Honble GARG, J.–This appeal has been filed by the accused appellants against the judgment and order dated 23.8.1999 passed by the learned Special Additional Sessions Judge (Women Atrocities), Sri Ganganagar in Sessions Case No. 174/97, by which he convicted the accused appellants for the offence under sections 304B and 498 IPC and sentenced them in the following manner:-

Name of accused appellants Convicted u/Sec. Sentence awarded to each accused appellant

1. Sukhdarshan 2. Kishorilal 3. Smt. Sita 304 B IPC Seven years RI and to pay fine of Rs. 5000/-, in default of payment of fine, to further undergo six months RI.

498 A IPC One year RI and to pay fine of Rs. 1000/-, in default of payment of fine, to further undergo one month RI.

Both the substantive sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

(2). The facts giving rise to this appeal in short, are as follows:-

On 8.3.1996 at about 7.45 PM, PW 1 Vijay Kumar lodged a written report Ex.P/1 before PW 17 Rajendra Singh, who was SHO, Police Station Kesrisinghpur at the relevant time stating inter- alia that his sister Mamta (hereinafter referred to as the deceased- wife) was married or 8.05.1989 with the accused appellant Sukhdarshan Kumar and at the time of marriage, as per their status, in dowry, 9 tolas gold, Scooter, TV and Rs. 21,000/- in cash etc. were given, but inspite of that, the present accused appellants Smt. Sita (mother-in-law of the deceased-wife), Kishorilal (father-in-law of the deceased-wife) and Sukhdarshan Kumar (husband of the deceased-wife) and others including Purshottam, Jeth of the deceased-wife and Rekha, Nanad of the deceased-wife used to torture and harass deceased-wife for not bringing sufficient dowry in marriage. It was further stated in the report that five years back, out of this wedlock, a son Gaurav, DW 2 was born and on this occasion also, gold and cash amount were also given, but her in-laws were not satisfied. Thereafter, cash was also given to deceased-wife for purchasing a house. It was further stated in the report that whenever deceased-wife used to come to her parents house, she used to tell that she was being tortured and harassed by her in-laws for not bringing sufficient dowry and her in-laws includes present accused appellants and her Jeth Purshottam and his wife etc. It was further stated in the report that one and half years back, a daughter was born to deceased-wife and on that occasion also, Rs. 11,000.- were given in case, but they were not satisfied. It was further stated in the report that before 20 days of the alleged incident, deceased-wife came to her parents place Karanpur and at that time, she having tears in her eyes told that her in-laws were still demanding there tolas gold and upon this, on next day, PW 1 Vijay Kumar, PW 4 Manoharlal, Khemchand and PW 5 Jaganath, all resident of Karanpur went to Kesrisinghpur and they all advised present accused appellants and others not to harass and torture deceased-wife for dowry, as sufficient dowry had already been given to them. It was further stated in the report that one day before Holi, deceased-wife came to karanpur and at that time, she told her mother and brother Pawan Kumar, PW 8 that atleast three tolas gold be given so that her in-laws could be satisfied and at that time, deceased-wife was assured that they would come within 5-6 days to her in-laws house and fulfil their demand. It was further stated in the report that on 8.3.1996 at about 6.00 AM, a telephonic message was received from Kesrisinghpur (Place where her in-laws used to reside) that deceased-wife was beaten by her in-laws and thereafter, deceased wife and her daughter both were got burnt and upon this, they came to Kesrisinghpur, where they came to know that deceased-wife and her daughter had been burnt by the accused appellants and other relatives.

On this report, PW 17 Rajendra Singh chalked out regular FIR Ex.P/59 and started investigation and during investigation, site plan Ex.P/2 was prepared and post mortem o

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