The prosecution must provide clear evidence beyond reasonable doubt to sustain a conviction under Section 498-A IPC, and failure to do so results in the dismissal of charges.

JUDGMENT :

CHAITALI CHATTERJEE DAS, J.

1. This is an appeal filed under Section 374 (2) of Cr.Pc. by the appellant against the judgement and order of conviction passed by the learned Additional District and Session Judge, 2^nd Court at Contai, Purba Mednipur, in Sessions Trial no. 8/January/2015 arising out of Egra P.S case No. 36 of 2010 dated 17.3.2010 thereby convicting the appellant herein under Section 235 of the Code of Civil Procedure 1973, for commission of offence punishable under Section 498 -A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and sentenced him to suffer rigorous imprisonment for 2 years and to pay a fine of Rs 2000/-I default to suffer further simple imprisonment for three months.

Brief resume of the prosecution of the case

2. Briefly stated, the marriage between the de-facto complainant and the appellant was solemnized on March10, 2008 as per Hindu rites and custom and during marriage on demand of the appellant the de-facto paid Rs. 50,000/- as dowry and spend approx Rs. 3 lakh. After marriage they led conjugal life at the matrimonial home with all the accused person including the father-in-law but after few months the problem cropped up between the parties as they started pressurizing her for bringing an amount of Rs. 1 lakh from her father and as the de-facto complainant expressed her inability she was subjected to cruelty by assault and abuse in various ways. In the meantime they blessed with a male child but during birth of the child none attended the Nursing Home and nor contacted her and then she started residing at her father’s house .There was an attempt to settle the dispute with the intervention of panchayet but failed and later before Egra P.S assured proper treatment and took her with her child to the matrimonial home. The father in-law during her stay at her matrimonial home taking advantage of the absence of her husband often gave her ill proposal and tried to outrage her modesty for few times. On intimation to this fact none of her husband or mother-in-law paid any heed to the same rather asked her not to divulge before any person. On February 15, 2010 at 7 A.M. on the plea of having fault in household work all the F.I.R named accused persons started assaulting her with fists ,slap, kick and blow on her abdomen and other parts of her body and the appellant hit her with a rod on the left side of her head as she shouted for help he fled away from the house and as assault of such she received bleeding injuries on her left side of her head and then she came to her father’s house in that condition and narrated everything to her father and then she took her to Darua Hospital and arranged for treatment . After that she lodged the complaint on March 17, 2010. On the basis of such complaint the Egra P.S case no. 36 of 2010 started under Section 498A /325/307/34 IPC . After completion of investigation the charge-sheet was submitted against all the three accused persons under aforesaid sections read with Section 3 and 4 Dowry Prohibition Act. The Learned Court framed the charges under Section 3 25/498A /307/34 and the trial commenced since the accused pleaded not guilty. The learned Court after hearing and assessing the evidences adduced by the prosecution witnesses passed the order of conviction against the appellant /husband and acquitted the other two accused persons. Being aggrieved thereby this appeal has been filed for setting aside the said judgement and order of conviction.

Submissions

3. The Learned Advocate appearing on behalf of the appellant argued that after the marriage the de-facto stayed about only 5/6 months at he