IMPORTANT POINT
Evidence cannot be rejected on ground of minor discrepancies.

JUDGMENT

(SMT.) RANJANA PRAKASH DESAI, J.

1. In this appeal judgment and order dated 16/17-05-2007 passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court is under challenge.

2. The appellant is original accused no. 4. He was tried along with Gurdev Singh, Surjit Kaur and Jaswinder Singh, original accused nos. 1, 2 and 3 respectively, by the Additional Sessions Judge, Ludhiana in Sessions Trial No. 16 of 1994 for offence punishable under Section 304B of the IPC. Learned Sessions Judge by judgment dated 31/08/1995 acquitted all the accused. The State of Punjab carried an appeal from the said order to the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. By the impugned judgment and order dated 16/17-05-2007 the High Court set aside the order of acquittal so far as the appellant is concerned. He was convicted under Section 304B of the IPC and sentenced to undergo RI for seven years. He was directed to pay compensation of Rs.20,000/- to the father of the deceased. In default he was directed to suffer RI for one year. The High Court noted that accused no. 1 Gurdev Singh was dead. So far as accused no. 2 Surjit Kaur and accused no. 3 Jaswinder Singh are concerned, the High Court gave them benefit of doubt and confirmed their acquittal. Being aggrieved by his conviction and sentence the appellant has approached this Court.

Case of the Prosecution

3. The appellant was married to deceased Karnail Kaur (“the deceased” or “Karnail Kaur”) in May, 1989. Accused no. 1 Gurdev Singh was his father. Accused no. 2 Surjit Kaur is his mother and accused no. 3 Jaswinder Singh is his brother. The prosecution story is unfolded by PW-2 Labh Singh, father of the deceased. He stated that on 25/06/1991 he went to meet the deceased to the house of the appellant along with PW-3 Surjit Singh. The appellant who was employed in the Army had come home on leave. The deceased was in tears. She told PW-2 Labh Singh that the appellant and the other accused were demanding a scooter and a refrigerator and that her life was in danger. PW-2 Labh Singh told her that he would meet the demand after the Sauni Crop. On 01/07/1991 he was told by Pritam Singh, a resident of Dehlon, that Karnail Kaur had died on 30/06/1991. On 01/07/1991 when he was proceeding to the police station to lodge FIR, he met PW-4 ASI Mohinder Singh, who recorded his statement. PW-4 ASI Mohinder Singh forwarded it to the police station and a formal FIR was registered at P.S. Samrala under Section 304B of the IPC against the accused. The accused were arrested. After completion of investigation they were sent up for trial.

The trial

4. The prosecution examined PW-1 Dr. Gurmit Singh, who had conducted the post-mortem, PW-2 Labh Singh, PW-3 Surjit Singh and police witnesses PW-4 ASI Mohinder Singh, PW-5 HC Kalmit Singh, PW-6 SI Manminder Singh and PW-7 Constable Angrej Singh. The appellant and the other accused denied the prosecution case.

The view taken by the trial court

5. The trial court acquitted all the accused on the ground that evidence of PW-1 Dr. Gurmit Singh, PW-4 ASI Mohinder Singh and affidavit filed by PW- 7 Constable Angrej Singh indicate that the case property, that is the contents of stomach of the deceased and other material, handed over by PW-1 Dr. Gurmit Singh to him remained in his personal custody for one day and, therefore, the possibility of its tampering cannot be ruled out. Therefore, the Chemical Analyser’s report stating that poison was detected therein cannot be relied on. The trial court also held that there was delay in sending special report to the Magistrate from which it could be inferred that the FIR was ante timed. The trial court further held that while PW-2 Labh Singh stated that the deceased told him about the dowry demand in the room, PW-3 Surjit Singh stated that the deceased talked to them in the verandah. Thus, there is variance in their statements. Moreover, the deceased could not have told them about the dowry demand in the presence of the accused. The trial court, thus, concluded that the p