Bindeshwari Thakur vs The State of Bihar

Mandhata Singh, J.—Prosecution case initiated on written statement of one Malti Devi, informant of the case, in brief, is that her daughter was married with accused Bindeshwari Thakur on 26.06.2002. Two months earlier to the incident, he demanded Rs. 5000/- from informant which could not be paid due to poverty. On 27.12.2004 at about 10.00 am., her son went to meet his sister but he found the house locked. A child met there disclosed that she was not alive. Same was informed by her son, thereafter, informant along with others went to Sasural of the deceased. They were informed that informant''s daughter was killed and her dead body was thrown in the river.

After the trial, case is ended in conviction and sentence to the appellant for the offence u/s 304(B) and 201 of the I.P.C.

In all, 9 witnesses are examined in the case and they are P.W.1 Chitranjan Singh, P.W. 2 Yogendra Singh, P.W.3 Malti Devi, informant of the case, P.W.4 Jaglal Ram, P.W.5 Mathura Ram, P.W.6 Sonu Kumar, P.W.7 Ramjee Ram, P.W.8 Om Prakash Thakur and P.W.9 Yadubhansh Singh, I.O. of the case.

There is no witness at all on behalf of the defence. On merit, statements of P.W.1, P.W.2, P.W.4, P.W.5 and P.W.8 are referred to show that death was due to diarrhea even then learned counsel appearing for the appellant preferred to press the sentence only and submitted to consider the weakness of the prosecution for taking liberal view on the point of sentence. It is made clear that dead body did not recover and only P.W.3 and P.W.6 are there to state the prosecution case. Appellant is husband of the deceased. Infirmities are there on the record. Incident took place in the year 2004 and appellant remained in custody for a period of near about 7 years. Now, maximum two months remained to complete 7 years, the minimum punishment which appears proper in the discussed circumstance.

Accordingly, this Criminal Appeal is dismissed. The Judgment of conviction dated 23.12.2008 and Order of sentence dated 24.12.2008 are hereby affirmed after modifying and minimizing the sentence to 7 years for the offence u/s 304B of the I.P.C., there shall be no separate sentence for the offence u/s 201 of the I.P.C. Appellant is entitled for set off the period undergone by him during the course of trial.

Office is directed to send the records along with copy of this Judgment to the Trial Court.