Ranjit Singh vs State of Punjab

R.L. Anand, J. (Oral)

This is a criminal appeal and has been directed against the judgement and order dated 4th August, 1997 passed by the Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Gurdaspur, who convicted the appellants Ranjit Singh, Inder Singh and Swinder Kaur under section 304B of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of seven years each and each one of them was ordered to pay a fine of Rs. 500/. In dafault of payment of fine each of the appellants was further directed to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one month for allegedly committing dowry death with regard to Smt. Harjinder Kaur.

Ranjit Singh, his father Inder Singh and his mother Smt. Swinder Kaur faced charge under Section 304B of the Indian Penal Code on the allegations that on the night intervening 15/16th September, 1992 in the area of village Dehar they caused the death of Smt. Harjinder Kaur (wife of Ranjit Singh appellant), who died under abnormal circumstances within seven years of her marriage and she has subjected to cruelty and harassment on account of the demand of dowry.

The complainant in this case is the brother of the deceased, namely, Baldev Singh son of Inder Singh. Said Baldev Singh appeared as P.W.1 in the trial Court and gave his story, which can be summarised in the following manner :

He stated that Smt. Harjinder Kaur deceased was his sister. She married Ranjit Singh about 3 1/2 years back. The other appellants are the parents of said Ranjit Singh. All the appellants used to torture Smt. Harjinder Kaur and they started treating her with cruelty after six months of the marriage by making a demand of coloured T.V. For this alleged reason Smt. Harjinder Kaur was turned out from the house threefour times as she was unable to manage a coloured T.V., demand of which was made by the three appellants. It has been further stated by Shri Baldev Singh that he and his other brothers persuaded the deceased to go to the house of her inlaws. On their persuasion, she started living in the house of her inlaws. Bachan Singh mediator also tried to intervene to rehabilitate the deceased and it was promised to the appellants that their alleged demand of coloured T.V. would be met in due course of time. Out of the wedlock of Smt. Harjinder Kaur and Ranjit Singh a female child was born. It has also been averred by the complainant that some dowry articles were also given to her at the time of her marriage. On the death of Smt. Harjinder Kaur, Tota son of Mehanga Ram approached the complainant and his brothers and delivered the message about the death of Smt. Harjinder Kaur. On coming to know the death of Smt. Harjinder Kaur, the complainant along with Bhajan Singh, Jagir Singh Sarpanch and Kundan Singh went to the house of the appellants. The complainant party was threatened to accept a compromise with the accused party. When the former did not agree and appeared before the S.S.P., the Police came into action and finally the statement (Exhibit PA) was recorded on 21st September, 1992. The Thandedar made an endorsement Exhibit PA/1 underneath it and on the basis of it formal F.I.R. Exhibit PA/2 was recorded. Exhibit PB is the inquest report, which was prepared on the dead body of the deceased on 16th September, 1992. Exhibit PJ is the request for conducting postmortem examination, which was sent along with the dead body for postmortem examination. The doctor was even advised to preserve the viscera, which was sent to the office of the Chemical Examiner, who found aluminium phosphide in the contents of the viscera, as certified in the report Exhibit PG. The postmortem report on the dead body of Smt. Harjinder Kaur was taken. It is Exhibit PH and at first point of time the cause of death was deferred till the report of the Chemical Examiner was received. All the three accused were taken into custody and were sent to the Court of Illaqa Magistrate to face the trial under Section 304B of the Indian Penal Code. Vide order dated 4th September, 1993 the learned Magistrate committed the accused to the Court of Session to face the trial. Formal charge under section 304B, Indian Penal Code, was framed against the appellants on 3rd November, 1993. The charge was read over and explained to the appellants, to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

In order to prove the charge, the prosecution examined as many as six witnesses. The prosecution also tendered into evidence the report of the Chemical Examiner besides the statements of the formal witnesses.

The statements of the accused were recorded under section 313, Cr.P.C., and all the incriminating circumstances appearing in the prosecution evidence were put to the accused, who denied all the circumstances and pleaded innocence.

The defence of Ranjit Singh appellant was that the deceased used to suffer fits of mental disorder for which she had been taking treatment of medical enchantment from different persons. She had been so ill even before her marriage, which fact had been concealed form him. On this account the accused party protested to the parents of the deceased and they became annoyed for that reason. Intimation regarding the death of the deceased was sent to her parental home by the accused party.

In defence the accused examined D.W.1 Jagir Singh and D.W.2 Balkar Singh and closed the case.

Learned trial court believed the prosecution story and rejected the defence version and convicted and sentenced the appellants in the manner stated above and the reasons of conviction are contained in paras Nos. 10 to 23 of the impugned judgement. Aggrieved by the conviction and sentence as recorded by the trial Court, the appellants have filed the present appeal.

I have heard Shri B.S. Brar, Advocate, who appeared on behalf of the appellants, and Shri I.P.S. Sidhu, Assistant Advocate General, Punjab, who appeared on behalf of the State and with their assistance have gone through the record of this case.

The appellants have been convicted under Section 304B of the Indian Penal Code. According to this Section where the death of a woman is caused by any burns or bodily injury or occurs otherwise than under normal circumstances within seven years of her marriage and it is shown that soon before her death she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or any relative of her husband for, or in connection with any demand of dowry, such death shall be called "dowry death" and such husband or relative shall be deemed to have caused her death.

In order to attract the provision of Section 304B, Indian Penal Code, the prosecution is to establish the following ingredients :

(i) That the death of a woman has taken place in abnormal circumstances within seven years of her marriage.

(ii) That soon before her death, the deceased was subjected to cruelty.

(iii) That the cruelty or harassment given by her husband or his relations, must be in connection with any demand of dowry.

The evidence which has been led by the prosecution in the trial court shall be assessed in the light of the above ingredients, which I have just reproduced above. It is the case of the prosecution that the deceased by her husband and inlaws to bring coloured T.V. So far as the first two ingredients are concerned, there is no dispute and both the parties are on common platform. The death of Smt. Harjinder Kaur took place within seven years of her marriage and as per report of the Chemical Examiner, aluiminium phosphide was found in her viscera, which clearly indicates that she died in abnormal circumstances. This Court is not inclined to accept the defence version that the deceased might have committed suicide as she used to remain in mental depression and that she used to suffer the fits. There is no medical evidence to support the assertion given by Shri Ranjit Singh appellant. The theory propounded by the defence is an afterthought and I have no hesitation in rejecting the same.

Now it is to be seen whether all the three appellants made a demand of dowry and whether all the three appellants treated the deceased with cruelty, as stated by the prosecution. In this regard I would like to refer to the substantive statements of Baldev Singh P.W.1, brother of the deceased, and Smt. Bachan Kaur, P.W.2, who is the mother of deceased. Baldev Singh in his examinationinchief has stated that all the accused used to torture his sister Smt. Harjinder Kaur and the deceased was turned out from the house on account of the fact that she could not bring a coloured T.V. The statement of Shri Baldev Singh, if perused in the light of the statement of Smt. Bachan Kaur, P.W.2, it would make clear that there was no demand of the dowry and harassment etc. so far as the parents of Ranjit Singh are concerned. Smt. Bachan Kaur had deposed before the Court that after two months of her marriage all the accused started putting pressure upon the deceased for bringing more dowry. This is a vague assertion which is given by Smt. Bachan Kaur. However, she is specific that Ranjit Singh appellant told to his wife Smt. Harjinder Kaur that he wanted coloured television. In these types of cases the relations are the best witnesses. The deceased must have conveyed the feeling of her husband to her mother. In these circumstances I am going to place implicit reliance on the statement of Smt. Bachan Kaur, who categorically stated that it was Ranjit Singh appellant who made a demand of coloured T.V. Even otherwise there is remote possibility that the parents of Ranjit Singh are likely to be benefited with the alleged demand of coloured television, being old persons. In all probability, the demand must have come from the mouth of Shri Ranjit Singh and he must have pressurised his wife to bring coloured television from her parents, who are financially not sound. The demand of dowry is a curse. It has taken the lives of many newlyweds. As there is no cogent and reliable evidence that the demand of dowry could be raised by appellants Inder Singh and Smt. Swinder Kaur, therefore, benefit of doubt is extended to them. So far as evidence against Ranjit Singh is concerned, the case of the prosecution is consistent, coming from the mouths of two prosecution witnesses, namely, Baldev Singh and Smt. Bachan Kaur. Their statements are also corroborated by medical evidence.

Resultantly, I partially allow the appeal, set aside the judgment and order of the trial Court so far it concerns the convictions and sentence of two appellants Inder Singh and Smt. Swinder Kaur. Both of them are acquitted of the charge. The appeal qua Ranjit Singh is hereby dismissed, and his conviction and sentence is hereby affirmed.

Let intimation be sent to the Central Jail, Gurdaspur, about the acceptance of appeal of two appellants, namely, Inder Singh and Smt. Swinder Kaur and they are ordered to be released forthwith, if not required in any other case.