The judgment establishes the principle that at the stage of discharge, the court only needs to find a prima facie case and that the presumption of dowry death under section 113-B of the Evidence Act applies.

Hon'ble S.N.H. Zaidi, J.:-

This is a revision against the order dated 17.12.2009 passed by the Second Additional Sessions Judge, Lucknow in Sessions Trial No. 1162/2008 State Vs. Ram Kumar Singh and others and connected Sessions Trial No. 1579/2008 State vs. Smt. Sheela Singh and others, rejecting the applications moved by the accused-revisionists for discharge under section 227 Cr.P.C.

1. The facts which gave rise to this revision, in brief, are that on a report lodged by one Vijay Kumar Singh a case under section 498A & 304 B I.P.C. and D.P. Act was registered at P.S. Itaunja of District Lucknow with the allegations against the husband of the deceased and his relatives, including the revisionists, that his younger sister Vandana was married to Anand Prakash Singh on 20.5.2003 and when on 27.5.2003 she returned from her matrimonial home, she disclosed to her mother that her husband, his father Budh Prakash Singh and his elder brothers Ram Kumar Singh and Shiv Kumar Singh and their wives Sheela Singh and Rita Singh were not satisfied with the dowry given at the time of marriage and she was subjected to cruelty at their hands on account thereof. On 5.11.2003 she again went to her matrimonial home after the Gauna Ceremony and when she returned in February, 2004, she told to her mother that she had been harassed on account of demand of dowry. On 2.5.2004 she had gone to her matrimonial home and on 9.5.2004 at about 4.00 a.m. it was informed that she had died.

2. The police undertook the investigation and filed a charge sheet only against the husband of the deceased whereupon Sessions Trial No. 1919 of 2006 proceeded against him and some evidence of a witness was recorded in it. In the meanwhile, two supplementary charge sheets have been filed against the revisionists on the basis of which Sessions Trial Nos. 1162/2008 and 1579/2008 have been instituted, wherein the revisionists moved applications, under section 227 Cr.P.C., for their discharge. The learned trial court after hearing the parties, dismissed the applications by order dated 17.12.2009, which has been challenged in this revision.

3. I have heard Shri A.P. Singh, learned counsel for the revisionists and learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record. Shri Himanshu Tiwari, learned counsel representing the complainant has also been heard.

4. The contention of the learned counsel for the revisionists is that the incident of death of Vandana had taken place at village Rewa Mau, whereas the revisionists are residing in Sector 'H' Jankipuram, Lucknow and there is no evidence on record to show that at the time of the incident any of the revisionists was present in the village, thus no offence of section 304-B IPC is primafacie made out against the revisionists and even assuming that the evidence collected by the Investigating Officer is correct, the revisionists can not be convicted for the offence of the said section. It is also contended that as per F.I.R. whenever the deceased had visited her maternal home she had told to her mother about the alleged cruel treatment given to her in her matrimonial home on account of dowry, but the statement of her mother does not reveal as to what was being demanded in dowry and what cruel treatment was meted out to the deceased.

5. The contention of the learned A.G.A., on the other hand, is that the evidence collected by the Investigating Officer shows that the deceased had not only disclosed about the cruel treatment and harassment to her mother but also to her brother and brother's wife specifically naming the revisionists. It has been submitted that since the deceased had died at her matrimonial home, therefore, there can not be any direct evidence in respect of the specific role played by each of the accused persons and the circumstances of the case show that the deceased had died within one year of her marriage in otherwise than normal circumstances and there is evidence on record that soon before her death she was subjected to cruelty

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