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Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla, J.

1. The appellants are aggrieved of the judgment of the Single Judge of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana dated 06.04.2005. At the very outset it is relevant to mention that the second appellant, namely, Lakha Singh also known as Lakhiwinder Singh s/o Gian Singh stated to have died on 03.12.2005 as per the death certificate enclosed along with the special leave petition papers and the application filed on 25.07.2006 in this Court. Therefore, the special leave petition itself, which was stated to have been filed on 25.07.2006 on behalf of Lakha Singh alias Lakhiwinder Singh, has become infructuous. However, in the criminal miscellaneous petition for substitution application, also filed on 25.07.2006, the first appellant has made a prayer to substitute her as the legal representative of the deceased Lakha Singh and pursue his appeal as well in order to enable her to get the monitory benefits from the employer of the deceased Lakha Singh who was stated to have been employed in the Punjab State Electricity Board. In the above-stated background we heard learned counsel for the appellant as well as counsel for the State in these appeals.

15. The decision in Ashok Kumar (supra) was subsequently followed in Pathan Hussain Basha V. State of A.P. - JT 2012 (7) SC 432, to which again one of us was a party (Hon’ble Mr. Justice Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla).

16. From the above decisions the following principles can be culled out:

a) To attract the provisions of Section 304B IPC the main ingredient of the offence to be established is that soon before the death of the deceased she was subjected to cruelty and harassment in connection with the demand of dowry.

24. The appeal so far as appellant No.2 i.e. accused Lakha Singh @ Lakhiwinder Singh is concerned, as held by us in the opening part of this judgment stands dismissed as having become infructuous even at the time it came to be filed. Accordingly, the application for substitution also stands dismissed.

…..……….……………………………..J. [Dr.B.S. Chauhan] …………….………………………………J. [Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla] New Delhi;