Kirupagaran vs State

K.B.K. Vasuki, J.—The accused/husband is the appellant herein and the appellant has filed this appeal challenging his conviction for the offences u/s 498(A) and 306 of IPC by the trial Court. The deceased is one Anitha, who is none other than the daughter of P.W. 1/Janaki and one Selvakumar and sister of P.W. 2/Loganathan. P.W. 3, Mary is the neighbour of the deceased Anitha. The deceased Anitha was residing at Dr. Ambedhkar Street, Pammal, with her parents and she was married to the accused Kirupagaran during 1998 and thereafter she had been residing in her matrimonial home. While so, on 02.01.1999, P.W. 1/mother and P.W. 2/brother of the deceased Anitha were informed that Anitha was admitted in K.M.C. Hospital for burn injuries. P.W. 1 and P.W. 2 rushed to the hospital and P.W. 1 stayed with her daughter in the hospital. As soon as the injured was admitted in the hospital, intimation was duly sent to Pallavaram Police Station. On receipt of the intimation, P.W. 6/Police Head Constable proceeded to the hospital and obtained Ex. P4 statement in the presence of medical officer P.W. 7/Dr. Muthukumar and on the basis of such statement, Ex. P5/First Information Report was registered in Cr. No. 7 of 1999 by Pallavaram Police for the offence u/s 309 IPC against the injured for attempt to commit suicide and the case was investigated by the Sub-Inspector of Police attached to Pallavaram Police station who in the course of his investigation sent communication to the learned VIII Metropolitan Magistrate, Chennai for obtaining dying declaration from the injured on receipt of the intimation.

P.W. 8/VIII Metropolitan Magistrate, Chennai, rushed to the hospital and P.W. 8 having ascertained the mental and physical fitness of the injured orally and in writing through P.W. 7/Dr. Muthukumar to give statement recorded Ex. P9 statement from the injured and obtained her left hand thumb impression in the same at 11.45 a.m. on 03.01.1999. While the injured was under treatment, she succumbed to the burn injuries. The investigation was thereafter entrusted to P.W. 10/the Deputy Superintendent of Police who altered the offence from Section 174 Cr.P.C. and forwarded the copy to RDO for enquiry as the death occurred in an unnatural manner within seven years of the date of marriage and on 06.01.1999, P.W. 9/the Tahsildar, Nungambakkam Division conducted inquest on the dead body of the deceased Anitha in the presence of panchayators and prepared inquest report and obtained Ex. P11 statement from P.W. 1/Janaki and the accused/husband and made enquiries from others and reported to RDO through Ex. P12 for further enquiry by RDO by treating the death as dowry death and due to harassment of wife in the hands of her husband and mother-in-law. Due requisition was also sent to P.W. 5/Dr. Govardhan for conducting post mortem on the dead body of the deceased and after duly conducting post mortem, P.W. 5 furnished Ex. P3/Post mortem certificate to the effect that she died due to septimea caused due to burn injuries.

In the meanwhile, the investigation was proceeded by P.W. 10/Deputy Superintendent of Police and during the course of his investigation, he went to the scene of occurrence i.e., the house of the accused on 09.01.1999 and prepared Ex. P13/rough sketch and obtained statement from P.W. 1 to P.W. 3 and one Andal and thereafter, altered the case for the offence u/s 306 and 498(A) IPC under Ex. P14/alteration report and arrested the accused on 16.03.1999 and remanded him to judicial custody. The investigation was continued by P.W. 11/the Deputy Superintendent of Police who verified the investigation already completed by P.W. 9 and recorded statement from medical officers and collected Ex. P3/Post mortem certificate and filed final report against the accused and the same was taken on file in S.C. No. 286 of 2003.

The trial court on the basis of the available records, framed the charges against the accused u/s 498(A), 306 and 304(b) IPC that while the accused and the deceased were living together in Eswari Nagar, Pallavaram, the accused had been harassing and ill-treating her by beating her and compelling her to go and get dowry from her parents and the wife was due to her husband''s cruelty instigated to commit suicide and she committed suicide by self immolation at 10.00 p.m., on 02.01.1999 in her matrimonial home, thereby the accused committed the offences as referred to above. The accused was questioned about the charges and pleaded not guilty and faced trial.

The prosecution in order to prove the guilt of the accused examined the mother, brother and neighbour of the deceased, observation mahazar witnesses, treating medical officers, post mortem doctor, Metropolitan Magistrate, who recorded dying declaration and post mortem, Head Constable and revenue official who conducted enquiry u/s 174 Cr.P.C., and Deputy Superintendent of Police/Investigating Officers as P.W. 1 to P.W. 11 and in the course of investigation Ex. P1 to Ex. P14 were marked and material objects collected by the Investigating Officer i.e., kerosene can, match box, burnt nightie and in-skirt worn by the deceased were produced as M.O. 1 to M.O. 4.

No oral and documentary evidence was adduced on the side of the accused. When the accused was questioned u/s 313 Cr.P.C. about the incriminating materials available against him, he denied the prosecution allegations.

The trial court on the basis of available records found the accused not guilty of the offence u/s 304(b) of IPC but found him guilty of the offence u/s 498(A) and 306 of IPC and convicted and sentenced him for both the offences. Aggrieved over the same, the accused has filed this present appeal before this Court.

Heard both sides.

As already referred to the accused was charged for the offences u/s 304(b), 306 and 498(A) IPC, but is acquitted by the trial court for the offence u/s 304(b) on the ground that prosecution has failed to establish that the death occurred due to dowry demand and is convicted for other two charges for the offences u/s 498(A) and 306 IPC to the effect that wife since deceased was subjected to ill treatment and harassment by her husband to comply with his demand for dowry and such conduct of the husband in repeatedly beating her to comply with his dowry demand compelled her to put an end to her life and she committed suicide by self immolation. It is seriously argued on the side of the accused that the trial Court having negatived the prosecution theory regarding dowry death ought to have disbelieved the rest of the prosecution case and ought to have acquitted him for the offences u/s 498(A) and 306 IPC. It is further argued that though P.W. 1/mother come forward with specific case in the witness box that her daughter was being harassed by her husband by repeatedly demanding money and her daughter used to come to her house and complain about her husband and she used to send her back the same is not stated by her in the course of her enquiry by the police.

But P.W. 9/the Tahsildar has deposed that one such statement is given to him by P.W. 1 in the course of his enquiry u/s 174 Cr.P.C. The reading of the contents of Ex. P11 statement reveals that P.W. 1 does not say that her daughter was harassed to comply with the demand. The statement proceeds as if husband and wife were not living happily and the daughter used to complain that her husband and mother-in-law harassed her as she was black in complexion and her husband used to beat her in drunken mood and on the date of occurrence also her husband came to the house in drunken mood and picked up quarrel with the wife and poured kerosene on her and compelled her to set fire by herself and out of frustration, she committed suicide. There is absolutely no statement to the effect that either the husband or mother-in-law made any demand for dowry.

Further, though P.W. 1 in the course of chief examination stated that her daughter was repeatedly harassed by her husband, she has in the course of her cross examination categorically admitted that she was informed by her daughter about the conduct of her husband only once before her death. Thus, the charges levelled against the accused that he subjected his wife to harassment or ill treatment by demanding dowry is not supported by any evidence and lacking in evidence. The only evidence relied upon by the prosecution does not inspire the confidence of this Court. The statement of brother/P.W. 2 is also of not much helpful to the prosecution. Above all, though P.W. 9/Tahsildar would in his Ex. P14 report opined that the death is due to dowry demand the same is not based on proper enquiry. P.W. 9/the Tahsildar, in the course of his cross examination categorically admitted that he did not make any enquiry with the neighbours and did not obtain any statement in this regard. Further, no serious allegations is also levelled in Ex. P14 report. Even otherwise when the Government authority/RDO is u/s 174 Cr.P.C. required to hold enquiry into the death in an unnatural manner of any girl within seven years from the date of marriage, the enquiry is held by Tahsildar and in the absence of any independent authority vested with or any delegation or power upon him by the competent authority, to hold one such enquiry, the inquiry held by P.W. 9/the Tahsildar is without any authority and his report Ex. P14 which is the outcome of such enquiry is on this ground alone liable to be ignored.

Regarding the cause of death of Anitha, it may be true that she died of burn injuries and she sustained burn injuries due to self immolation at 10.00 p.m. on 02.01.1999. The evidence of the prosecution witnesses disclose that prior to her suicide, there was some quarrel between husband and wife, while P.W. 1 would say that her daughter''s husband shouted at her for her failure to comply with dowry demand and it is her husband who poured kerosene upon her and handed over match box to her and instigated her to set fire on herself the same stand contradicted by the statement of P.W. 2/brother of the deceased.

Further, Ex. P4 is the first statement of the deceased recorded by P.W. 6/Head Constable which was the basis for registering the criminal case. Ex. P4-complaint reads as if the deceased did not cook on that day and she brought meals from her mother''s house, her husband shouted at her and warned her not to do so and out of frustration, she poured kerosene and set fire on herself and her husband caught hold of her and brought her to the hospital. The statement is concluded by saying that she committed suicide because she was scolded by her husband whereas, she made some improvement in Ex. P9/dying declaration recorded by P.W. 8/Metropolitan Magistrate and added in her Ex. P9 statement that her husband scolded her to go and die and she was hurt and poured kerosene and committed suicide.

As rightly argued by the learned counsel for the accused/appellant, the statement that her husband shouted her to go and die made by the deceased in Ex. P9/dying declaration is a material improvement from first statement and has to be viewed seriously. The learned counsel for the appellant relied upon the following authorities of the apex court reported in

1) Bhagwan Das Vs. Kartar Singh and Others,

2) Sonti Rama Krishna Vs. Sonti Shanti Sree and Another,

3) Chitresh Kumar Chopra Vs. State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi),

stating that any such statement made by the husband is only on the spur of movement and fit of anger without any intention and the same cannot be termed as instigation so as to attract section 306 IPC. The apex court has in the judgments cited above supported the contention so raised on the side of the appellant. In all the three cases, the Supreme Court extracting the relevant provision of law and by explaining what is meant by abatement and abatement of suicide arrived at a conclusion that a person can be said to have abated by doing a thing if he, firstly, instigates any person to do that thing or secondly, engages with one or more other person or persons in any conspiracy for doing of that thing. It is categorically held by the Supreme Court that words uttered in a fit of anger and emotion without realizing the consequence as to what actually follow cannot be said to be an act of instigation. The judgment of the Hon''ble Supreme Court reported in Bhagwan Das Vs. Kartar Singh and Others, observed in para 15 & 16 is as follows:

It often happens that there are disputes and discords in the matrimonial home and a wife is often harassed by the husband or her in-laws. This, however, in our opinion would not by itself and without something more attract Section 306 IPC read with Section 107 IPC.

However, in our opinion mere harassment of wife by husband due to differences per se does not attract Section 306 read with Section 107 IPC, if the wife commits suicide.

The apex court has in the judgment reported in Chitresh Kumar Chopra Vs. State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi), has observed as follows:

In the background of this legal position, we may advert to the case at hand. The question as to what is the cause of a suicide has no easy answers because suicidal ideation and behaviours in human beings are complex and multifaceted. Different individuals in the same situation react and behave differently because of the personal meaning they add to each event, thus accounting for individual vulnerability experience of mental pain, fear and loss of self-respect. Each of these factors are crucial and exacerbating contributor to an individual''s vulnerability to end his own life, which may either be an attempt for self-protection or an escapism from intolerable self.

Applying the views of the Hon''ble Apex Court, this Court is of the view that even assuming the statement of the wife in Ex. P9 to be true and acceptable, the statement of the accused to the wife to go and die having been made on the spur of the movement and fit of anger cannot construe any mens rea or utterance of such words will not amount to an act of abatement so as to attract section 306 IPC. Thus, the finding of conviction recorded by the trial court against the accused for the offence u/s 498(A) and 306 IPC is totally based on no evidence and is hence, factually and legally unsustainable warranting interference of the judgment of trial court. In the result, the Criminal Appeal is allowed setting aside the judgment of conviction dated 19.04.2004 made in S.C. No. 286 of 2003 on the file of the Additional District and Sessions Court, Fast Track Court-I, Chengelpet and the accused is acquitted from the charges levelled against him. The bail bond if any executed by the accused shall stand cancelled. Fine amount shall be refunded to the appellant/accused.