Karmaveer Singh vs State Of U.P. & Others
2013 Latest Caselaw 7319 ALL

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
 
 

										A.F.R.
 

 
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. APPLICATION U/S 372 CR.P.C (LEAVE TO APPEAL) No. - 433 of 2012
 

 
Applicant :- Karmaveer Singh
 
Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. & Others
 
Counsel for Applicant :- V.P. Gupta
 
Counsel for Opposite Party :- Govt. Advocate
 

 
Hon'ble Dharnidhar Jha,J.

Hon'ble Pankaj Naqvi,J.

1. We have heard Sri V. P. Gupta, Advocate on the admission of the present appeal which is directed against the judgement of acquittal dated 01.10.2012 passed by the learned Additional District & Sessions Judge, Court No. 3, Amroha in Session Trial No. 497 of 2010 by which the respondents were acquitted of charges under Sections 307, 498A I.P.C. and 3/ 4 Dowry Prohibition Act.

2. As per the F.I.R. of the case, the accused persons not being satisfied with dowry which was given by the parents of Kabita Debi, who was married, undisputedly, to respondent-Vinod Kumar, was asking from her Rs.2,00,000/- in lieu of a car and not getting the demand met, they started ill-treating and torturing her. On 23.03.2010, the informant, who happened to be the full brother of the victim P.W.-2, was told about the acts of torture and ill-treatment perpetrated by the accused persons due to not fulfilling the demand for dowry and on the very next day, that's, on 24.03.2010, as per the F.I.R., the respondents by pouring kerosene oil on the prosecutrix (P.W.-2) set her at fire and attempted to kill her.

3. It is not disputed that the injured P.W.-2 was taken to the hospital by the family members, specially, the husband and treatment was afforded to her at their costs. She was bearing 30 percent burn injury and it appears from the very evidence of P.W.-2, that's, Kabita, which has been discussed at page 13 of the impugned judgement, that she did not come to her husband's house after being discharged from the hospital, rather went straight to her parent's house and few days of her arrival there, she was informed by the informant (P.W.-1) that he, without consulting her or without even letting her know, had lodged a report against the respondents on the 31st of March, 2010, that's, after 7 days of the incident. The lady had stated that she did not know as to what were the facts which had been stated by her brother in the F.I.R.

4. We consulted the deposition sheet of P.W.-2 Kabita Devi and we find that the marriage was negotiated and before she was got married to Vinod Kumar, her father and brother, P.W.-1 the informant of the case, had gone to meet the groom and had approved him. It has been admitted by her in her cross examination as may appear from paragraph-6 of her original deposition sheet, which is available on the lower court record to us, that after meeting her prospective husband Vinod Kumar, her father and P.W.-1 came to their house and informed P.W.-2 also that it was a handsome groom and that the family of the groom was quite rich having a lot of movable and immovable properties and that P.W.-2 will be leading a life of merry and comfort. But, what we further find from her cross examination is that after she had spent a month in her matrimonial house, she had to handle all domestic works inside and outside. She had to cook all the meals of the family everyday. She had to look-after cattles also so much so that she used to milch them too. She had to clean the cattle-shed and had to prepare cow-dung-cakes because, as per her evidence, the mother-in-law, that's, respondent no.9 Smt. Ombati was very envious of her comforts and she had thrust all the domestic burdens upon her shoulders.

5. The counsel, who was defending the respondents in the trial court pursued the above statement of P.W.-2 in cross-examination and it was elicited from P.W.-2 that there were two sisters of Vinod Kumar, the husband, who were school going. The elder brother of Vinod Kumar and his wife were residing separately and the mother and father of Vinod Kumar were elderly persons. Under these circumstance, it appears not unusual that the young lady of the house had to handle, as a matter of compulsion of circumstances, the domestic works that appears further compounding her miseries because, whereas on the one hand, she was living under imaginative castle of leading a life of comfort and merry, as soon as she arrived at her husband's house, she found herself amidst compelling domestic circumstances not giving her respite to fulfil her dreams and expections, which she had raised in her mind after having been informed by her father and P.W.-1 as to how comfortable she could be there in her husband's house.

6. We refer to Sharad Birdhi Chand Sarda vs State Of Maharashtra A.I.R. 1984 SC 1622. In that case also, the deceased Manju was entertaining high expectations from her husband and was writing letters to her friend expressing as to how she had dreamt of getting a husband, who had sufficient time to devote to her, who could take her into his hugs and showers his affection and love upon her. But, on account of not getting her dreams fulfilled she was dejected and feeling that the life was of no meaning to her.

7. Here what we find is that the lady in spite of having dreamt of a life of merry and comfort was finding herself pushed into circumstances, which were simply not giving her enough time to even think of those things, she had dreamt of. Dreaming could not be the exclusive domain only of a literate-educated person. Every girl, who as soon as attains the marriageable age, our experience tells us, starts dreaming of her future married life and always finds it flowery flashing into her memory as regards her future life and she continues dreaming to lead that life on getting married. Very often, most of them are not that fortunate to really find that their dreams have been fulfilled due to getting into the circumstance of comfort and merry where everyone is looking after her and she had nothing to handle at her domestic front.

8. Here was the lady, who was equally dreaming high about her future life and was expecting all sorts of comforts being showered upon her by her family members. She had given birth to a child also as appears admitted by her during her cross-examination and we feel that the care and nursing of that nascent child which was required from her would have put an additional burden to the already full a plate with woes and that could have depressed her more shattered dreams generate depressing tendency and symptoms which are known to aggravate into schizophrenia giving rise to a tendency to end one's life. This was the reason that she was probably attempting to end her life.

9. The case, as we have already noted, was not filed by the lady. It was filed by her brother who had not even cared to know the facts from her. She had come into her father's house as soon as she was discharged from the hospital and her brother was planting all facts into her mind as to what fact stated in his report after telling her that he had initiated the prosecution of the respondents. The lady was compelled, under her further difficult circumstances of getting shelter in her father's house, to support the allegation.

10.This is the reason, we see out of the evidences and whatever reasons the learned trial judge had given for acquitting the accused that it was perfectly a case in which judgement should have been of acquittal.

11.In the result, we refuse to grant the leave of the Court to appeal and dismiss the petition filed in that behalf as also the memo of appeal.

Order Date :- 6.12.2013

YK