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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.

The evidence of PWs 1 and 4 is partly corroborated by PW 3. Immediately after the fire was noticed and the smoke was seen billowing out, PW 1 ran to the nearby fire station and called the fire brigade. P.W. 3 arrived at the scene of occurrence and he too saw the three accused persons standing in the verandah totally indifferent to what was happening to Meera. He took the victim Meera on a stretcher to the Hospital. Counsel for the defence tried to contend that the fact that the accused went to the hospital along with her is consistent with their innocence. We are afraid we cannot accept this submission for the simple reason that they had no alternative but to go along with the fireman since they were asked to do so. It was thereafter that Ashok's father lodged the report Ext. Kha-1. After the F.I.R. was lodged by Meera's father foul play was suspected but by then the accused had left. The investigation ultimately led to the arrest of the two accused other than Ashok on the 23rd. Ashok was still untraced and no valid explanation is to be found for his absence. He secured anticipatory bail and thereafter surrendered on 5th September, 1974. It would, therefore, appear that he had made himself scarce for over one and a half months. This is a circumstance which betrays guilty conscience. In addition thereto, a number of circumstances have been pointed out by the Trial Judge which taken together leave no room for doubt that the three accused persons were the joint authors of the crime. We have no hesitation, whatsoever, in concluding that the approach of the High Court was wholly against the weight of evidence and it is impossible to approve the same.