Nawal Kishore Jagannath Prasad Vs. State of M.P. - Court Judgment

Excerpt:
- madhya pradesh nagar tatha gram nivesh adhiniyam (23 of 1973)section 50(4) proviso (as inserted by act of 2004): [dipak misra, krishna kumar lahoti & rajendra menon, jj] preparation of town development scheme proviso prescribing time limit held, object of amendment is to remove hardship caused to citizens and to provide time limit to consider objections and suggestion and to provide a deeming clause so that the authority would act in quite promptitude. proviso unequivocal, categorical and unambiguous and does not permit any other kind of construction but a singular one. section 50 (4) proviso (as inserted by act of 2004): [dipak misra, krishn kumar lahoti & rajendra menon, jj] preparation of town development scheme held, proviso is not retrospective. scheme already finalised will not lapse and has to be completed within the time span provided under proviso. no vested right accrues in favour of authority on commencement of process of preparation of scheme, which cannot be impaired by introducing proviso. section 50(4) proviso (as inserted by act of 2004): [dipak misra, krishn kumar lahoti & rajendra menon, jj] preparation of town development scheme held, proviso uses the term shall be deemed to have lapsed. it does not convey that scheme gets automatically lapsed. - the accused/appellant and his parents as well as brother and sister-in-law used to harass and torture the deceased. i). after concluding investigation, chargesheet was filed against the appellant as well as his parents jagannath prasad and butabai. it was also held by the learned trial court that there was no reliable evidence of cruelty against the accused/appellants jagannath prasad and butabai. this witness further stated in para 3 of his statement that the deceased complained about harassment to her mother rajkumari (p. therefore, there is no reliable oral evidence that the deceased was subjected to cruelty. p-11) indicate that the appellant felt concerned about the welfare of deceased and also expressed his love and affection for her.v.k. agrawal, j.1. the accused/appellant stands convicted under sections 498a of indian penal code and has been sentenced to undergo r.i. for three years and to pay fine of rs. 5,000/- (rupees five thousand only) by judgment dated 23-9-1997 in sessions trial no. 59/94 by iind additional sessions judge, satna.2. undisputably, deceased usha was married to the appellant nawal kishore in the year 1985. 'gauna' ceremony of deceased usha took place in the year 1992, whereafter the deceased started residing with the appellant. she died on 27-11-1993.3. the prosecution case stated in brief is that the accused/appellant demanded one tola of gold and rs. 5,000/- to be given to him as dowry. ravinandan prasad pandey (p.w.i) father of deceased usha being a person of modest means was unable to fulfil the demand. the accused/appellant and his parents as well as brother and sister-in-law used to harass and torture the deceased. deceased usha committed suicide, as a result of cruelty meted out by the appellant and his family members. the report of incident (ex.p-13) dt. 4-12-1993 was lodged in writing by the father of deceased ravinandan prasad pandey (p.w.i). offence was registered. some letters written by accused/appellant were seized on being produced by ravinandan prasad pandey (p.w.i). after concluding investigation, chargesheet was filed against the appellant as well as his parents jagannath prasad and butabai.4. the learned trial court framed charge under section 306 of indian penal code against all the accused/persons. they abjured guilt. the defence of accused/appellant was that he never demanded any dowry and did not torture the deceased. he had advanced rs. 10,000/- to his father-in-law ravinandan prasad pandey (p.w.i). he had orally demanded that amount from him and also wrote letters in that regard to him. the deceased was ailing and was also having pregnancy of eight months, at the time of incident. she was being treated by dr. dharmesh dwivedi (d.w.2). the deceased was being taken to the hospital for treatment but she died on the way.5. the learned trial court by the impugned judgment found that it is not proved from the evidence on record that deceased usha committed suicide. it has also been held that there is no evidence that the deceased committed suicide or that she died otherwise than in normal circumstances. it was also held by the learned trial court that there was no reliable evidence of cruelty against the accused/appellants jagannath prasad and butabai. therefore, they were acquitted. the learned trial court though acquitted the accused/appellant under section 306 of indian penal code for abetting his wife-the deceased usha to commit suicide, however, mainly relying upon the letters (ex.p-3) to (ex.p-11) written by the accused/appellant held that the appellant mentally tortured and thus subjected the deceased to cruelty and he was held guilty for offence punishable under section 498a of indian penal code, and was accordingly convicted and sentenced as mentioned earlier.6. learned counsel for appellant has urged that it is not established that the accused/appellant harassed the deceased or subjected her to cruelty within the meaning of section 498a of indian penal code. it has been pointed out that the letter (ex.p-1) was not written by the appellant. it has also been submitted that the letters (ex.p-3 to ex.p-11) were written by the appellant before the 'gauna' ceremony of his wife, the deceased had taken place. it has also been contended that the said letters did not contain any material to give rise to an inference of mental torture to the deceased; much less of such a nature and gravity so as to drive the deceased to commit suicide. learned counsel for respondent/state has however supported the conviction and sentence of the accused/appellant.7. it may be noticed that the parents of deceased, ravinandan prasad pandey (p.w.i) and rajkumari (p.w.2) have given oral evidence regarding cruelty meted out by the appellant. it may be noticed that ravinandan prasad pandey (p.w.i) has stated that the deceased used to tell her mother rajkumari (p.w.2) that the accused/appellant and her in-laws used to demand a tola of gold and rs. 5,000/- and used to harass her. this witness further stated in para 3 of his statement that the deceased complained about harassment to her mother rajkumari (p.w.2) who informed about the same to ravinandan prasad pandey (p.w.i). obviously, therefore the statement of ravinandan prasad pandey (p.w.i) regarding harassment to the deceased is not based on the information given by the deceased herself.8. so far as rajkumari (p.w.2) the mother of deceased is concerned, she has given a general statement that the accused/appellant, his parents, brother and sister-in-law (jethani) used to demand rs. 5,000/- and a tola of gold from the deceased and they used to abuse her and beat her. however, in the above statement of rajkumari (p.w.2) there are no specific allegations of harassment or cruelty meted out to the deceased, by the accused/appellant. such vague and general statement therefore cannot be relied upon to draw an inference of cruelty to the deceased by the accused/appellant. reference in this connection may be made to salamat ali v. state of bihar, air 1995 sc 1863.9. it may be noted in the above connection that baijnath singh (p.w.3), who is the neighbour of appellant and is an independent witness, has stated that the deceased was never abused or ill-treated by the appellant and his family members. therefore, there is no reliable oral evidence that the deceased was subjected to cruelty.10. in fact the learned trial court has also not relied upon the oral evidence in the case; but has inferred cruelty on the basis of letters (ex. p-3 to ex.p-11) written by the appellant.11. letters (ex.p-1 to ex.p-11) have been seized from ravinandan pandey (p.w.i). it may be noticed that letter (ex.p.l) and document (ex.p-2) accompanying the same is not written by the accused/appellant. however, letters (ex.p-3) to (ex.p-11) have been admittedly written by accused/appellant. from out of said letters ex.p-5 dt. 25-7-1988, ex.p-8 dt. 20-2-1992, ex.p-10 dt. 27-3-1992 and ex. p-11 dt. 27-8-1992 have been addressed to the deceased, while letters ex.p-4 dt. 6-9-1988 and ex.p-9 dt. 4-3-1992 have been addressed to dharmendra, the brother of deceased; and the remaining letters ex.p-3 dt. 15-1-1992, ex.p-6 dt. 21-9-1991 and ex.p-7 dt. 24-1-1992 have been addressed to the father of deceased ravinandan prasad pandey (p.w.i).12. it may be noticed that all the above letters were written a few months prior to the 'gauna' ceremony of the deceased' and were thus written much prior to the death of deceased. it is also important to note that, no letters written by the accused/appellant after the 'gauna' ceremony have been produced by the father of the deceased. if there was any demand of dowry and harassment in pursuance thereof, certainly the accused/appellant would have addressed some letters either to her brother or her father after 'gauna' also. it may be noticed that as ravinandan prasad pandey (p.w.i) has been meticulously retaining the old letters written far back in the year 1988. hence, the non-production of any letter after the 'gauna' ceremony of deceased is an eloquent circumstance and indicates that the appellant did not address any letter containing any demand of dowry. this negatives the oral statements of witnesses that accused/appellant demanded dowry and on account of non-fulfilment thereof used to torture the deceased.13. it may further be noticed that the letters (ex.p-3 to ex.p-11) indicate that the appellant felt concerned about the welfare of deceased and also expressed his love and affection for her. though in some of the above letters he has expressed his dissatisfaction with the conduct, behaviour and mentality of his father-in-law, ravinandan prasad pandey (p.w.i), but the expression of his feelings as above cannot be taken as cruelty within the meaning of section 498a of indian penal code. it also appears from some of the letters that the accused/appellant wanted the deceased to pursue her studies with due care and seriousness. he also wanted her to join service. the care and concern as above by the appellant for the deceased, negatives any inference of cruelty to the deceased. of course, the language of the letters is not sophisticated and refined; but it may be noticed that the accused/appellant is not highly educated person and has expressed himself and given vent to his feelings to his wife, frankly and unreservedly, though possibly rather crudely. on perusal and careful consideration of the said letters; it doesn't appear that the accused/appellant intended thereby to hurt or harass his wife-the deceased. therefore, writing of the letters as above would not amount to wilful conduct of the appellant, amounting to 'cruelty'.14. it appears that the learned trial court on the basis of a letter (ex.p-11) dt. 27-8-1992, has inferred that the accused/appellant had cast aspersions on the character of deceased. however, it may be noticed that the letter (ex.p-11) dt. 27-8-1992 which is the last letter produced by the prosecution, does not contain any address and appears to be only a reproduction of certain couplets which probably were borrowed by appellant from crude literature. however the reproduction of couplets as above would not indicate that the accused/appellant had intended them for character assassination of his wife-the deceased.15. in the instant case on perusal of the letters, the finding of the learned trial judge that the appellant by his letters written to his wife has subjected her to cruelty, does not appear to be justified. therefore, the conviction of accused/appellant under section 498a of the indian penal code is not proper.16. appeal therefore deserves to be allowed and is allowed. the conviction and sentence of accused/appellant under section 498a of indian penal code is set aside. he is acquitted. he be set at liberty forthwith, if not required to be detained in connection with any other case.