The main legal point established in the judgment is the court's reliance on consistent and trustworthy testimonies to establish the demand of dowry, cruelty, and harassment, leading to the conviction of the appellant for the offences punishable under sections 304-B, 498-A, and 201 of the IPC.

ORDER :

1. This appeal is preferred against the judgment of conviction dated 29.09.2004 and order of sentence dated 01.10.2004 passed by the learned 1st Additional Sessions Judge, Dumka in Sessions Case No. 233 of 2002 corresponding to G.R. No. 472 of 2002, T.R. No. 1101 of 2002 arising out of Jama P.S. Case No. 43 of 2002, Dumka, Jharkhand whereby and where under the appellant Pradeep Kumar Mandal @ Prakash Mandal has been convicted for the offence punishable u/s 304-B, 498-A and 201 of IPC and sentenced to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for 07 years for the offence under section 304-B of IPC and further sentenced to undergo RI for 03 years and to pay a fine of Rs. 2000/- ( Rupees Two thousand) and in case of default in payment of fine, he was further directed to undergo RI for three months for the offence punishable u/s 498A and further sentenced to undergo RI for 03 years and to pay a fine of Rs. 2000/- ( Rupees Two thousand) and in case for default in payment of fine, he was further directed to undergo RI for three months for the offence punishable u/s 201 of IPC and it was also directed that all the sentences would run concurrently.

2. The prosecution story has arisen in the wake of fardbeyan of Sadhu Mandal (P.W. 8), father of the victim Rita Devi whose statement was recorded by the Police on 26.05.2002 at 6:30 hours in the forest area, a lonely place surrounded by Sakhua (sal) tree which is known as Sakhua jungle. Briefly stating the prosecution story as unfolded in the aforesaid fardbeyan of the informant Sadhu Mandal P.W. 8 is as under:-

His daughter was married with the accused Pradeep Kumar Mandal @ Prakash Mandal about one year back and was living in her Sasural (in-laws’ place). It is alleged that after the solemnization of marriage, the husband (appellant) of the victim Rita Devi along with her mother–in-law, father-inlaw and other family members of her husband demanded Motorcycle and for that the victim was assaulted by them and she was subjected to cruelty. The victim used to narrate her pathetic story to her father, the informant. It is said that all the relatives of the husband of the victim were demanding motorcycle from the informant, the father of the victim. The informant stated further that due to poverty, he could not give dowry in the marriage of his daughter. It is also said that just 15 days’ back from the alleged date of occurrence the accused persons had assaulted the victim, the daughter of the informant and this fact was disclosed to the informant by his brother-in-law Dilip Mandal, upon which the informant went to the sasural of his daughter at Barmasiya and came to know the whole story with respect to demand of dowry made by the family members of the husband of the victim including the husband-appellant of the victim and about the ill treatment meted out to her for the sake of dowry by them. It is said that a Panchayati was held over the said demand of dowry and cruelty and ultimately the matter was settled between the parties.

Further, the prosecution case is that on 24.05.2002, the brother-in-law of the informant namely Dilip Mandal informed the informant that the victim, the daughter of the informant and her husband and the relatives of the husband were not available in their house and the house was found locked upon which the informant (P.W. 8) along with his brother-in-law Dilip Mandal (P.W.1) went to the sasural of his daughter and found his daughter, the victim along with her husband and his relatives, were not available in the house and the house was locked. The informant made enquiry and did not come to know about her whereabouts. The informant began searching his daughter vigorously at every place and ultimately today ( 26.05.2002) at a distance of about 1 km away from the sasural of the victim at village Barmasiya, the dead body of the victim was found in the midst of Sakhua Jungal (the forest of Sal trees) and others had also seen the dead body and while the informant was going to inform