The main legal point established in the judgment is the application of Section 304-B I.P.C. and the presumption of dowry death under Section 113-B of the Indian Evidence Act in cases of demand for dowry and unnatural deaths of married women.

JUDGMENT :

Mohd. Aslam, J.

1. Heard Sri Noor Mohammad, Advocate holding brief of Sri Yogesh Kumar Srivastava, learned counsel for the accused-appellant, Sri Sanjay Sharma, learned A.G.A. for the State-respondent and perused the record.

2. This appeal is preferred by the accused-appellant through Jail Superintendent, Jhansi under Section 374 (2) read with Section 383 Cr.P.C. against the impugned judgment of conviction dated 03.02.2018 and order of sentence dated 09.02.2018 passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge/Fast Track Court No.1, Jhansi in Session Trial No. 337 of 2014 State of U.P. vs. Sugam' (arising out of Case Crime No. 326 of 2014, under Sections 498-A, 304-B, 302 I.P.C. and Section 3/4 of Dowry Prohibition Act, Police Station- Gursaray, District- Jhansi), whereby the accused-appellant has been convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years under Section 304-B I.P.C., to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years and a fine of Rs.5000/-, in default to undergo further imprisonment for two months under Section 498-A I.P.C. and to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and a fine of Rs.10,000/-, in default to undergo further imprisonment for three months under Section 4 of Dowry Prohibition Act. It was further directed that 80% of the fine amount shall be paid to the legal representative of the deceased. All the sentences were directed to run concurrently.

3. In brief, prosecution case is that informant Mani Ram has lodged the first information report on the basis of written complaint on 07.06.2014 at 00.15 A.M. alleging therein that he married his daughter Lalita aged about 21 years two years ago with accused-appellant Sugam. The accused-appellant and his family members were demanding a motorcycle and Rs.50,000/– as dowry for the last two years and were harassing his daughter for its non-fulfillment. His daughter told this fact to him but due to his weak financial condition he could not meet the demand of dowry. It is further alleged that on 06.06.2014, the accused-appellant and his family members murdered his daughter by hanging her. The information regarding death of his daughter Lalita Devi was conveyed to him by the accused-appellant. On the information, he went to the house of in-laws’ of his daughter and saw the dead body of his daughter was laying on the ground and all the family members of her inlaws have absconded.

4. Ct. Laxmikant PW7 has drawn the Chek Report (Ex.Ka.11) on 07.06.2014 at 00.15 A.M. on the basis of written complaint (Ex.Ka.1) and by making necessary entry in GD (Ex.Ka.12) vide Rapat No. 3 on 07.06.2014 at 00.15 A.M. and registered the Case Crime No.326 of 2014, under Sections 498-A, 304-B I.P.C. and Section 3/4 of Dowry Prohibition Act against accused persons namely Sugam (appellant), Nand Ram, Niraj, Sonu and Ram Kishore. The investigation of the case was undertaken by C.O. Subodh Gautam (PW5). On 07.06.2014, he copied the written complaint and GD in the CD and also recorded the statements of Ct. Laxmikant Tripathi, informant Mani Ram. On the same day, he visited the place of occurrence along with informant and prepared site-plan (Ex.Ka.6). In the site-plan he has shown the place where dead body of the deceased was found on cot and the place of the wood plank in the roof from which rope was hanging and also shown the other things present in the house. The inquest of the dead body was conducted by Tahsildar Gulab Singh (PW6) on 07.06.2014. He appointed Mani Ram, Sita Sharan, Kamlesh Kumar, Shivram Singh and Rajjan as Panch and completed the inquest at 9:30 AM. The Panch has opined that the deceased died due to hanging and to ascertain the real cause of death postmortem is needed. PW6 Gulab Singh Tehsildar prepared Panchayatnama (Ex.Ka.2), Photo Nash (Ex.Ka.7), letter to Medical Officer (Ex.Ka.8), Challan Nash (Ex.Ka.9), sealed the dead body and prepared sample Seal (Ex.Ka.10) and sent the dead body for postmortem through Ct. Sriram Verma and Home Guard Amar Singh a