Jharkhand High Court: Navneet Kumar, J., upheld the conviction of the appellant- accused guilty of killing his wife within a few years of marriage on her failure to fulfill the demands of the dowry. The deceased, Rita Devi, had gone missing from her husband’s home and her body was found in the Sakhua jungle.
This appeal is against the judgment of conviction passed by the Additional Sessions Judge charging the appellant -, for the offences punishable under Sections 304-B, 498-A, and 201 of Penal Code, 1860. For committing an offence under Section 304-B– of IPC, he was sentenced to Rigorous Imprisonment (‘RI’) for 7 years and further sentenced to undergo RI for 3 years and to pay a fine of Rs. 2000 and in case of default in payment of fine, he was further directed to undergo RI for 3 months for the offence punishable under Section 498-A and further sentenced to undergo RI for 3 years and to pay a fine of Rs. 2000 and in the case of default in payment of fine, he was further directed to undergo RI for 3 months for an offense punishable under Section 201 of IPC.
Facts:
The daughter of the informant, Rita Devi, was married to the appellant. Just after the solemnization of marriage, the appellant started demanding a Motorcycle and for that, the victim was assaulted and was subjected to cruelty. The informant also said that just 15 days back from the incident the accused assaulted the victim with respect to the demand of dowry and this assault continued since last 4-5 months continuously. Hearing this when the informant reached the victim’s house to meet the daughter, he found out that there was no one present in the house, and it was locked.
On 26-05-2002, the dead body of the victim was found in midst of the Sakuna jungle. The fardbeyan of the informant was recorded at the site of the incident. It was evident that the death has been caused due to strangulation as there were marks and swelling on the neck. This incident took place within 1 year of her marriage.
The police registered the case and submitted the charge-sheet and the Chief Judicial Magistrate took cognizance, the case was then committed to the court of sessions and after conducting a full-fledged trial passed impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence which is under challenge in this appeal.
Observations and Analysis:
The Court was convinced with the finding of the Trial Court and upheld the trial court ruling and noted that there were no irregularities in the judgment of conviction and the order of sentence passed by the court.
[Pradeep Kumar Mandal v. State of Jharkhand, 2022 SCC OnLine Jhar 686, decided on 13-06-2022]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
Mr. S.P. Roy, Advocate, for the Appellant;
Mr. Purnendu Sharan, Advocate
Mrs. Nehala Sharmin, A.P.P., Advocate, for the Respondent.