The main legal point established in the judgment is the consideration of allegations of dowry demand, mental cruelty, and the impact of supplementary statements on a bail application.

JUDGMENT

Amit Sharma, J. Present application under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (`CrPC.) seeks grant of regular bail in case FIR No. 94/2021 under Sections 498, 304-B read Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (`IPC.), registered at PS Najafgarh.

2. Briefly stated, the case of the prosecution relevant for adjudication of the present application is as under:

i. On 21.02.2021, a PCR call was received at PS Najafgarh regarding the suicide of a lady. On reaching the spot, and after making relevant enquiries, it was revealed that the deceased Riya was wife of the present applicant and she was married to the latter about 3 years ago. Accordingly, SDM of the area and the family members of the deceased were informed.

ii. After the arrival of the SDM, deceased's father, Sh. Giriraj Singh and brother, Sh. Shiv Shankar gave a combined statement to the former on the basis of which the present FIR bearing no. 94/2021 is registered.

iii. The contents of the said statement, as recorded in the status report dated 22.09.2022, are as under:

"After that, on the arrival of the deceased Riya's family members, they were presented before SDM Sir. Deceased Riya's father Giriraj Singh and brother Shiv Shankar S/o Giriraj Singh's combined statement was recorded which is as below: It is stated that we married our daughter/sister RIYA (21 years) W/o Sonu Verma R/o RZ 21/A Roshan Vihar, Najafgarh, New Delhi with dowry and Hindu Customs on 19.02.2018 to Sonu Verma, aged 34 years R/o RZ 21/A Roshan Vihar, Najafgarh, New Delh (rented accommodation), Village Sekhpura, Palwal Haryana. The parents of Sonu Verma resided at B33, Ram Nagar, Mohan Garden, Uttam Nagar, New Delhi Riya has a son aged 1 year. Physical and mental cruelty, demands of gold, money and phone has been done continuously with our daughter after the marriage. Once she was threatened of divorce and second marriage, but there was also a reconciliation in Dwarka police station. There have been reconciliations at home also. We have not made any complaint anywhere till date, Wedding Anniversary party of Riya w/o Sonu Verma's was on 20/02/2021 when Sonu Verma had drunk liquor till late night at his house with his friends. We used to get to know about the cruelty on the phone when our daughter came to stay at our home. Quite often we have seen marks of beating on Riya's body. Riya also once gave a complaint in Dwarka police station which was taken back in their mutual reconciliation. We think Riya our daughter/sister's death is a murder. We want there should be a legal inquiry into the death of Riya. We have given the first statement in all our senses, this statement is absolutely true, we have heard and read it well."

iv. During investigation, the father of the deceased, Sh. Giriraj Singh gave supplementary statement under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (in short `CrPC.), which is recorded in the status report dated 22.09.2022, is as under:

"I reside at the stated address with my son Shiv aged 27 years and work privately. I have three daughters and a son and Riya was my youngest daughter. I agree with my previous statement and state further that my daughter married Sonu Verma on 19.02.2018. Whatever items I had given from the wedding, I do not have any receipts and I have not given any complaint earlier regarding broadcasting from Riya to Sonu Verma or his family members (Mrs. Savitri Devi and Kishan Kumar who is the head of Sonu's house) or demanding dowry. According to my information, in respect of Riya being assaulted by Sonu, no medical report was even done. Whenever Riya came home, she used to tell that I had debt of ration in my in-laws. That I have paid money by selling my earrings, on account of Sonu's earnings, she used to tell me that due to lockdown he is unemployed and did not get the salary. In the account of his bank PNB Faridabad account, I had given a phone to Riya on installments only after taking the blue colour of OPPO phone whose number was 9310