1. The appeal is filed against judgment and order of Sessions Case No. 10/1997, which was pending in the Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Nanded. The Trial Court has convicted and sentenced the appellant for offence punishable under section 306, 498-A of Indian Penal Code. This Court has heard both the sides and has perused the original record.
2. In short the facts leading to the institution of the appeal can be stated as follows:-
The deceased Gangasagar was a daughter of Govindrao Chibhade. She was given in marriage to appellant/accused on 5.6.1995. Immediately after the marriage, the accused started expressing that the deceased had become pregnant even prior to the marriage. For the satisfaction of the accused, the parents of the deceased took the deceased to the hospital of Dr. Smt. Bhalerao for medical examination. After medical examination, Dr. Bhalerao gave report that the deceased had not become pregnant. The accused was, however, not satisfied. The accused got examined the deceased medically from another doctor. This doctor also gave similar report. Accused was not satisfied with this report also.
3. The accused then started complaining that the deceased was suffering from white discharge, a kind of venereal disease. He started saying that the deceased may not be able to procreate a child for him due to the disease and she may also get disease like cancer due to this disease. For taking the deceased to doctor, he started demanding money from the parents of the deceased. On some occasions money was given, but the ill-treatment was not stopped by the accused. On few occasions, the deceased was taken to parent's house and she was kept there by her parents due to conduct of the accused.
4. The deceased used to disclose about the ill-treatment, which the accused was giving to her to her parents and other relatives. The deceased used to complain that the accused had illicit relations with a woman from Nanded. The accused used to tease her. She used to disclose that accused used to say her that due to white discharge, the deceased was not in a condition to conceive the child. She had sent a letter to her parents. Accused also use to send letters.
5. On 10.8.1996 at about 8.00 a.m. the accused started asking the deceased to go to the house of her parents. The deceased refused to do so. The accused then gave slap to the deceased and he confined her in the house by putting latch on the door from the outside. He then went to school, the place of his employment.
6. In the noon time, the deceased set herself on fire after pouring kerosene on her person. Due to her shouting, some neighbourers rushed to the spot. Call was given to police and she was shifted to Rural Hospital at Kandhar by police. It was at about 1.00 p.m. In Rural Hospital, the dying declaration of the deceased was recorded by one Head Constable and on the basis of this dying declaration, the crime at C.R.No. 93/96 came to be registered in Kandhar Police Station for offences punishable under sections 498-A of I.P.C. As it was a case of 100% burn, she was shifted to Civil Hospital, but she succumbed to injuries at about 8.50 p.m. on the same day.
7. P.S.I. Kinnarwad made investigation of the case. He prepared the spot panchanama in presence of the panch witnesses. During investigation, statements of parents of deceased came to be recorded. The father produced some letters, which were written by the deceased and the accused to him. The letters were seized under panchanama. The statements of some neighboures also came to be recorded. The P.M. report was collected and after completion of investigation, the chargesheet came to be filed for offences under sections 498-A and 306 of I.P.C. In Trial Court, the prosecution has examined 10 witnesses. The accused took the defence of total denial. The Trial Court has believed the evidence of the parents, the letters and also the dying declaration.
8. Govindrao (PW 1), the father of the deceased, has given evidence that there was ill-treatment to the deceased from accused right from the beginning. He has given evidence that immediately after the marriage, the accused expressed suspicion that the deceased had become pregnant prior to her marriage. He has given evidence that to remove the suspicion from the mind of the accused, he took the deceased to Dr. Smt. Bhalerao and she gave report that there was no substance in the allegation. He has deposed that the accused was not satisfied with the report given by Dr. Bhalerao. He has given evidence that the accused took the deceased to other doctor also. His evidence shows that the accused was indirectly expressing suspicion about the character of the deceased.
9. Govindrao (PW 1) has deposed that the accused had kept illicit relations, at least with two women. He has deposed that the deceased had sent him a letter. He has identified the hand writing of the deceased in the letter at Exh. 11. He has deposed that the deceased used to complain about the ill-treatment, the accused was giving to her. He has deposed that there was the disclosure about the ill-treatment and about the suspicion that the accused used to express about her character. In the letter at Exh. 11, the name of a woman is given, who was allegedly instigating the accused to give ill-treatment. He has given evidence that accused had told him that he was not satisfied with the report given by Dr. Bhalerao and accused had said that he wanted to take the deceased to other doctor. He has given evidence that ultimately, the accused got the deceased examined from other doctor also.
10. Govindrao (PW 1) has further deposed that the accused had demanded Rs. 1,000/- from him for medical examination. He has deposed that in the letter at Exh. 12, the demand of money was made by him. In the evidence of this witness, the prosecution has proved the hand writing of the accused in letter at Exh. 12. He has deposed that the deceased was got examined from one lady doctor from Ahmedpur. But with the report given by this lady doctor also, the accused was not satisfied. He has given evidence that accused used to blame that the deceased was suffering from white discharge and he used to say that the deceased was not in a condition to procreate a child for him. He has given evidence that by sending other letter also, the accused had demanded money and he used to give money to the accused. He has given evidence that due to the conduct of the accused, he had taken the deceased to his house atleast on 2 occasions and she had stayed there for few days.
11. Govindrao (PW 1) has given evidence that about one month prior to the date of incident, when the deceased was living with him, the accused had come to house and due to mediation by one teacher, he had sent the deceased to matrimonial house. He has deposed that the deceased was reluctant to return to matrimonial house and the deceased was saying that the accused was never happy, even when money was given to him by her parents. The evidence of Govindrao shows that he had sent the deceased to matrimonial house, but the accused had again sent the deceased back to his house. In the past, the accused used to keep the deceased in his house from Malsavargaon and on the last occasion, when PW 1 insisted, the accused agreed to keep her with him at the place of his work, at Kandhar. The incident took place in the house from Kandhar. The evidence of PW 1 shows that the deceased had started living at Kandhar about 15 days prior to the incident. The cross examination of Govindrao (PW 1) shows that it was made only with the object to show that the accused had no illicit relations with any woman. The name of one lady is given in F.I.R. and in Exh. 11 the deceased had taken the name of a lady. The cross examination does not show that the accused tried to give any explanation for the suicide of the deceased.
12. The evidence of Nilabai (PW 3), the mother of the deceased, is similar to the evidence of PW 1. The evidence of PW 1 and 3 shows that before they reached the hospital, Gangasagar was dead. One Nivrutti (PW 2), the neighbour, has tried to say that that the deceased had made disclosure to him in the aforesaid house and he had found that there was latch from outside on the door of the house. He has admitted that such statement was not given by him to police. In view of this material omission, this Court holds that there is no need to discuss the evidence of Nivrutti (PW 2) more.
13. Police Head Constable Kendre (PW 8) has given evidence to prove the dying declaration of Gangasagar. He has deposed that Police Constable Kamble, he and other staff went to the spot after learning about the incident and from there, they shifted Gangasagar to Rural Hospital, Kandhar. He has given evidence that before recording dying declaration, he sought the opinion of Dr. Chavan regarding fitness of the patient to give statement. He has deposed that Dr. Chavan gave opinion that she was in a condition to give statement and then he recorded the statement. In his evidence, dying declaration of Gangasagar is proved as Exh. 29. He has pointed out the endorsement made by Dr. Chavan and the signature of Dr. Chavan appears on Exh. 29. His evidence shows that from Rural Hospital, the deceased was shifted to Civil Hospital as it was the case of 100% burns.
14. Dr. Chavan (PW 10) has given evidence that after the admission of the patient Gangasagar in Rural Hospital, he had recorded the history given by the patient on the case paper. The case paper which is in hand writing of the doctor is proved as Exh. 35. This history is to the effect that right from the marriage, there was ill-treatment to the deceased from the husband and due to the ill-treatment, she had set herself on fire.
15. Dr. Chavan (PW 10) has deposed that when police came and requested him to give opinion about the fitness of the patient, he examined the patient and gave opinion that she was in a position to give statement. He has deposed that in his presence, the statement of Gangasagar was recorded by one Head Constable. He has deposed that after recording of the statement, he made endorsement on the statement and the endorsement is signed by him. He has given evidence that the patient was conscious during recording of the statement. Much was argued for the appellant in respect of the wordings used in the endorsement. It was submitted that the endorsement does not show that the deceased was fit to give statement though it is mentioned that she was conscious. This Court holds that it is not possible to discard the evidence of dying declaration on this count. The evidence shows that doctor had examined patient and he had given opinion that she was conscious and her statement could have been recorded. As Exh. 35 is there and there is direct evidence of doctor about the fitness of the patient, this Court sees no reason to disbelieve the evidence of Dr. Chavan and Police Head Constable Kendre. This Court holds that the record like Exhs. 35 and 29 can be safely used in this case as the record of dying declaration.
16. The record of dying declaration is consistent with the oral evidence of the parents of the deceased. There is evidence of Dr. Rajendra (PW 6) that Gangasagar died due to 100% burns. His evidence shows that there was smell of kerosene to the body. The spot panchanama is duly proved in the evidence of Bhujangrao (PW 5). The incident took place at about 1.00 p.m. On the floor of the room, there was kerosene and in the room, there was a smell of kerosene. There was not a single circumstance to create the probability that the deceased caught fired accidentally. Further, the deceased made specific allegation in the dying declaration that the accused had put the latch on the door from the outside. The spot panchanama shows that the deceased ran only inside the room and she could not come outside the room when she was in flames. This evidence is sufficient to prove that the deceased had set herself on fire to commit suicide and it is the case of suicide. This evidence is consistent with the record of dying declaration.
17. The letter of deceased at Exh. 11 shows that it has stamp of post office dated 26.9.1995. This letter of deceased shows that accused used to demand money from her parents and on that count, he used to give harassment to her. The name of one woman Khoklebai is given in letter at Exh. 11, who was allegedly giving instigation to accused to give ill-treatment. In this letter, the deceased had expressed that all her dreams were shattered in to pieces. Exhs. 12 and 13 are the letters of the accused. Exh. 12 is on inland letter of post office, though Exh. 13 is a chit and envelop is absent. They are dated 14.8.1995 and 5.11.1995. In the chit, Exh. 13, dated 14.8.1995, the demand of Rs. 1,000/- was made by the accused as he was in need of money. Though from the letters of the accused at Exhs. 12 and 13, inference cannot be drawn that this demand was made to extract money and on that count, there was illtreatment, the letter of deceased at Exh. 11, cannot be ignored. Exh. 11 gives corroboration to the case of the prosecution.
18. Kamble (PW 4), Police Head Constable, has given evidence that in Rural Hospital, when he made inquiry with the deceased, she disclosed that she had set herself on fire and she was suffering from white discharge and she was not able to procure a child. It can be said that this evidence on so called dying declaration is not complete. There is record created by other Head Constable and so, not much can be made out of this evidence of Kamble in favour of the accused.
19. The prosecution evidence does not show that the accused had rushed to the spot after the incident. His presence was not shown even in the hospital. This conduct of the accused is relevant and this needs to be considered in view of the nature of allegations made against him in the recorded dying declaration.
20. Conviction can be based only on the basis of dying declaration. In the present case, there is corroboration of the circumstances, which are already discussed, to the recorded dying declaration. Though the dying declaration was recorded by the Police Head Constable, there is nothing to create doubt about the dying declaration. There is support of independent evidence of Dr. Chavan and of record Exh. 35. On the basis of this evidence, this Court has no hesitation to hold that there was ill-treatment to the deceased, there was the demand of money, there was the allegation against the deceased that she had become pregnant before the marriage, there was allegation against the deceased that she was suffering from white discharge and due to that she was not in a position to procure a child and there is record to show that the deceased had become frustrated due to the conduct of the accused. This evidence is sufficient to prove the "cruelty" as defined in section 498-A of I.P.C. This Court has no hesitation to hold that due to this cruelty, the deceased committed suicide. The suicide was committed within seven years of the marriage and so the presumption under section 113-A of the Evidence Act needs to be drawn in this case. Thus, the prosecution evidence is sufficient to prove the offence punishable under sections 498-A and 306 of I.P.C. The Trial Court has not committed error in holding that both the offences are proved by the prosecution.
21. The advocate for the appellant advanced argument for taking lenient view. He pointed out certain circumstances like financial crunch. He submitted that accused was working as a teacher and this appeal is being decided after many years. The letter of deceased at Exh. 11 and the letter of the accused do create probability that this family was facing some financial problem. There is probability that the accused was not getting salary from the school. There is mention in the letter Exh. 11 that the deceased was frustrated and she had expressed that all her dreams were shattered in to pieces. Thus, there is the possibility that the financial condition has aggravated the things. In view of these circumstances, this Court holds that some lenient view can be taken. The Trial Court has given imprisonment for the period of five years for the offence punishable under section 306 of I.P.C. This Court holds that this imprisonment can be reduced to four years and the other part of the order can be maintained. So the order.
ORDER
1. The appeal is partly allowed.
2. The judgment and order of Joint District Judge and Additional Sessions Judge, Nanded, delivered in Sessions Case No. 10/1997 is modified for reduction of sentence.
3. The appellant Pratap s/o. Laxman Dhole stands convicted of the offence punishable under section 306 of I.P.C. and he is sentenced to suffer R.I. for four years and to pay fine of Rs. 1,000/- (Rupees one thousand) and in default of payment of fine, he is to suffer S.I. for six months.
4. He is also convicted of the offence punishable under section 498-A of I.P.C. and he is sentenced to suffer R.I. for one year and to pay fine of Rs. 1,000/- (Rupees one thousand), and in default of payment of fine, he is to suffer S.I. for six months.
5. Both the substantive sentence is to run concurrently.
6. He is entitled to set off for the period from 11.8.1996 to 20.8.1996.
7. The other part of the operative order is maintained.
8. He is to surrender to bail bond for undergoing sentence immediately.
9. Fees of the advocate appointed is quantified as Rs. 4000/- (Rupees four thousand).