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1998 Supreme(AP) 244
Andhra Pradesh High Court
Judges : MOTILAL B.NAIK, V.BHASKARA RAO
S.Anwar Basha - Appellant
Versus
State OF A.P. - Respondent
Decided On : 04-02-98
Headnote:
Indian Penal Code,1860 - Section 302 - Criminal Procedure Code,1973 - Section 313 - Murder case - Power to Examine Accused - Challenge - Appeal Against Conviction - Imprisonment for life - Committed murder of his wife Arifunnissa by beating and putting pressure on her neck by smothering until her death - ACCORDING to prosecution deceased Arifunnissa is wife of accused and they were married in Filer at bride s residence - At time of marriage parents of bride paid dowry of in cash and gold ring worth Rand wrist watch - From out of wed-lock a boy was born to them - Accused and his wife were residing in a portion of house and brother of accused and his wife were residing in another portion of house - According to prosecution version accused was harassing his wife demanding her to get more dowry and gold jewels from her parents - She was once driven out of house after a year of married life and was subjected to cruel acts - Deceased Arifimnissa complained about harassment to her parents - One week prior to her death deceased Arifimnissa was driven out by accused to get some property registered in his name and also threatened her with death if she fails to get further property or dowry - In month of June though deceased was in family way accused did not evince any interest and failed to provide medical care to her - Accused subjected her to mental agony in month of August and pressurised her to sign a blank paper for purpose of obtaining property towards her share from her parents - This incident was informed by deceased to her parents - Deceased also complained her parents - Whether accused has really consumed poison and what for he was treated in S. V. R. R. Hospital for more than ten days - Held, Trial Court examined accused under Section 313 of Criminal Procedure Code However accused pleaded not guilty - Hs further pleaded that deceased and himself were getting on well and his father-in-law under guise of getting promotion to him took away gold necklace of his wife and pledged it to third parties and he neither returned said necklace nor he was given any promotion - He further stated in his statement under Section 313 Criminal Procedure Code that both deceased and himself were demanding either to get promotion for him or redeem gold necklace - Prosecution case is solely based on circumstances connecting accused to offence - " Trial Court believing version of prosecution and that accused is guilty of committing offence punishable under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to suffer imprisonment for life by its judgment - This is decision of trial Court which is assailed before us - As narrated above a careful scrutiny of evidence of coupled with documentary evidence makes it amply clear that accused was harassing his wife to get more dowry and was not liking her - Though in his statement under Section 313 of Criminal Procedure Code accused has alleged that his father-in-law had collected from him promising to get promotion neither he was promoted nor his father-in-law returned that amount as a result of such act deceased was unhappy Court do not think this alibi put forward by accused can alter charge against accused - No records arc placed and none was examined to prove said certificate - Therefore Court do not think version of accused could have any bearing on case on hand - Prosecution has successfully established various links in chain of evidence and satisfactorily proved guilt of accused - All circumstances point out guilt of accused with reasonable defineteness and circumstances are in proximity to time and situation - Criminal Appeal Dismissed
( 2 ) THIS Criminal Appeal had fallen for consideration on an earlier occasion before a Division Bench of this Court. The Division Bench by its judgment dated 14-11-1995 set aside the conviction and sentence imposed on the appellant-accused by the Sessions Judge, Chittoor District and allowed the Criminal Appeal by acquitting the appellant-accused. On an appeal by the State before the Supreme Court against the order of acquittal passed by the Division Bench of this Court dated 14-11-1995, the Supreme Court in Criminal Appeal No. 693 of 1997 (arising out of SLP (Crl.) No. 686 of 1997) set aside the order of acquittal passed by the Division Bench of this Court dated 14-11-1995 and remitted the matter to this Court for fresh disposal in accordance with law, by an order dated 4-8-1997 and thus this Criminal Appeal has come up for consideration before us for fresh disposal.
( 3 ) THE accused was charged that on 31-1-1993 in the mid-night, in his house at Mangalampet village, committed the murder of his wife Arifunnissa by beating and putting pressure on her neck by smothering until her death.
( 4 ) ACCORDING to the prosecution, the deceased Arifunnissa is the wife of the accused Anwar Basha and they were married in Filer on 20-7-89 at bride s residence. At the time of marriage, the parents of the bride paid dowry of Rs. 10,000. 00 in cash and gold ring worth Rs. 5,000. 00 and wrist watch. From out of the wed-lock, a boy was born to them. The accused and his wife were residing in a portion of the house and the brother of the accused and his wife were residing in another portion of the house. According to the prosecution version, the accused was harassing his wife demanding her to get more dowry and gold jewels from her parents. She was once driven out of the house after a year of married life and was subjected to cruel acts. The deceased Arifimnissa complained about the harassment to her parents. One week prior to her death, the deceased Arifimnissa was driven out by the accused to get some property registered in his name and also threatened her with death if she fails to get further property or dowry. In the month of June, 1992 though the deceased was in family way, the accused did not evince any interest and failed to provide medical care to her. The accused subjected her to mental agony in the month of August, 1992 and pressurised her to sign a blank paper for the purpose of obtaining property towards her share from her parents. This incident was informed by the deceased to her parents on 26-1-1993. The deceased also complained her parents about the ill-treatment, harassment and cruelty inflicted on her by the accused. However, one Eswaraiah (PW6), the father of the deceased (PW1) and her mother (PW2) pleaded the accused to treat the deceased well. On 1-2-1993, the parents of the deceased received the message about the death of Arifunnissa and immediately they rushed to Mangalampet and found some injuries on the body of the deceased. Suspecting foul play, the father of the deceased-Kalesha reported the matter to the police. The Medical Officer who conducted the autopsy held that it is a homicidal death.
( 5 ) TO bring home the guilt of the accused, the prosecution examined as many as 18 witnesses and got marked Exs. Pl to P15 and MOs. 1 to 9. On behalf of the defence, no oral evidence was adduced but Exs. D1 to D5 were marked. Exs. Dl to D3 are the correspondence between PW1 and the accused, Ex. D4 is the marked portion in the statement of PW1 and Ex. D5 is the marked portion in the statement of PW6 recorded under Section 162- of Cr. PC.
( 6 ) ON the basis of the incriminating evidence found against the accused, the trial Cou
