JUDGMENT :

B.R. GAVAI, J.

1. The appellant-Makhan Singh has approached this Court being aggrieved by the judgment dated 15th May 2009 passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in Criminal Appeal No.1189-SB of 2002 vide which the High Court, though reduced the sentence awarded from 10 years to 7 years, but concurred with the judgment and order of conviction dated 13th/16th July 2002 recorded by the trial court in Sessions Case No. 55 of 1998 for the offence punishable under Section 304-B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short ‘IPC’).

2. Deceased Manjit Kaur was married to the appellant-Makhan Singh on 28th January 1996. It is the prosecution case that the appellant used to demand dowry from the parents of the deceased Manjit Kaur. It is further the prosecution case that, succumbing to the demands of the appellant, an amount of Rs.30,000/- was paid to him by the parents of the deceased Manjit Kaur. The appellant again demanded an amount of Rs.2 lakhs. According to the prosecution, the appellant had utilized the said amount for going to Moscow. However, after coming back from Moscow in March 1998, he again tortured deceased Manjit Kaur and asked her to bring Rs.6 la