Conviction under sections 306 and 498-A RPC requires clear evidence of harassment and direct causation of suicide, which was not established in this case.

JUDGMENT :

1. The appellant has been convicted vide judgment dated 21.04.2015 for commission of offences under section 306/498-A RPC and vide order dated 23.04.2015 passed by the court of learned Principal Sessions Judge, Kathua (hereinafter to be referred as 'the trial court'), the appellant has been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for a period of five years and fine of Rs. 10,000/- for commission of offence under section 306 RPC and imprisonment for one year and fine of Rs. 1000/- for offence under section 498-A RPC. In default of payment of fine, the appellant has been ordered to undergo further imprisonment for a period of six months under section 306 RPC and one month for commission of offence under section 498-A RPC.

2. The appellant has impugned the judgment and order of sentence on the ground that the learned trial court has not properly appreciated the evidence and convicted the appellant without there being any evidence on record against the appellant in respect of commission of offences under section 306/498-A RPC.

3. The learned counsel for the appellant has argued that the witnesses examined by the prosecution have not only made contradictory statements to each other but have also made improvements and the learned trial court ought to have rejected the evidence of these witnesses. He has further submitted that the learned trial court has wrongly invoked section 113-A and 113-B of the Evidence Act, while convicting the appellant. The learned counsel has also laid much stress that in view of the weak evidence led by prosecution, the appellant could not have been convicted by the learned trial court.

4. Per contra, Mr. Dewakar Sharma, learned Dy. AG has argued that the deceased used to reside in her parental home for almost whole of the week and would reside in her matrimonial home only for two days i.e. Saturday and Sunday, as she was working as a ReT Teacher. He further submitted that during the summer vacations and Amarnath Yatra agitation, the deceased resided with her husband in her matrimonial home and during that period, she was treated in such a manner that she took extreme step of ending her life by hanging herself. He has vehemently argued that the learned trial court, after due appreciation of evidence, has convicted the appellant and there is no infirmity in the judgment passed by the learned trial court.

5. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.

Prosecution Case

6. The prosecution case is that on 24.09.2008, an information was received at Police Station, Hiranagar that one lady, namely, Raj Kumari W/o Rakesh Singh had died under suspicious circumstances. On receipt of that information, the proceedings under section 174 Cr.P.C. were initiated and Babu Ram, ASI, was deputed to conduct the inquest proceedings. During inquest proceedings, the statements of the witnesses under section 175 Cr.P.C. were recorded and even the statements of the witnesses were also recorded under section 164-A Cr.P.C. before JMIC, Hiranagar. The mother of the deceased in her statement recorded under section 164-A Cr.P.C. stated that marriage of her daughter, namely, Raj Kumari was solemnized with Rakesh Singh-accused, eight months prior to her death and she was a ReT Teacher, serving in her village only. She used to go to her matrimonial home on Saturday only and return on Monday. After spending the summer vacations in her matrimonial home, when she came back, she stated that the accused was harassing her for not bringing dowry. Her marriage was solemnized without dowry. The basic items like Refrigerator, Cooler were given but valuable items were not given. She also stated that Rakesh-accused had asked her about her salary for the last 3/4 years. He had also demanded a car. One month ago, Rakesh called Anuradha on mobile phone at night around 08:00 PM, and informed that her daughter-Raj Kumari had suffered an attack and was admitted in the Kathua hospital. He asked them to come immediately. She along with her dau