IMPORTANT POINT
The evidence of these witnesses that the deceased used to tell them that she was being harassed by the respondents on account of dowry in the facts and circumstances of the case, would not be admissible as evidence for conviction under Section 498A IPC.

JUDGMENT

Sunil Kumar Sinha. J. — Being aggrieved with judgment of acquittal dated 15th of May, 1989 passed in Sessions Trial No.122/86 by the Third Additional Sessions Judge, Raipur, the State has preferred this appeal.

2. By the impugned judgment, the respondents have been acquitted of the charges framed under Sections 498A & 306 IPC.

3. Respondent No.5 Smt. Ansuya Bai and respondent No.7 Smt. Fekan Bai died during the pendency of the appeal. Therefore, their names have been deleted from the cause-title of the appeal and the appeal filed on behalf of respondents 5 & 7 has been dismissed as abated.

4. The facts, briefly stated, are as under:

Respondents 1 to 3 are real brothers. Respondent No.4 is their sister and respondent No.5 was their mother-Respondent No.6 Bhola Prasad is the maternal uncle of respondents 1 to 4. Deceased—Bharti was married to respondent No.1 on 7.5.1982. On 10.6.85, she sustained 45% third-degree burn injuries. She was immediately admitted to the hospital. She died in the hospital on 16.6,85. In the meanwhile her dying declaration (Ex.P13) was recorded by Executive Magistrate M.K. Gupta (PW14). She made declaration that she wanted to kill herself, therefore, she poured kerosene on her body and put herself on fire. This she did with an intention to finally settle the matter of len-den. In her own words, she stated in answer to question No.3 that: (matter in other language) Written report (Ex.P3) was lodged by brother of the deceased namely Narendra Kumar Dubey (PW2) on 11.6.85, based on which a First Information Report (Ex.P4) was registered under Section 498A IPC on the same day. After the death of the deceased, a letter dated 15th of June, 1982 (Ex.P9), written in the letter pad of respondent No.1, along with postal-envelope and some other written documents were seized from the possessions of Chabiram Dubey (PW11-father of the deceased) on 21.6.85 vide Ex.P6. The specimen hand-writing of respondent No.1 (Ex.P16) was also taken. These documents were sent for expert examination. The letter (Ex.P9) and other documents were examined by Mr. S. Kamathan (PW17), Additional State Examiner of Questioned Documents, Bhopal, M.P. He submitted his opinion Ex.P18. He gave his opinion that person who wrote the specimen documents marked as S1 to S21 also wrote the questioned documents 1 to 5 i.e. letter dated 15th of June 1982 and the envelope said to be that of letter dated 15th of June, 1982. The letter (Ex.P9) allegedly written by respondent No.1 contains various allegations relating to deficit dowry and the inferior quality of articles given by parents of the deceased to respondent No.1 at the time of marriage.

After completion of usual investigation, the charge-sheet was filed in the Court of Judicial Magistrate First Class, Raipur, who in turn committed the matter to the concerned Sessions Court, from where, it was received on transfer by the Third Additional Sessions Judge, Raipur, who conducted the trial and acquitted the respondents as above.

5. The learned Sessions Judge held that the there was no evidence on, record to hold that the respondents treated the deceased with cruelty or they were liable to be punished for abetment of suicide. Therefore, all the respondents/accused persons were acquitted of the charges framed under Sections 498A & 306 IPC.

6. Mr. U.N.S. Deo, learned Govt. Advocate appearing on behalf of the appellant/State, firstly argued that the deceased committed suicide on account of harassment by the accused persons which would amount to abetment, therefore, the acquittal under Section 306 IPC was not proper. He took me to the contents of letter (Ex.P9) and oral evidence of mother, father and brothers of the deceased.

7. The basic constituent of an offence under Section 306 IPC are suicidal death and abetment thereof. Section 107 IPC defines abetment. The abetment comprises of instigation to commit offence; engaging in conspiracy to commit offence; and aiding the commission of an offence. In