| Headnote |
Indian Penal Code 1860: Section 302-Bride burning-Conviction and sentence-Duty of Court. Section 32--Dying declaration-When can form sole basis of conviction-Plurality of dying declaration-Have to be accepted when trustworthy - and reliable. Penology Sentencing- Bride burning-Language of deterence to speak. The appellant in the appeal was convicted under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, and sentenced to life imprisonment by the High Court reversing the acquittal of the Trial Court. The Prosecution alleged that the deceased was married to the son of the accused in the year 1972, and that there were frequent quarrels between the appellant-mother-in-law and the deceased- daughter-in-law. On one occasion, on account of a quarrel the daughter-in-law went away to her parents' house and on the assurance of her father-in-law that nothing would go wrong, the deceased was sent to the house of the accused. The accused, the deceased and her husband were all living in the same house. Even after the return, there used to be quarrels between the accused and the deceased. The accused developed a profound dislike for the deceased. On the night of 7th May, 1977, at about midnight, the deceased was sleeping all alone in the 'osri' of the House. The accused went there, poured kerosene on her person, and as the deceased got up, the accused lit the fire and left the 'osri'. The deceased shouted for help and hearing her shouts, her husband and other collected there and the fire was extinguished. She was removed to the hospital in the cart. In the cart, she told some witnesses that ht>r mother-in-law had burnt her. Later on, she was taken to the Government hospital in a taxi in a burnt condition. The police constable on duty informed the Taluka police station and the Head Constable made an entry in the police station diary, and another Head Constable went to the hospital and recorded the statement of the deceased in the early hours. In that statement, she stated that her mother-in-law had burnt her. The Head Constable wrote a 'yadi' for a dying declaration to the Executive Magistrate who reached the hospital at about 7.00 A.M. on 18.5.1977, and recorded the dying declaration Ex.29. In this declaration also, the deceased stated that she was burnt by the accused. The Police Sub-Inspector who took up the investigations, went to the scene of occurence, made the panchnama of the scene of occurrence and recorded the statement of witnesses. He also recorded a statement of the deceased on 19.5.1977. In that also, the deceased stated that she was burnt by her mother-in-law. The Sub-Inspector arrested the accused on 18.5.1977. The deceased succumbed to the injuries on 20.5.1977. On completing the necessary investigations, the accused was charge-sheeted and committed before the Sessions Judge. The Sessions Judge came to the conclusion that the deceased might have committed suicide, that it was also probable that someone else might have burnt her alive, because she had a grievance against her mother-inlaw she implicated her in the dying declaration. The dying declarations, hence could not be accepted having regard to this inherent infirmity. On these findings it was held that the prosecution had failed to prove that the deceased was burnt alive by the accused, and the accused was acquitted. The State appealed to the High Court, and a Division Bench considered the circumstances under which the dying declarations were recorded. It found that the dying declaration Ex. 24 clearly showed as to how the occurrence had taken place. The second dying declaration Ex. 29 was recorded in a question and answer form that there was no scope for tutoring the deceased for giving any statement which would involve the accused, and that at that time, the deceased was all right and she was in a position to give the dying declaration. The third dying declaration was made to the deceased's father who was a truthful witness and clearly establishes that there was no scope of parents tutoring the deceased in any way. The findings of the Trial Court it was held could not be accepted with reference to the various aspects like enmity between the mother-in-law and eased, the failure of the deceased to narrate the incident to her husband, and was not prepared to believe that the deceased attempted to commit suicide and only for revenge involved the accused falsely. In the result, the order of acquittal was set aside, the accused was held guilty of the offence of murder and was convicted under Section 302 I.P.C. and sentenced to imprisonment for life; It was, however, recommended that the Government consider the case favourably on the aspect of remission of sentence under Section 432 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. In the appeal to this Court, it was contended on behalf of the appellant that the High Court was not justified in convicting the accused purely on the dying declarations which bristle with many contradictions and improve from stage to stage, and that having regard to the fact that the relationship between the mother-in- law and the daughter-in-law, was far from cordial the deceased had every motive to implicate the mother-in-law. It was also contended that the appellant was 58 years of age and that having spent more than a decade in jail, the appeal calls for interference on the ground of sentence. |
