The prosecution must prove the essential ingredients of dowry death, and the burden of proof is on the prosecution to establish the existence of dowry demand and harassment leading to the woman's death. The judgment emphasized the presumption of innocence of the accused and minimal interference with the trial court's acquittal.

Ramesh Tiwari and Vijay Lakshmi, JJ. –

Aggrieved and dissatisfied by the judgment and order of acquittal dated 26.5.2010 passed by the Sessions Judge, Basti, in S. T. No. 85 of 2009, Santosh Singh and others v. State of U.P. and another, the complainant, who is the father of the deceased bride, has come to this court in appeal under Section 3 72 Cr.P.C. By the impugned judgment the trial court has acquitted all the accused persons/ respondent nos. 2 to 4, who are the husband, father-in-law and mother-in-law of the deceased, from the charges under sections 498A, 304B, 201 I.P.C. and sections 3/ 4 Dowry Prohibition Act.

2. We have heard Sri K. K. Rao, learned counsel for the appellant, learned AGA for the State and Sri S. P. Singh appearing on behalf of accused- respondent nos. 2 to 4 and perused the record.

3. The case of the prosecution in brief is that the deceased Ritu Singh, daughter of the appellant Nand Singh, was married to respondent no. 2, Santosh Singh, near about five years before the incident, which took place in the intervening night of 6/7.2.2009 in village Ghanahawa Mudiyari, Police Station Kalwari, District Basti. It has been alleged by the complainant/ appellant that the husband and in-laws of the deceased i.e. respondent nos. 2 to 4 after one year from the marriage started ill-treating and harassing his daughter in connection with demand of a motorcycle and L 50,000/- cash as additional dowry. In the intervening night of 6/7.2.2009 someone informed the complainant on phone that his daughter Ritu had been set ablaze by the respondent nos. 2 to 4. The complainant/ appellant along with his family went to the matrimonial home of his daughter on 7.2.2009. He found his son-in-law Santosh Singh, his father and mother inside the house but when he did not find his daughter and asked about her, they informed that she died in the past night had been cremated by them. When the complainant made a quarry as to why her dead body was cremated in their absence, they kept silence. The complainant/ appellant then wrote a report and lodged it at 19.20 hours on 7.2.2009 at Police Station Kalwari, District Basti, where Case Crime No. 61 of 2009 under sections 498A, 304B, 201 I.P.C. and sections 3/ 4 Dowry Prohibition Act was registered against respondent nos. 2 to 4 and the matter was investigated. During investigation the complainant produced a slip of paper alleged to be written by the deceased Ritu on which it was scribed that ^^gekjs ekSr dk ftEesnkj iwjk ifjokj gSA ngst pkfg;sA**. The complainant alleged that the aforesaid piece of paper was a part of a letter sent by the deceased to her younger sister Supriya in May 2008. The Investigating Officer inspected the place near the bank of river where the dead body of Ritu had been cremated. He collected ashes and sand from the bank of the river and prepared memos. He also inspected the living room of the deceased and found that there was no sign of fire. It was found neat and clean. It's floor freshly smeared with cow dung. The I.O. recorded the statement of witnesses and after completion of investigation, submitted charge sheet against all the accused respondents.

4. Learned Sessions Judge framed charges against the respondents to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.

5. The prosecution, in order to prove its case, produced six witnesses in all i.e. PW1 the appellant Nand Singh, who is the complainant in the case, PW2 Shanti Singh, wife of the complainant, PW3 Ram Das Singh, the real brother of the complainant, PW4 Supriya Singh, the younger sister of the deceased Ritu Singh, who had identified the handwriting of the deceased scribed on the piece of paper given by the complainant to the I.O. during investigation, PW5 is Maan Singh, constable Moharrir, who was posted at Police Station Kalwari, District Basti, at the time of occurrence and who had registered and prepared the check report (exhibit Ka5) and relevant GD (exhibit Ka6) in his handwriting and PW6 is J