State appealed against acquittal of relatives in rape-suicide case charged under Section 306 IPC. High Court held prosecution failed to prove abetment, noting disputes were common domestic quarrels and no evidence showed deceased had no other option.
The appeal is dismissed, the judgment of the trial court acquitting the respondents is confirmed.
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NAFR
HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH, BILASPUR
Reserved on 21-9-2021
Pronounced on 7-10-2021
ACQ. A. No. 145 of 2021
State of Chhattisgarh through - District Magistrate, District - Balrampur - Ramanujganj Civil District - Surguja (Ambikapur) CG
---- Appellant
Versus
---- Respondents
For appellant : Mr. Dinesh Tiwari, Dy. Govt. Adv. For respondents : Mr. Jitendra Shrivastava, Adv.
Hon'ble Shri N.K. Chandravanshi, J
C.A.V. JUDGMENT
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clean utensils and to fetch water, then she found that dead body of Juagmania was floating in the water of the well. She informed others. The respondent No. 1 Babulal lodged merg report Ex. P-16 at PS Rajpur, Distt. Balrampur. Police rushed to the place of incident. Inquest report Ex. P-11 was prepared by the Executive Magistrate. Post mortem report Ex. P-15 was prepared by Dr. A.P. Gupta, in which, he opined that cause of death seems to be drowning, but for confirmation, he suggested for diatom test by preserving Tibia bone of Smt. Jagmania (since deceased). On inquiry, it was found that respondents who are husband, mother-in-law and Jethani of the deceased, used to quarrel with her and they did not like her. About one year ago, her husband left her to her parental home and after execution of compromise deed Ex. D-1, he brought her back to his house. Before 20-25 days of the incident also, when she fell ill, then her father came and took her for treatment. After some days, she came back to her matrimonial home. One day before when she gave water to her Jethani Prem Kumari (respondent No. 3), then Jethani said her to eat, she (Jethani ) will eat by grinding chatney, on this, quarrel took place between deceased and respondents, thus due to harassment done by respondents, she committed suicide. Thereafter, FIR under Section 306/34 of the IPC was lodged on 17-1-2014 vide Ex. P-18. During investigation, police examined various witnesses, prepared site map Ex. P-12, seized water from the well in a plastic bottle vide Ex. P-13, got prepared spot map Ex. P-14 from Patvari. Tibia bone preserved by the doctor was seized vide Ex. P-19. Police arrested the respondents and after investigation, charge sheet under Section 306/34 of the IPC was filed before the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Rajpur. After committal, charge under Section 306/34 of IPC was framed against the respondents, which they denied.
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respondents/ accused used to quarrel with the deceased, because they did not like her. They also did not give her cloths and washing items and many times, respondents left her in her parental house. Before one day of the incident also, they quarreled with her and due to mental harassment made by them with her, she committed suicide. Despite that, learned Court below has discarded their testimony. Even dispute between them was also proved from evidence of witnesses and compromise deed Ex. P-1 executed between the deceased and respondent No. 1 Babulal. Therefore, learned trial Court ought to have convicted the respondents/ accused, but by giving unnecessarily too much weightage to the minor omissions and contradictions, the trial Court acquitted them by giving them benefit of doubt, which is erroneous and not sustainable.
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executed between them, but this had happened about 8 months before the incident. He has also deposed that when deceased fell ill, then she was got treated by him and from his home, her husband Babulal had taken her to his village.
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conviction for offence under Section 306 of the IPC on the basis of dying declaration by Executive Magistrate in which she (deceased) had stated that previously there had been quarrel between the deceased and her husband and on the date of occurrence, she had a quarrel with her husband, who said that she could go wherever she wanted to go, and thereafter she had pored kerosene on her and had set herself at fire, acquitted the accused and Hon'ble Supreme Court observed that “ A word uttered in the fit of anger or emotion without intending the consequences to actually follow cannot be said to be instigation. If it transpires to the Court that a victim committing suicide was hypersensitive to ordinary petulance, discord and difference in domestic life quite common to the society to which the victim belonged and such petulance, discord and difference were not expected to induce a similarly circumstances individual in a given society to commit suicide, the conscience of the Court should not be satisfied for basing a finding that the accused charged of abetting the offence of suicide should be found guilty .”
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deceased and other witnesses, it is found that there occurred some dispute between deceased and respondents and also that sometimes her husband Babulal had left her to her parental house. As has been stated above, he took her back. Even father of the deceased P.W. 1 Gopal and P.W. 2 Bua Munnibai have accepted various suggestions of defence counsel, which shows that relation between husband and wife was not such that they were not ready to tolerate each other at any cost. P.W. 1 Gopal has admitted in cross-examination that whenever he used to come to the house of respondents, they always respect him and her daughter never complained about them, although, she had complained about them before 2 – 3 years of the incident. P.W. 2 Munnibai has also admitted the suggestion in her cross-examination that both of them were living happily, although she had stated that after birth of girl child, respondent Babulal did not talk with the deceased. But she has admitted that after 4-5 months of delivery of girl child, the respondents / accused had organized function of 'Annaprashan' and 'Chhatthi', which were held happily. If they were not happy with the birth of girl child, then there would have been no reason to organize such family function. Therefore, aforesaid statement of P.W. 2 Munnibai is not reliable. P.W. 2 Munnibai has admitted in her cross-examination that deceased was suffering from disease epilepsy and when she got admitted in District Hospital, Ambikapur for her treatment, then she used to take care of her in the hospital, as also in her matrimonial house. P.W. 1 Gopal has denied in his cross-examination that deceased was suffering from aforesaid disease but he has stated that after marriage, she was suffering from disease of dental stiffness, breathlessness, stiffness of hand and leg, and when such disease happened to her, then her mouth was opened by putting spoon on her mouth and drink her water, and then she regained consciousness. These facts show that deceased was suffering from some disease, which might have also put her on trouble.
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dispute between the deceased and respondents/accused had happened at times, which is common to the society to which they belong.
Sd/-
(N.K. Chandravanshi)
Judge
pathak
3 issues framed by the court
Whether the evidence proves the accused instigated or abetted the suicide of the deceased.
Whether the trial court erred in acquitting the accused by giving them the benefit of doubt.
If the dispute between the deceased and the accused was of the nature common to society, can it constitute abetment to suicide.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Ramesh Kumar v. State of CGDistinguished¶35
Ramesh Kumar -v- State of CG [2001(9) SCC 618] · Who else cites this
State of WB v. Orilal JaiswalDistinguished¶38
State of WB -v- Orilal Jaiswal and others [1994 (1) SCC 73] · Who else cites this
2 provisions across 1 enactments
State of Chhattisgarh through - District Magistrate, District - Balrampur - Ramanujganj Civil District - Surguja (Ambikapur) CG
Babulal
Smt. Bhagmaniya Bai
Smt. Prem Kumari
N.K. Chandravanshi
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
