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CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 464 of 1979.

From the Judgment and Order dated 8.3.1978 of the Allahabad High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 913 of 1976.

Shiv Pujan Singh and A.S. Pundir for the Appellants. R.K. Garg and Anil K. Gupta for the Respondents. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by AHMADI, J. Meera Srivastava, a young woman aged about 25 years. died of burns on the night between 20th and 21st July, 1974 at about 2.30 a.m. in the two room apartment of her husband Ashok Kumar Srivastava, original accused No. 1. The marriage had taken place less than a year ago on 13th May, 1973 at Banaras. Both the family of the deceased and the family of the husband hail from Banaras but after their wedding Ashok who was serving as an Assistant Engineer was transferred to Lucknow where he had hired a two room first floor apartment for his residence. The ground floor was occupied by the landlord. The first Information Report was lodged by PW 2 J.P. Shrivastava, father of the unfortunate woman, after he rushed by taxi to Lucknow on learning about the incident. The offence of murder was registered and in the course of investigation statements of PW 1 Prabhat Kumar and PW 4 Rajendra Prasad, both brothers residing on the ground floor came to be recorded. Statements of other witnesses including PW 3 Ram Raj Mishra, a fire brigade man, and PW 5 S.K. Srivastava, brother of the deceased, were also recorded. On a consideration of the evidence of PWs 1 to 5 as well as the evidence of PW 9 Dr R.K. Aggarwal, the Trial Court, bearing in mind other circumstances pointed out in the judgment, came to the conclusion that the charge against the three accused was brought home by the prosecution beyond reasonable doubt. On that conclusion the Trial Court convicted all the three accused persons under Section 302/34, I.P.C., and sentenced each of them to imprisonment for life. Feeling aggrieved by this order of conviction and sentence recorded by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Lucknow, the three accused persons preferred an appeal, being Criminal Appeal No. 913/1976, to the High Court, That appeal was heard by a Division Bench of the High Court which on a re-evaluation and reappreciation of the prosecution evidence came to the conclusion that in all probability the deceased Meera committed suicide and the evidence did not disclose the involvement of the appellants/accused in the commission of the crime. In that view that the High Court took, the High Court allowed the appeal, set aside the order of conviction and order and sentence passed by the Trial Court and acquitted all the three appellants/accused. The State of U.P., not satisfied by the judgment rendered by the High Court approached this Court under Article 136 of the Constitution. This Court granted Special Leave to Appeal and that is how the present appeal is before us. In order to understand the prosecution case we may now state the facts in brief.

Meera and Ashok, both residents of Banaras, were married on 13th May, 1973 at Banaras. On Ashok being transferred to Lucknow, they occupied a two room apartment of house number 557/17K. Ashok and his wife were occupying the first floor whereas PW 1 and PW 4, the two sons of Kedar Singh to whom the house belonged, occupied the ground floor. The prosecution case is that at the time of and immediately after the marriage there was some bickering in regard to the quantum of dowry paid by the bride's father. The allegation is that the father and sister of Ashok were not satisfied with the dowry or expenditure incurred on gifts by the father of the deceased Meera. They were of the view that what was paid in cash as well as by way of gifts at the time of `Tilak' was short by about Rs. 4,000. On account of this feeling the three accused were taunting the deceased and when she tried to defend her father she was tormented and tortured by the accused persons. On 13th July, 1974 both ashok and Meera had gone to Banaras. While they were there this question of dowry once again raised its head and it is alleged that even on that occasion the father and sister of Ashok misbehaved with Meera and her father and stated that they would not allow Meera to live with Ashok unless Rs. 4,000 were paid towards dowry. It appears that after this exchange of heated words Ashok left for Lucknow on 18th July, 1974 leaving Meera behind. Meera was naturally perturbed. She wanted to follow him but her father-in-law did not permit her. She then went to the house of her friend Madhu and from there called her brother PW 5 Sushil Kumar Srivastava and told him she desired to go to Lucknow as she wanted to find out the attitude of her husband. Despite PW 5 advising her not to go to Lucknow in view of the threats administered by the father and sister of Ashok, she went to Lucknow on 20th July, 1974 to the house of her husband. PW 5 left her there and returned to Banaras by the 2.00 p.m. by Punjab Mail. On learning about Meera's visit to Lucknow the father and sister of Ashok also went to Lucknow. The prosecution case is that after they reached Lucknow all the three quarrelled and beat Meera during the day and in the dead of night at about 2.30 or 2.45 a.m., they sprinkled kerosene on her and set her ablaze. The house was occupied by Ashok, his father Rajendra Lal and his sister Sudha when the incident occurred. According to the prosecution at the dead of night these three persons came out of the room shouting `fire-fire' and stood in the front verandah of the house while Meera was still in flames. No effort whatsoever was made by any of them to extinguish the flames or to rescue her. PW 1 and PW 4 on hearing the shouts came out of their house. PW 1 ran up to see what had happened. He was shocked to find that Meera was in flames and the three accused persons were standing in the verandah talking to each other unconcerned about the plight of the woman. PW 1 thereafter ran to the nearby fire brigade station and informed the staff there about the incident. PW 4 had followed p. W. 1 upstairs. He saw the incident from place where he was not visible to the accused persons. He saw the accused carry Meera to the next room and after a while brought her back with the tongue protruding out. PW 1 returned with the fire-brigade men. The fireman, PW 3 Ram Raj Mishra, carried Meera on a stretcher to the van and then to the Civil Hospital Hazzat Ganj but the Medical Officer there could not admit her for want of a vacant bed. She was therefore sent to Balrampur hospital where the doctor declared her dead. This, in brief, is the prosecution version regarding the actual incident.

As pointed out earlier since PWs 1 and 4 were occupying the ground floor of the building of which Ashok and his wife were occupying the first floor, their presence at the time of occurrence cannot be doubted. Nor have the accused denied their presence in their statements. Even according to the theory put up the defence the accused persons had come out shouting `fire-fire and, therefore, it is not surprising that PWs 1 and 4 woke up from their sleep. PW 1 immediately rushed to the first floor to find out what had happened. PW 4 followed him and placed himself at a point from where he was not visible to the accused persons. Both these witnesses have deposed that after Ashok and Meera came to occupy the first floor there used to be frequent quarrels between them on the question of insufficiency of dowry. Both of them have deposed that the accused used to beat her and she used to confide in their sister. They also deposed that the father and sister of Ashok had come to Lucknow from Banaras after Meera's brother, PW 5, had left her at Lucknow and returned to Banaras. The evidence of PWs 2 and 5, the father and brother of Meera, shows that before Meera returned to Lucknow there were quarrels between the accused persons on the one side and she and her family members on the other regarding insufficiency of dowry. It was after heated exchanges on this account that Ashok left for Lucknow on 18th July, 1974. Meera entreated her father-in-law to allow her to go to Lucknow but the latter refused and stated that she would have to rot at Banaras unless the dowry was made good. Meera, therefore, went to the residence of her friend Madhu, and from there she sent for her brother PW 5. When her father-in-law returned to the house and found her missing he was annoyed and went to the house of her father and quarreled with him. Immediately thereafter he and Sudha left for Lucknow and during the day beat and quarreled with Meera. Her husband too joined them. The absence of food matter in the stomach and small intestines of Meera shows that she did not take her dinner before she went to bed. Ultimately between 2.30 and 2.45 a.m. the unfortunate incident took place. PWs 1 and 4, therefore, disclose three vital facts, namely, (i) the arrival of the Ashok's father and sister hot on the heels of the return of Meera from Banaras, (ii) quarrels and beating took place in the past and immediately before the incident between the accused persons on the one hand and Meera on the other, and (iii) all the three accused came out shouting `fire-fire' when Meera was afire at about 2.30 or 2.45 a.m. and none went to her rescue. Counsel for the defence submitted that Meera had a flicker of hope that her husband's attitude would be different from that of her father-in-law and sister-in-law but when she found that he too shared their views she was frustrated and when every one was fast asleep she poured kerosene on herself and committed suicide. This suggestion would have found favour with us had the conduct of the accused persons been consistent therewith. The evidence of PWs 1 and 4 clearly shows that after the accused persons came to reside in their house there were frequent quarrels with Meera and she was being beaten by all the three. Even on the evening of the fateful day she was beaten and kicked by her husband and the other two as she was not wanted at Lucknow. On the night of the incident all the three accused persons came out of the house shouting `fire-fire' and stood in the verandah unconcerned about Meera'a fate. They were seen chit-chatting in a casual manner, by both the witnesses. Besides it must be noticed that none of the three accused had any burn marks to suggest that they had tried to go to the rescue of Meera. Since the body of Meera was lying in between the two rooms, the possibility of Meera having Bolted one room from inside must be ruled out. Search of the three accused was on and accused Rajinder Lal and Sudha could be apprehended on the 23rd but accused Ashok was absconding and presented himself as late as 5th September, 1974 armed with an anticipatory bail order. He was clearly absconding and his explanation that he had gone to Allahabad to fetch his pay slip must be stated to be rejected. One does not absent oneself from duty for more than one and a half months to fetch a pay slip. A lame and false explanation of this type only adds a link in the prosecution chain of events. Similarly the false explanation of the other two accused that they had not followed Meera but had come a day before her arrival to see an ailing relative shows their anxiety to avoid the situation of having followed her for obvious reasons. No match box was found on the floor but it was found securely placed on the upper 6 feet high slab. Then the statement of accused Rajendra Lal to the police, kha-1, that Meera was taking her meals at 10.00 p.m. when he retired is falsified by the absence of food material in her stomach and small intestines. These are added circumstances on which the prosecution has justifiably relied.

(iii)a few days before the incident while at Banaras there was a heated argument and then Ashok returned to Lucknow without Meera (iv) Meera entreated her father-in-law to permit her to join Ashok but the latter refused saying she will have to rot at Banaras alone unless the dowry amount was made good (v) ignoring her father-in-law's refusal Meera went to Lucknow (vi) the two accused Rajendra Lal and Sudha followed her to Lucknow (vii) while at Lucknow all the three illtreated her (viii) Meera was found on fire at about 2.30 or 2.45 a.m. (ix) while she was burning the three accused who alone were inside came out of the room and stood in the verandah chit-chatting unconcerned about her plight (x) none of them tried to help Meera (xi) soon after that the house was locked and the accused could not be found (xii) while the two accused were apprehended on the 23rd Ashok could not be traced till he surrendered on 5th September, 1974, and