JUDGMENT :

Sanjay K. Agrawal, J.

1. This criminal appeal under Section 374(2) of CrPC has been preferred by the appellants Rajendar Singh (A-1) and Biswantin Devi (A-2) against impugned judgment dated 09/04/2015 passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge, Durg in Sessions Trial No. 100/2014 whereby they have been convicted for offence punishable under Sections 302/34 and 498-A/34 of IPC and have been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life with fine of Rs. 100/- and R.I. for 3 years with fine of Rs. 100/-, respectively, and in default of payment of fine, additional R.I. for 10 days for both the offences.

2. Case of the prosecution, in a nutshell, is that Rajendar Singh (A-1), husband of Soni Rajput and Biswantin Bai (A-2), mother-in-law of Soni Rajput, harassed her for dowry and on 09/02/2014 at about 07:15 PM, they poured kerosene oil over Soni Rajput along with juvenile co-accused Manisha and set her ablaze due to which she suffered grievous injuries and ultimately, died on 30/03/2014.

3. Further case of the prosecution is that after the incident, Soni Rajput was admitted to Government Hospital, Durg which was informed to ASI H.L. Banjare (PW-13), who then reached to the Hospital and upon enquiry, Soni Rajput informed him that she had been married to Rajendar Singh (A-1) an year ago and since then both the appellants and juvenile co-accused Manisha used to quarrel with her and harassed her which she had also reported at Police Station Durg and on the date of incident, when she returned home after working as a labourer, all the three accused persons started quarreling with her. She went to inform her neighbour Pankaj (PW-3) and when she came back, they poured kerosene oil over her and set her ablaze. On the said information, H.L. Banjare (PW-13) registered dehati nalishi (Ex. P/17) and thereafter, took the statement of injured Soni Rajput under Section 161 of CrPC vide Ex. P/20. Thereafter, memo was written to the Executive Magistrate for recording dying declaration vide Ex. P/16 pursuant to which medical opinion was sought from Dr. Renu Tiwari (PW-8) and after she had declared injured Soni Rajput to be physically and mentally fit to give her dying declaration, it was recorded by the Executive Magistrate Arvind Sharma (PW-15) vide Ex. P/27. Thereafter, injured Soni Rajput was discharged from Government Hospital, Durg and she was admitted to Sector 9 Hospital, Bhilai by her relatives wherein she again told about the incident to Dr. Niranjan Sahu (PW-7) vide Ex. P/11 and on 21/02/2014, against medical advice, she was discharged by her family which has been proved by Dr. Niranjan Sahu (PW-7) and ultimately, she succumbed to her injuries on 30/03/2014 and died. Thereafter, inquest was conducted and the dead body of Soni Rajput was subjected to postmortem which was conducted by Dr. N.C. Rai (PW-16) and as per the postmortem report (Ex. P/26) cause of death is said to be septicemia due to 50% burns. After due investigation, the appellants were charge-sheeted for offence punishable under Sections 302/34 and 498A/34 of IPC which was committed to the Court of Sessions for trial in accordance with law. The appellants abjured their guilt and entered into defence.

4. In order to bring home the offence, prosecution examined as many as 16 witnesses and brought on record 27 documents. Statements of the appellants was recorded under Section 313 of CrPC wherein they denied guilt, however, they examined none in their defence and only brought 1 document on record.

5. Learned trial Court, after appreciation of oral and documentary evidence on record, proceeded to convict the appellants for offence punishable under Sections 302/34 and 498A/34 of IPC and sentenced them as aforesaid.

6. Learned counsel for the appellants would submit that the trial Court is absolutely unjustified in relying upon the dehati nalishi (Ex. P/17) as first dying declaration of the deceased, her statement under Section 161 of CrPC as second dying declaration of the deceased,