JUDGMENT :

Ashwani Kumar Mishra, J.

1. This Criminal Appeal arises out of judgment and order of conviction and sentence dated 27.04.2006, passed by the Additional Session Judge, Fast Track Court No.2, Fatehpur in Session Trial No. 72 of 2004 arising out of Case Crime No.161 of 2003, whereby accused appellant no.1 Shyam Babu, appellant no.2 Suresh @ Dhandhu and appellant no.3 Lalli @ Kalawati have been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 304B IPC and have also been convicted and sentenced to three years imprisonment under Section 498A IPC with a fine of Rs.1,000/-and in default of fine they have to undergo one year additional imprisonment. They have also been convicted and sentenced to one year imprisonment under section 3/4 of Dowry Prohibition Act with a fine of Rs.2,000/-and in default of fine they have to undergo one year additional imprisonment. All the sentences are directed to run concurrently.

2. Prosecution case, in brief, is that deceased Rupa Devi got married to the accused appellant no.1 on 20.04.2003. On 28.08.2003 the first informant (PW-1), who happens to be the father of the deceased, received an information that the deceased has been killed by the accused appellants by hanging as he had failed to meet the dowry demand. The incident is of 28.08.2003 and a written report scribed by one Ashok Kumar was given on 29.08.2003 on the basis of which a First Information Report was registered as Case Crime No.161 of 2003 under Sections 498A, 304B IPC and 3/4 of Dowry Prohibition Act, Police Station Thariyaon, District Fatehpur.

3. After registering FIR the Investigating Officer came on spot and an inquest was conducted in the presence of inquest witnesses as also in the presence of Naib Tahsildar. The dead body of deceased was found in the house of accused appellant no.1. In the opinion of inquest witnesses the death of deceased was caused on account of hanging as also on account of injuries and, therefore, postmortem was required to be conducted to ascertain the cause of death. The dead body was accordingly sealed and sent to mortuary where the postmortem was conducted by Dr. Sanjay Gupta (PW-3). In the postmortem report following injuries have been found on the deceased and cause of death has been ascertained as asphyxia as a result of ante-mortem strangulation:-

“(i) Ligature mark all around neck 30cm x 2cm, 7cm below, 5cm each on both side below ear. Groove base is pale margins ecchymosed hard lathery and parchment like. Nylon string with knot present all around the neck cut away from knot preserved sealed and sent to SP Fatehpur.

On internal examination – Muscles of neck ruptured large muscle contused hyoid bone fractured present.

(ii) Contusion on right side of scalp at temporal region size 6cm x 4cm underlying muscles contused, underlying facture parietal bone present.

(iii) Abrasion on left side of abdomen in hypochondrium 9cm above umbilicus size 6cm x 3cm.

(iv) Abrasion on back of left side of chest 5cm left to midline at T 10 level size 3x2cm.

(v) Abrasion 5cm below knee joint size 3x2cm.”

4. Upon conclusion of statutory investigation under Chapter XII of the Criminal Procedure Code charge sheet (Ex.Ka.9) came to be submitted against the accused appellants by the Investigating Officer on 29.10.2003. Having taken cognizance of the charge sheet the Magistrate committed the case to the court of session where proceedings were registered as Session Trial No.72 of 2004. On 25.11.2004 the court concerned framed charges against the accused appellants under Sections 498A, 304B IPC and 3/4 of Dowry Prohibition Act. The accused appellants denied the charges levelled against them and demanded trial.

5. In order to bring home the charge the prosecution has adduced oral testimony of PW-1 and PW-2, who are the parents of deceased and are the two witnesses of fact. Oral testimony has also been adduced of Dr. Sanjay Gupta as PW-3 who conducted the postmortem. PW-4 Suresh Kumar was the Naib Tahsildar, who has verifie