Farid vs The State of Bihar

Anjana Prakash, J.—The Appellant has been convicted u/s 498A IPC and sentenced to RI for two years by the Sessions Judge, Katihar in Sessions Case No. 32 of 1994 by judgment and order dated 14.09.2001. The case of the prosecution according to the Informant, Dabiruddin is that his daughter was married to one Kamrul Hoda i.e. the brother of the Appellant about 26 years back. However, she was always beaten by her husband over minor matters on account of which panchayati had been held but her condition did not improve. She also gave birth to a child about a month back and became very weak despite which she was beaten up by the Appellant and also her husband on account of which her condition deteriorated to the extent that she had to be brought to his house. Later on she died hence charge-sheet was submitted under Sections 302 /498A IPC. The Appellant was also tried for the said offence but acquitted of the same and convicted as mentioned above.

During trial the prosecution examined twelve witnesses. P.W. 1, Md. Asad and P.W. 4, Md. Soyeb Alam have been declared hostile. P.W. 2, Jagdeo Thakur @ Jagdish Thakur, P.W. 7, Faiyaz, P.W. 12, Sabhapati Yadav are formal witnesses.

P.W. 3, Sk. Mokimuddin has been tendered for cross-examination.

P.W. 5, Md. Alam who is a resident of Azamnagar has stated that he knew that accused persons used to assault and torture the deceased on account of which a panchayati was held and the deceased was taken to her parents'' house by the brother. However, in his cross-examination he admitted that he could not state the details of the assault by the Appellant. He also admitted that after delivery Mohsina went in her maternal home where she later on died.

P.W. 6, Md. Jahid Alam also stated same as P.W. 5. In cross-examination he stated that Mohsina had never been assaulted in his presence.

P.W. 8, Dabiruddin is the Informant who stated that Mohsina was married to Kamrul Hoda about 3-4 years ago and had been assaulted on the instigation the Appellant.

P.W. 10, Rahnuma Khatoon is the own sister of the deceased Mohsina and stated that in her presence two accused persons had assaulted her sister, Mohsina.

P.W. 11, Abdul Quddus was the Mukhiya of Gram Panchayat Cholhar and testified to the effect that a panchayati had been held in his house between the parties wherein the deceased had disclosed that the two accused used to assault her.

The submission of Counsel for the Appellant is that admittedly the accused persons had been acquitted of the charge u/s 302 IPC. As for the conviction u/s 498A the ingredients are not satisfied as much as it is unbelievable that the deceased could have been tortured even after fifteen years of marriage for the demands of dowry. The second limb of Section 498A is that the torture must be to the extent that the victim would have sustained grievous injuries but there is no evidence in this regard. In view of such paucity of evidence the Appellant who is the brother-in-law of the deceased deserves to be acquitted.

Having gone through the evidence of the witnesses, I find that not a single witness has stated that they ever saw that the Appellant assaulted Mohsina for of dowry or that she had been assaulted to the extent to drive her to suicide or that she had sustained injuries which were grievous in nature and, hence, I am inclined to hold that the prosecution has failed to prove the case beyond all reasonable doubt. Hence, the appeal is allowed and the order of conviction and sentence passed against the Appellant on 14.09.2001 by the Sessions Judge, Katihar in Sessions Case No. 32 of 1994 is set aside. The Appellant is discharged of the liability of his bail bonds.