The prosecution failed to prove the charges of murder and dowry death beyond reasonable doubt, leading to acquittal under Sections 302 and 498-A of IPC.

JUDGMENT :

RAJANI DUBEY, J.

1. The present appeal is directed against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 08.08.2019 passed by the learned 3^rd Additional Session Judge, Raipur (C.G.) in ST No. 216/2018, whereby the appellant has been convicted under Sections 302 and 498-A of IPC and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment with fine of Rs.2000/- and RI for 3 years with fine of Rs.500/- respectively, with default stipulations.

2. The prosecution case, in brief, is that on 13.02.2018 at about 11 am, the deceased Ritu Gupta consumed poison due to harassment and cruelty by the appellant and his family members for demand of dowry. She was hospitalized but died on the next day on 14.02.2018. She died within 7 years of her marriage with the appellant. After investigation police registered case against the accused and he was arrested and charge sheet was filed before the Magistrate concerned. On the basis of the evidence adduced by the prosecution and material available on record, learned trial court convicted the accused/appellant, as mentioned in para 1 of the judgment.

3. Learned counsel for the appellant submits that the judgment passed by the learned Trial Court is contrary to law and material available on record. There are material omissions and contradictions in the statements of the prosecution witnesses. The chain of circumstances is also not complete. The witnesses of the locality have also not supported the case of the prosecution. The appellant tried to save the deceased by hospitalizing her in hospitals but he could not save her, but all these aspects of the matter have not been considered by the learned Trial Court and the appellant has wrongly been convicted and sentenced. Therefore, the appeal deserves to be allowed. Reliance has been placed on the judgments rendered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matters ofJasvinder Saini and others vs. State (Government of NCT of Delhi), (2013) 7 SCC 256,Jarnail Singh vs. State of Haryana, (2013) 7 SCC 263,Sonali Mukherjee vs. Union of India , (2010) 15 SCC 25,Rajbir Singh vs. State of Punjab , (2022) 20 SCC 670,Karan Singh vs. State of Haryana, 2025 SCC Online SC 214, Chabi Karmakar and others vs. State of West Bengal, (2025) 1 SCC 398,Shivaji Chintappa Patil vs. State of Maharashtra, (2021) 5 SCC 626 andAnees vs. State Govt of NCT, AIR 2024 SC 2297 .

4. Per contra, learned State counsel supports the impugned judgment and submits that the learned Trial Court has minutely appreciated the evidence available on record and has rightly convicted the appellant. Therefore, the appeal is liable to be dismissed.

5. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the material available on record.

6. It is clear from the record of the learned Trial Court that the learned Trial Court framed charges under Sections 498-A & 304- B of IPC against the appellant and in alternate Section 306 of IPC and Section 302 of IPC and after appreciation of oral and documentary evidence, the learned Trial Court acquitted the appellant under Section 306 of IPC and convicted and sentenced the appellant, as mentioned in para 1 of the judgment.

7. It is not disputed in this case that the deceased Ritu is wife of appellant and their marriage was solemnized prior to 3 years of the date of incident. It is also an admitted position that Ritu died on 14.02.2018 due to poisoning.

8. PW-1 father of the deceased Bindul stated that Ritu was his daughter and her marriage with the appellant was performed prior to 3 years of the incident. The accused killed her by administering poison.

9. PW -2 mother of the prosecutrix Rajkumari stated that the deceased is her daughter and the accused killed her by administering rat poison. She also stated that prior to 1 year of the incident, she also tried to commit suicide on train track.

10. PW-7 Shesh Narayan Sen, ward boy of Mekahara Hospital, Raipur stated that he gave information about death of Ritu Gupta on 14.02.2018 to the Police Station Mekahara. The information is Ex