STATE OF PUNJABversusGURDIP SINGH AND ORS.

A                           STATE OF PUNJAB
                                    v.
                          GURDIP SINGH AND ORS.

                              DECEMBER 5, 1995

B                   (G.N. RAY AND G.T. NANAVATI,JJ.]

          Indian Penal Code, 1861}-Section 306-Acquittal for offence unde1-
    Suicide by young bride--Case of maltreatment and instigating deceased to
    commit suicid~ot proved-Acquittal legally sustainable.
c         The respondents were convicted by the Sessions Judge on a charge
    u/s 306 IPC. In appeal, the judgment of conviction was set aside. This
    appeal has been filed against the judgment of acquittal as recorded by the
    High Court.

D         According to the prosecution, the deceased got married to accused
    in February, 1978 and shortly after the marriage, she was ill treated by the
    accused for not bringing sufficient dowry; that PW 14, the sister of the
    mother of the deceased being the resident of the same town, the accused
    did not like the deceased going to her aunt's house or the members of the
E   aunts' family visiting the house of the accused and therefore, being
    depressed mentally, the deceased committed suicide in July, 1978. The
    prosecution mainly relied on the depositions made by the mother, the aunt
    and cousin brother of the deceased. PW 6 examined by the prosecution
    deposed that about 15 minutes before the incident, he had been to bis
    friend's house which was very close to the honse of the accused and
F   therefrom be heard that deceased was being instigated to commit suicide
    by burning or by drowning.

          The Sessions Judge held that the deceased had been ill-treated and
    demand of dowry had been made by the accused and the little girl felt
G   humiliated because of the taunts given to her and harsh treatment meted
    out to her. The accused were convicted for the offence u/s 306 IPC. In the
    appeal filed by the accused, the High Court set aside the conviction while
    holding that in the facts of the case, there was no convincing evidenc• to
    snpport the case of instigating the deceased to commit suicide.

H         In this appeal med agdinst the order of acqnittal, !!:< appellant
                                        252
                       STATE v. GURDIP SINGH                          253

submitted that the mother, the aunt and the cousin of the deceased had A
deposed that demand of dowry had been made by the accused and for not
getting the dowry as demanded by them, they had maltreated the deceased
and this maltreatment continued shortly after the marriage; that the poor
girl was rebuked for visiting the house of the aunt and even when the aunt
had visited the house of the accused, the treatment meted out to the aunt
                                                                           B
had seriously injured the sentiments of the poor girl and that there was
no reason to discard the evidence of PW 6 who had heard instigation of
committing suicide imir diately before the incident and therefore, the
                         0


judgment of acc1uittal l1ling against the weight of evidence should be
interfered with by this Court.
                                                                            c;
      Dismissing the appeal, this Court

       HELD ' 1.1 In this case, demand for dowry and the oppression made
on account of such demand was not initially the case of the prosecution.
No charge under Section 304 B JPC had been framed in this case and if D
the allegation of such demand of dowry and the consequential torture on
the newly married wife was there, it was reasonably expected that the
cha1ge under Section 304 B would have been framed against the accused.
The only charge which had been framed against the accused was under
Section 306 l.P.C. Although the mother, the annt and the cousin had stated
about the demand of dowry and consequential ill-treatment meted out to E
the deceased, the letters written by the deceased to the mother and to the
sister and also the letter written by the mother which had been exhibited
in this case, did not indicate in any manner, that she had ever been taunted
or humiliated on account of dowry demand. There was also on indication
in the said letters that she had either been physically or mentally tortured F
in the house of the accused. The letter dated July 27, 1978 written by the
deceased only indicated that she felt sad and was confused as to what
should be done by her because her coming to the aunt's house or the aunt's
visiting her in-law's house were being objected to by the accused and she
solicited advice from her mother. The High Court in disposing of the G
appeal had referred to such letter and has indicated that had there been
any case of maltreatment which could have induced her to commit suicide,
there should have been some indication of such inducement in the letters.
The deceased was quite young and yet to be seasoned wife dischord and
unpleasantness in social intercourse and not yet gaining the practical
wisdom and capability of adjustment against petulance and disharmony, H
    254                  SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1995) SUPP. 6 S.C.R.

A became very sensitive and lost the normal frame of mind which might have
    induced her to end her life before it could fully blossom. (257-D-H, 258-A]

        1.2 PW 6, a chance witness, although he had stated that when the
  accused had been loudly giving suggestion to the deceased to commit
  suicide by burning or by drowning he could hear the same from his friend's
B house, evidence should not be accepted. None of the neighbours had been
  examined in this case. The evidence of the said chance witness without
  being corroborated by any other independent witness did not inspire
  confidence. [258-C]

C         CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal No.
    919 of 1981.

         From the Judgment and Order dated 29.5.81 of the Punjab &
    Haryana High Court in Crl. A. No. 604 of 1979.

          With Crl. A. No. 272 of 1982.
D
          Arnita Gupta and R.S. Suri for the Appellants.

          Sushi! Kumar and P.K. Jain for the Respondents.

E         The following Order of the Court was delivered :

           Criminal Appeal No. 919 of 1981 is directed against the judgment
    dated May 29, 1981 passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in
    Criminal Appeal No. 604/79. The said appeal was preferred by the respon-
    dents who were convicted by the learned Additional Session Judge. Am-
F   ritsar on April 23, 1979, in Sessions Trial No. 11/79 on a charge under
    Section 306 of the 1.P.C. The accused Kuldip Singh and his son Gurdip
    Kumar and his wife Darshan Kaur were convicted under Section 306 I.P.C.
    by the learned Additional Sessions Judge. Kuldip Singh and Gurdip Kumar
    were sentenced to four year's rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 500
G   in default to suffer further imprisonment for three months, but Darshan
    Kaur was sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment. with a fme of
    Rs. 500 in default to suffer further imprisonment for three months.

         According to the prosecution case, the deceased Jyoti Bala was given
    in marriage on February 12, 1975 at Amritsar to accused Gurdip Kumar,
H   but shortly after the said marriage, the deceased was ill-treated by the
                       STATE v. GURDIP SINGH                          255

accused as the accused felt that proper dowry had not been given by the A
family of the deceased. It is also the case of the prosecution that Shakuntla
Devi, PW 14, the sister of the mother of the deceased and Vijay Kumar,
PW 5, the son of Shakuntla Devi were the residents of Amritsar. When the
deceased, her sister and mother attended the marriage ceremony of Vijay
Kumar at Amritsar, the deceased and her mother came in touch with the B
family of the accused who are also known to the family of Shakuntla Devi
and Gurdip Kumar was also a friend of Vijay Kumar. Having seen the
deceased, Gurdip and his parents had liked the deceased Jyoti Bala and
accordingly the proposal of marriage was finalised and the marriage was
solemnised on February 12, 1978 at Amritsar itself. It is the prosecution
case that Jyoti Bak used to go to her aunt, Shakuntla Devi and Shakuntla C
Devi also used to go to Jyoti Bala's house but the family of the accused
did not like Jyoti Bala's going to her aunt's house or the members of the
aunt's family visiting the house of the accused. Being oppressed mentally
Jyoti Bala ultimately committed suicide on July 28, 1978 and being severely
burnt, she. was admitted to the hospital where she succumbed to the injury D
on July 30, 1978.

      The mother of the deceased PW 4, the aunt of the deceased, PW 14
aud the cousin brother of the deceased Vijay Kumar, PW 5 have deposed
that the accused had been making demands on account of dowry and on
one occasion in Calcutta a sum of Rs. 5000 has been paid by PW 4, the E
mother of the deceased, but such payment did not satisfy demand and Jyoti
Bala used to be taunted and oppressed. PW 6 Madhudan has been ex-
amined by the prosecution and the said Madhudan has stated that only
about 15 minutes before the incident, he had been to his friend's house
which was very close to the house of the accused and therefrom he heard F
some noise coming from the house of the accused and he heard that Jyoti
Bala was being instigated to commit suicide by burning or by drowning.

       It also appears that a number of letters written by the deceased to
her mother and sister in Calcutta and latter written by the mother to the    G
deceased have been exhibited in this case and such letters are of April 4,
1978, May 29, 1978, July 18, 1978 and July 27, 1978. The letter dated July
18, 1978 is written by the mother of the deceased to the deceased and the
letter dated July 27, 1978 had been written by the deceased Jyoti Bala to
her mother. The learned Additional Sessions Judge came to the finding
that Jyoti Bala had been ill-treated and when for a nmnber of days she had   H
    256                   SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1995] SUPP. 6 S.C.R.

A not taken meal, nobody from amongst the accused had asked Jyoti Bala to
    take the food and they neglected her. The learned Additional Sessions
    Judge also came to the finding that demand of dowry had been made by
    the accused and the little girl felt humiliated because of the taunts given
    to her and harsh treatment meted out to her. Relying on the evidences
    given by the mother, aunt and cousin and the said Madhuban PW 6,
B   learned Additional Sessions Judge held that all the said accused were guilty
    of the offence under Section 306 I.P.C. and accordingly they are convicted
    and sentenced as indicated hereinbefore.

           The single Bengh of the High Court in disposing of said Criminal
C   Appeal No. 604/79 since preferred by the accused-respondent, however,
    did not agree with the finding made by the learned Additional Sessions
    Judge. It has been indicated by the High Court that the said letters were
    written from April 4, 1978 to July 27, 1978 and the letter of July 27, was
    written by the deceased just a day before the said incident of burning. From
D   the said letters, it does not transpire that there was any case of mental
    torture or humiliation meted out to the deceased on account of dowry
    demands and there was any instigation by any of the accused to the
    deceased for committing suicide. On the contrary, the letters revealed that
    the family, though did not like the frequent visit of the deceased to her
    aunt's house and also visit by the aunt and members of the family to the
E   house of the accused, they never physically prevented the deceased from
    visiting and as a matter of fact, even in the letter dated July 27, 1978 written
    by the deceased, it was indicated that the father-in-law himself dropped
    her near the house of the aunt. After considering the evidences and
    analysing the same, the learned judge of the High Court has indicated that
F   in the facts of the case, it cannot be held that there are convincing evidence
    to support the case of instigating the deceased to commit suicide. Accord-
    ingly, the said appeal was allowed and the conviction and sentence passed
    by the learned Additional Sessions Judge were set aside.

          The learned counsel appearing for the appellant-State has taken us
G through the Judgments Passed by the Courts below and also the evidences
    adduced in the case. It has been submitted by the learned counsel for the
    appellant that the mother, the aunt and the cousin of the deceased have
    deposed that demand of dowry had been made by the accused and for not
    getting dowry as demanded by them, they had maltreated the deceased who
H   was married only a few months back. The learned counsel has submitted
                       STA1E v. GURDIP SINGH                           257

that as a matter of fact, there is evidence that almost shortly after the A
marriage such maltreatment continued and the poor girl was also rebuked
for visiting the house of the aunt. Even when the aunt had visited the house
of the accused, the members of the family became quite cold in receiving
her and the treatment meted out to the aunt had seriously injured the
sentiments of the poor girl. It has been submitted by the learned counsel B
that there is no reason to discard the evidence of Madhuban PW 6 who
had heard instigation of committing suicide immediately before the inci-
dent. If the said evidence is accepted, the case of instigation for committing
suicide is clearly established by a direct evidence. The learned counsel
appearing for the State has submitted that the Judgment of acquittal is not
justified and being against the weight of evidence, should be interfered with C
by this Court.

       We are, however, unable to accept such contention of the learned
counsel appearing for the State. It may be noted that demand for dowry
and the oppression made on account of such demand was not initially the D
case of the prosecution. We may indicate here that no charge under Section
304 B has been made in this case and if the allegation of such demand of
dowry and the consequential torture on the newly married girl, Jyoti Bala,
was there, it is reasonably expected that the charge under Section 304 B
would have been made against the accused. The only charge which has
been made against the accused is under Section 306 l.P.C. Although the E
mother, the aunt and the cousin have stated about the demand of dowry
and consequential ill-treatmen_t meted out to the deceased Jyoti Bala, the
letters written by Jyoti Bala to the mother and to the sister and also the
letter written by the mother which have been exhibited in this case, do not
indicate in any manner, that Jyoti Bala had ever been taunted or humiliated F
on account of dowry demand. There is also no indication in the said letters
that she had either been physically or mentally tortured in the house of the
accused. The letter dated July 27, 1978 written by the deceased only
indicates that she felt sad and was confused as to what should be done by
her because her coming to the aunt's house or the aunt's visiting her
in-law's house were being objected by the accused and she solicited advice G
from her mother. The learned Judge in disposing of the appeal has referred
to such letter and has indicated that had there been any case of maltreat-
ment which could have induced her to commit suicide, there should have
been some indication of such inducement in the letters. It appears to us
that Jyoti Bala, quite young and yet to be seasoned with dischord and H
    258                  SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1995) SUPP. 6 S.C.R.

A unpleasantness in special Intercourse and not yet gaining the practical
    wisdom and capability of adjustment against petulance and disharmony,
    became very sensitive and lost the normal frame of mind which might have
    induced her to end her life before it could fully blossom.

          So far as PW 6 Madhuban is concerned, it appears to us he is a
B   chance witness and although he has stated that when the accused had been
    loudly giving suggestion to the deceased to commit suicide by burning or
    by drowning he could hear the same from his friend's house, his evidence
    should not be accepted. None of the neighbours has been examined in this
    case. The evidence of the said chance witness without being corroborated
C   by any other independent witness does not inspire confidence. For the
    aforesaid facts, we do not find any reason to take a contrary view and the
    appeal, therefore, fails and is dismissed.

          In view of such decision in Criminal Appeal No. 919 of 1981, the
    other appeal namely Criminal Appeal No. 272 of 1982 is also dismissed.
D
    R.A.                                                    Appeal dismissed.