JUDGMENT

A. K. Patnaik, J.-This is an appeal by way of special leave under Article 136 of the Constitution of India against the judgment dated 28.02.2008 of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in Criminal Appeal No.157-SB of 1997.

2. The facts very briefly are that an FIR was lodged by Chhotu Ram (the informant) in P.S. Gannaur on 07.08.1992 at 4.45 P.M. In the FIR, the informant stated thus: He got his daughter Krishna married to Devinder @ Kala Ram of village Rajpur on 19.05.1989. From after a month of the marriage, Krishna kept coming to the house of the informant at village Tihar Malik complaining of demands of dowry and harassment by the members of the family of Devinder. On 06.08.1992, Jai Beer Singh informed the informant that Krishna was dead. The informant came straightway to the hospital at Sonepat and found Krishna dead because of burns. A case was registered in P.S. Gannaur under Section 304B/341 of the Indian Penal Code (for short ‘the IPC’). Investigation was conducted and charge-sheet was filed against Devinder, his mother Chand Kaur and his brother’s wife Roshni. The appellants were put on trial in the Court of learned Sessions Judge, Sonepat. At the trial, amongs