JUDGMENT :

Mayank Kumar Jain, J.

1. This criminal appeal has been preferred by the appellants against the judgment and order of sentence dated 29.11.1984 passed by the 6th Additional Sessions Judge, Etah arising out of Case Crime No. 134 of 1983, registered as Sessions Trial No. 824 of 1984 (State Vs. Vidya Devi and others), whereby the learned Additional Session Judge had convicted the appellants Smt. Vidya Devi, Netrapal, and Ram Kripal under Sections 302 / 34 I.P.C. and 201 I.P.C and had sentenced them to undergo life imprisonment under Section 302/34 I.P.C. and rigorous imprisonment of 3 years along with a fine of Rs. 2,000/-each under Section 201 I.P.C. In case of default in the payment of the fine, they were sentenced to undergo additional rigorous imprisonment for six months.

2. Two appellants namely Netrapal and Ram Kripal died during the pendency of this appeal and the appeal qua them stood abated vide order dated 10.07.2018 passed by this Court. The only surviving appellant is Smt. Vidya Devi.

3. Brief facts of the case are that Shiv Raj Singh, father of the deceased Asha Devi, submitted a written report to Station House Officer, Sidhpura, District Etah stating therein that the marriage of his daughter Asha Devi was performed with the accused Ram Kripal s/o Netrapal around 3 ½ years ago. “Gauna Ceremony” was performed one year after the marriage post when she started to live with her in-laws. After some time, the accused-appellants Vidya Devi (mother-in-law), Netrapal (father-in-law) and her husband Ram Kripal started to blame his daughter for being of unsound mind, that she did not perform any household work and that she also stole bread. He held “Panchayat” in the village of accused-appellants two to three times but later he brought her daughter back with him. On the occasion of Holi, Netra Pal, father-in-law of his daughter, took Asha Devi back with him after giving an undertaking that she would not be subjected to cruelty or ill-treatment anymore in the near future. The Complainant continued to enquire about the wellness of his daughter. Sometime later, the accused-appellants Vidya Devi and Netrapal asked the Complainant to marry his second daughter with their son Ram Kripal failing which they would not keep her daughter Asha Devi with them. The Complainant refused to concede to the demand and asked them to send back Asha Devi to him, but they refused.

4. Two days before the date of the written report, the accused-appellants Ram Kripal, Netrapal, Vidya Devi and Deo Singh had beaten his daughter and dislodged her from their house. Harvansh Singh, Shiv Lal, Ram Lal Singh, Suraj Pal Singh, Udaiveer Singh and others witnessed the incident and rescued Asha Devi. They had sent her back to her in-laws after making her and her in-laws understand.

5. One day before the date of lodging the first information report, at around 11.00 am one Shiv Lal, a resident of Dhanakar came to him and informed him that Ram Kripal, Netrapal and Vidya Devi have caused the disappearance of his daughter during the preceding night. He along with Sukhram Singh, Allauddin, Bhikey Ali, Hari Shankar Tiwari, Sultan, Raj Kumar and others went to the residence of his daughter at around 5:00 PM. On enquiring about the whereabouts of his daughter, he was told that she was missing and the accused-appellants Ramkripal and Netrapal were absconding. He suspected that these people have killed his daughter and had caused the disappearance of her dead body. He believed that it was done due to the demand for dowry and the second marriage of Ram Kripal.

6. The Complainant had also filed one written report Ext. Ka-2 dated 04.01.1982 earlier with the Superintendent of Police Etah mentioning the dowry demand. He had then stated that his daughter Asha Kumari was married to Ram Kripal S/o Netrapal, resident of Dhanakar, Police Station Sidhpura, District Bulandshahr. During the marriage, he had given ornaments made of gold and silver, clothes worth Rs. 2,000/-and other arti