The High Court of Himachal Pradesh dismissed the State's criminal appeal against the acquittal of the accused persons. The court held that there was no material to prove that the deceased was driven to suicide by the accused and thus upheld the trial court's finding.
Criminal appeal dismissed. Bail bonds discharged.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH SHIMLA.
Cr. Appeal No. 208 of 1999 Reserved on : May 31, 2010 Date of Decision : July 9, 2010
State of H.P. …Appellant v. Dalip Chand & Others …Respondents.
Coram :
The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Deepak Gupta, Judge
The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sanjay Karol, Judge .
Whether approved for reporting?1 No For the appellant: Mr. Rajesh Mandhotra, Dy. A.G. For the respondents . Mr. Y. P. S. Dhaulta, Advocate
Sanjay Karol, J.
For an offence alleged to have been committed on 14.6.1995, accused were put to trial. In terms of judgment dated 10.2.1999 passed by learned Sessions Judge, Hamirpur, in Sessions Case No.05 of 1996, titled as State of H.P. vs. Dalip Chand & Ors., accused stand acquitted of the charged offence.
1 Whether reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment?
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Tehsil Barsar, Distt. Hamirpur, H.P.. There she lived with Beli Ram, accused (since expired) (her father-in-law), accused No.1 Dalip Chand s/o Sh. Beli Ram and brother of Suresh Kumar; accused No.2 Nirmala Devi, wife of accused No.1, sister-in-law (Bhabi) of Suresh Kumar and accused No.3 Sandla Devi d/o Sh. Beli Ram, sister of Suresh Kumar. One year after the marriage Smt. Asha Devi complained to her parents about the illtreatment meted out by her father-in-law and all the accused persons. They used to taunt her that she did not know how to work properly. She was consoled by the fact that since her husband was good she should not bother about the harassment meted out by the remaining members of the family. About one month prior to her death, Smt. Asha Devi along with her husband visited her parents on the occasion of the ‘Nauhle’ festival. Even then Smt. Asha Devi complained to her mother Smt. Taro Devi (PW-2) about the ill-treatment meted out to her by the accused persons. About 20 to 25 days after the ‘Nauhle’ festival, Smt. Saraswati Devi (PW-10) visited Sh. Kanshi Ram (PW-1) father of Smt. Asha Devi, and told him that she had learnt about the illness of his daughter. Both PW-1 & PW-10 visited her to inquire about her health. There Sh. Beli Ram not only feigned ignorance about any ailment but stated that ever since Smt. Asha Devi had come back from her parental house she had put his family in trouble. PW-1 then told Beli Ram that had he been informed about the illness all arrangement for her
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treatment would have been made. This enraged Beli Ram and consequently he slapped PW-1 two-three times. PW-1 then asked his daughter to accompany him to his house so that she could be given proper treatment but was prevented by Beli Ram who retorted by saying that brides go back to the matrimonial house only after death and not during lifetime. PW-1 & PW-10 alone left the house and narrated the incident to Sh. Dhani Ram (PW-4), President of Gram Panchayat Kiara Bagh who advised them to lodge a complaint in writing which however was not done. On 14.6.1995, PW-1 received information that her daughter was seriously ill and, therefore, he along with PW-2 and his sons Sh. Ramesh Kumar and Sh. Jagdish Chand (PW-3) went to see her but found her lying dead on the cot.
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(Ext.P2) was found. From the Attache-Case, allegedly belonging to the deceased one exercise book (Ext.P1) was taken into possession vide recovery memo (Ext.PC). Photographs (Ext.P-3 to Ext.P-6) were taken by Sh. Vijay Sharma (PW-9). The body was sent for post mortem which was initially carried out by Dr. R. K. Kanwar (PW-5) along with Dr. Sushil Kumar. However, vide report (Ext.PD) the case was referred for further post mortem to the State Hospital at IGMC, Shimla where Dr. D. K. Ghosh (PW8) conducted the post mortem and prepared his report (Ext.PH). Hand writing on Ext.P-1 & Ext.P-2 was referred to Govt. Examiner of Questioned Documents, Shimla and Sh. R. K. Jain (PW-11) gave his report in terms of which the hand writing on both the documents was found to be of the very same person. With the completion of the investigation challan was presented in the Court for trial.
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deceased and PW-4 is the Pradhan of the area. The prosecution case primarily rests on their testimonies.
“Taking into consideration the police inquest, the photographs and the presence of ligature mark on the photographs (on the body of the deceased – neck region) and examination of the ligature material, collectively goes in favour that in all probabilities the deceased had committed suicide by hanging.”
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prosecution that the accused had created any false evidence to mislead the course of investigation.
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visited the house of the accused to inquire about the illness of the deceased. He found Beli Ram sitting on the cot in the Court yard of the house. PW-10 went inside the house and he had conversation with Beli Ram. PW-10 was not present then. Upon making inquiries about the illness of the deceased he was told by Beli Ram that the exact cause of ailment was not known but however, ever since she had come back from her parental house she had put the family in trouble. PW-1 then told Beli Ram that had he been informed about the illness he would have arranged for her treatment. At that Beli Ram got enraged and slapped him 2-3 times on his face. He had asked the deceased to accompany him but was stopped by Beli Ram who proclaimed that brides leave the matrimonial house only after death. Then he along with PW-10 went to meet PW-4 and narrated the incident to him. The version of PW-2 & PW-3 is also to the said effect.
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killed Smt. Asha Devi does not find mention in her statement mark DC. Her statement that when Beli Ram slapped PW-1 she was sitting besides him in the Courtyard stands contradicted by PW-1, according to whom she was not present in the Courtyard as she had gone inside the house. Importantly she admits not to have spoken about the incident to anyone. She does not remember the date, month and the year when she had met the deceased. She has further contradicted by stating that both she and PW-1 had narrated the incident to PW-4. However, PW-4 does not support this version of PW-10. According to him only PW-1 had come to meet him at his house. He was informed that Beli Ram claimed that the deceased had been sent to the matrimonial house in an ailing condition and he was not in a position to meet the expenses of her treatment. The incident of slapping by Beli Ram was also narrated to him. Now the fact that the accused persons were not in a financial position to treat the deceased does not find mention in the statements of PW-1, PW2, PW-3 & PW-10. Even according to PW-4 despite advise no written complaint was made by PW-1.
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complaint to the Pradhan, police or other members of the village or Biradari. Thus, this incident of cruelty cannot be said to have been established by clear, cogent and convincing material on record.
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reasonable doubt the fact that the deceased had been harassed by the accused or that their willful conduct was of such a nature that it made the deceased to commit suicide or cause grave injury or danger to her life, limb or health.
(Deepak Gupta) Judge.
July 9 , 2010. (Sanjay Karol) (rana) Judge.
2 issues framed by the court
Whether the High Court should interfere with the acquittal of the accused persons of offences under Sections 306, 498-A and 34 IPC.
Whether the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that the deceased was driven to commit suicide due to ill-treatment by the accused.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Mohammed Ankoos and others vs. Public Prosecutor, High Court of Andhra Pradesh, HyderabadApplied¶19
Mohammed Ankoos and others vs. Public Prosecutor, High Court of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, (2010) 1 SCC 94 · Who else cites this
State of H.P.
Dalip Chand & Others
Deepak Gupta
Sanjay Karol
As recorded by the court registry
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