO KI 127/338 D1, BARA DEVI KANPUR KI MOOL NIWASI HAI. HAME BALI URF DEEPAK SHARMA SHADI KE JHOOTHE KAGAJ BANAKAR DELHI MAI LAYA THA MAI 21 DECEMBER 2008 MAI AAI THAI. DEEPAK 253/1 JUHI LABOUR COLONY KA MOOL NIWASI HAI. MUJHE BLACKMAIL KARTA THA AUR MERE SATH REHTA THA. JAB MAI GARBHWATI HO GAI TO MUJHE SUNIL KI SHADI KA BAHANA BANAKAR JANE KI JID KARTA SC No. 15/10 Page 14 of 17 15 THA JISKA MOBILE NUMBER 09336293829 HAI AUR DEEPAK KI BAHAN AUR SUNIL NE MUJHE DELHI JANE KO KAHA THA AUR MERE MAA BAAP NE MUJHSE KOI RISTA NAHI RAKH RAHI HAI. AUR MAI AB KYA KARUN MAI APNI JAAN DENE JA RAHI HUN JISKE JIMMEDAR VIBHA, SUNIL AUR DEEPAK URF BALI SHARMA HAIN.
PW1 has deposed that on 24.09.09, the deceased had called him on telephone and he went to her house and she told him that the accused used to beat her and he had beaten her one day prior and left her alone.
PW2 had deposed that he had received telephone call of the deceased who has told him that the accused Deepak Sharma has harassing her and demanding money from her. They arranged Rs.20,000/.
PW3 had deposed that the deceased made a telephone call on his mobile which was received by his mother who told him that the accused is harassing and beating her. She also informed that the accused is demanding money.
PW4 has deposed that the deceased made a telephone call to Sunil Rathor (PW3) on his mobile and she talked to her on telephone and she told her that she was pregnant and that the accused was beating her and was demanding Rs. Two Lacs for starting some business. They arranged Rs.20,000/. She came to Delhi and handed over the amount to the accused. The deceased told her that the accused wanted to get aborted the child.
PW5 and PW6 has deposed that one day prior to deceased SC No. 15/10 Page 15 of 17 16 committed suicide, the deceased was found outside her room and she was crying. The deceased has told them that the accused had run away and has also took away his luggage.
The fact that the deceased was pregnant at the time of her committing the suicide is corroborated by her postmortem report Ex.PW21/A. As per the postmortem report, uterus of the deceased contained a dead male foetus and the age of the foetus is about 67 months.
From the evidence of PW1, PW2,PW3,PW4,PW5 and PW6, it is proved that the deceased was living with the accused Deepak Sharma. The accused Deepak Sharma has also stated in his statement recorded U/s 313 Cr. P.C. that he was not married to the deceased, however, they were going to marry at the earliest and they both were living happily in Delhi.
The accused persons has put a suggestion to PW4 that the deceased has committed the suicide being depressed because of her pregnancy. The accused persons has not led any evidence to prove their defence.
From the suicide note Ex.P1 and from the evidence of PW2,PW3 and PW4, it is proved that the accused Deepak Sharma has been harassing to the deceased and as a result of such harassment, the deceased was left with no other option except to commit the suicide. Accordingly, it is proved that the accused Deepak Sharma by his acts has instigated the deceased to commit the suicide.
10 PW4 had deposed that the deceased had told her on telephone that the accused Vibha and Sunil used to instigate the accused Deepak Sharma to SC No. 15/10 Page 16 of 17 17 beat the deceased and leave her for forever. Both the accused Vibha and Sunil instigated the accused to leave the deceased at Kanpur. In the suicide note Ex.P1, the deceased has stated that the accused Sunil and accused Vibha has telephoned the deceased to go to Delhi. This is the only evidence against the accused Vibha and Sunil Verma. From this evidence, no reasonable nexus between the alleged acts of the accused persons namely Vibha and Sunil verma and suicide of the deceased has been established. Accordingly, there is no conclusive evidence to prove that the accused persons namely Vibha and Sunil Verma have acted with the accused Deepak Sharma to instigate the deceased to commit suicide.
11. In view of the above discussions, the prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt against the accused Vibha and against the accused Sunil Verma and accordingly they acquitted for the offence punishable U/s 306/34 IPC. However, the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt against the accused Deepak Sharma for the offence punishable U/s 306 IPC and accordingly accused Deepak Sharma is convicted for the offence punishable U/s 306 IPC.
Announced in the open court (Rajneesh Kumar Gupta)
today i.e. on 27.09.12 Additional Sessions Judge01/West
Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi
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