The court emphasized that allegations of harassment must be specific and proven to establish cruelty under IPC Sections 498-A and 306, and the presumption under Section 113-A of the Evidence Act requires evidence of such cruelty.

JUDGMENT :

Rakesh Kainthla, J.

The present appeal is directed against the judgment of conviction dated 26.06.2010 and order of sentence dated 28.06.2010 passed by learned Sessions Judge, Kangra at Dharamshala, District Kangra, H.P., (learned Trial Court), vide which the appellants (accused before learned Trial Court) wereconvicted for the commission of offences punishable under Sections 498-A and 306 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and were sentenced as under:-

(Parties shall hereinafter be referred to in the same manner as they were arrayed before the learned Trial Court for convenience.)

2. Briefly stated, the facts giving rise to the present appeal are that the police presented a challan against the accused for the commission of offences punishable under Sections 498-A and 306 read with Section 34 of the IPC. It was asserted that Meera Devi (since deceased) was married to Raj Kumar in March 2003 as per Hindu rites and customs. She started telling her father Amar Singh (PW-2) informant, that her father-in-law Jagdish Chand and mother-in-law Jambo Devi were harassing her on trivial matters. Her husband, Rajkumar, was residing at Ludhiana. She called the informant on 21.04.2007 and told him that Jagdish Chand and Jambo Devi were quarrelling with her. The informant replied that he would settle the matter on the next day by visiting her matrimonial home, however, Meera Devi committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance during the night. The matter was reported to the police. An entry (Ext.PW-8/A) was recorded in the Police Station. ASI Kamal Chand (PW-8) visited the spot to verify the correctness of the information. He recorded the statement (Ext.PW8/B) of Amar Singh (PW-2) and sent it to the Police Station through Constable Surjeet Kumar. F.I.R. (Ext.PW-7/A) was registered at the Police Station. SI Kamal Chand (PW-8) conducted the inquest on the dead body and prepared reports (Ext.PW-8/C and Ext.PW-8/D). He filed an application (Ext.PW-8/C) for conducting the post- mortem examination of the deceased. Dr. Tilak Bhagra (PW-9) conducted the post-mortem examination of the deceased and found no external injuries on the dead body. He preserved the viscera and handed it over to the police official, who accompanied the dead body. He issued his report (Ext.PW-9/A).SI Kamal Chand (PW-8) conducted the investigation. He prepared the site plan (Ext.PW-8/F) and recorded the statements of the witnesses. Viscera was sent to SFSL Junga, and a report (Ext. PX) was issued showing that Phosphine Gas was detected in the viscera. SI Kamal Chand (PW-8) recorded statements of remaining witnesses as per their version, and after the completion of the investigation, the challan was prepared and presented before the Court of learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Baijnath, who committed it to the learned Sessions Judge for trial.

3. Learned Trial Court charged the accused for the commission of offences punishable under Sections 498-A and 306 read with Section 34 of IPC, to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.

4. The prosecution examined nine witnesses to prove its case. Radha Devi (PW) is the Pardhan of the Gram Panchayat where Meera Devi was residing. Amar Singh (PW-2) is the father, Saviro Devi (PW-3) is the mother, and Thakur Singh (PW-4) is t