An agreement to pay dowry at the time of marriage is an essential ingredient of the offence of dowry death under Section 304-B, I. P. C. Demands made after the marriage without a prior agreement do not constitute dowry.

( 1 ) ACCUSED No. 1 in Sessions Case No. 180 of 1990 which was pending on the file of the Assistant Sessions Judge, Kothagudem is the appellant herein. He along with A-2 and A-3 were prosecuted in the said Court and were tried for an offence punishable under Section 304-B, I. P. C. On evidence, the learned Sessions Judge found that no offence was disclosed against A-2 and A-3 and therefore they were acquitted. A-1 was found guilty of the said charge and therefore he was convicted and sentenced to suffer R. I. for seven years and hence he preferred the present appeal.

( 2 ) A-1 happened to be the son of A-2 and A-3. A-2 is the father and A-3 is the mother of A-1. The accused appellant herein got married with the deceased Nunna Leelavathi in the year 1985. She died unnatural death on 12-6-1990 at Kothuru village as she was subjected to cruelty and harassment with demands to bring more dowry from her parents and to sell the land which was gifted to her by her father at the time of the marriage and pay the sale proceeds to them. Being unable to bear the cruelty and harassment. Leelavathi committed suicide by consuming pesticides poison on 12-6-1990 at about 3-30 p. m. at Kothuru village and she also administered poison to her son and therefore it is alleged by the prosecution that the deceased had committed suicide within seven years of her marriage along with A-1 and therefore all the accused are liable to be punished for an offence under Section 304-B, I. P. C.

( 3 ) IN the present case, P. W. 1 happened to be the father of the deceased. P. W. 2 is the mother of the deceased. P. W. 3 is the brother of the deceased. P. Ws. 4 to 6 were the witnesses, who did not support the prosecution case. P. W. 7 is a Private Doctor, who had treated initially the deceased and her child. P. W. 8 is also a Private Doctor, who had treated the child of the deceased and declared him dead. P. W. 9 is the person, who settled the marriage between the deceased and A-1. He did not support the prosecution. P. W. 10 is a Washerman, who alleged to have taken a letter from A-1 to hand over the same to P. W. 1. P. Ws. 11 and 12 are mediators, who alleged to have attested the panchanama when the Police had seized the broken pieces of bangles and a plastic tin of pesticides. P. W. 13 is a panch witness, who had attested Ex. P. 7 inquest report of the deceased and Ex. P8 inquest report in respect of the child. P. W. 14 is the Mandal Revenue Officer, Julurupad, who had conducted the inquest over the dead bodies of the deceased and her child. P. W. 15 is the post-mortem Doctor, who had conducted the autopsy on the dead bodies of the deceased and her son and had issued post-mortem certificates Ex. P. 12 and Ex. P. 13 respectively. P. W. 16 is the Inspector of Police, who had recorded the first information Ex. P. 3 given by P. W. 1 and the rest of the investigation was done by P. W. 17.

( 4 ) THE prosecution story can briefly be narrated as follows : As stated earlier, P. W. 1 happened to be the father of the deceased, who had filed Ex. P. 3 first information to P. W. 16. On the strength of Ex. P. 3, the Police missionary was set in motion.

( 5 ) THE evidence of P. W. 1 was led in the lower court. He has stated in his evidence that the deceased Leelavathi was the only daughter and she was married to A-1 in the year 1985. He further stated that the marriage was performed at the residence of the accused. At the time of marriage, he gave Rs. 20,000. 00 to A-1 and gifted five acres of wet land to his daughter Leelavathi and presented 10 sovereigns of gold to his daughter Leelavathi. P. W. 1 further stated in his evidence that A-1 to A-3 belong to Kothuru village. After the marriage, his daughter joined her husband at Kothuru village which was at a distance of 10 miles from the village of P. W. 1. Her further stated in his evidence that Leelavathi was blessed with one daughter and one son. Their names are Sangeetha and Narendra respectively. A-1 stayed hap