The main legal point established is the reliance on eyewitness accounts, dying declaration, and post-mortem report to establish the guilt of the accused under Section 304 Part-I of IPC.

Hon'ble Prafulla C. Pant, J.

This Criminal Appeal, preferred under Section 374 (2) read with Section 383 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (herein after for brevity Cr.P.C.), is directed against judgment and order dated 27.1.2001, passed by the then learned Sessions Judge, Pithoragarh in Sessions Trial No. 23 of 1999, whereby appellant has been convicted under Section 304 Part-I of Indian Penal Code, 1860 (herein after for brevity I.P.C.) and sentenced to life imprisonment.

2. We heard Shri Rajendra Kotiyal, Amicus Curaie, for the appellant and learned Additional Government Advocate at length.

3. Before narrating the facts of this case, it is pertinent to mention here that before the commission of crime in question, earlier also appellant Jiwan Singh, was convicted under Section 304 of I.P.C., for commission of culpable homicide, not amounting to murder, wherein he was charged for killing his wife and stood trial in Sessions Trial No. 19 of 1996. In said case, he was convicted on 30.10.1996 by the learned Sessions Judge, Pithoragarh but appears to have been given benefit of Probation of Offenders Act, 1958. This time, after three years, for his yet another act, now he stood trial for culpable homicide, not amounting to murder of his own married daughter.

4. In brief, prosecution story is that Smt. Simla (deceased) was married daughter of the appellant who had come to her parents house about fifteen days before the date of the incident. On 6.4.1999, at about noon appellant Jiwan Singh came in a drunken state from Wadda to his village Lelu and started hurling abuses against the in-laws of his daughter Bimla (deceased). The deceased objected to it. On this, appellant Jiwan Singh started beating his daughter and dragged her to a room and poured kerosene oil on her and set her on fire. The other children of the appellant P.w. 1 Kumari Maya (daughter of the appellant) and P.w. 2 Jagdeesh Singh (minor son of the appellant), witnessed the incident and started crying from outside the room. On this, several villagers collected and immediately broke open the door and found that appellant Jiwan Singh, lying in a drunken state under a cot while Bimla Devi (deceased) was lying with burn injuries. When the villagers entered into the room, appellant attempted to run away but was caught then and there. The villagers took out Bimla Devi and rushed her to District Hospital, Pithoragarh. On fifteenth day of the incident, Bimla Devi succumbed to the burn injuries and died. The de. ceased was a witness in the earlier Sessions Trial, which related to killing by appellant of his own wife. First Information Report (Exh. A-2) was lodged on the very day i.e. on 6.4.1999 at about 5:10 P.M. with Police Station Kotwali, Pithoragarh by Deepa Giri P.W. 4 (pradhan of village Lelu). On its basis, Check Report (Exh. A-3) was prepared and an entry was made at serial No. 26 in the General Diary (copy of Extract Exh. A-4). Initially the crime was registered against the appellant under Section 326 of I.P.C. and was investigated by Sub-Inspector Anand Lal (P.w. 5). He recorded the statements of witnesses under Section 161 of Cr.P.C. and prepared Site Plan (Exh. A-6). He further collected from the site, a plastic jar can, a match box, broken bangles, a DANDA and parts of burnt clothes and prepared Memo (Exh. A-7). The Investigating Officer on 20.4.1999, submitted chargesheet (Exh. A-8), against the appellant for his trial under Section 326 Meanwhile, Bimla Devi remained admitted for her treatment in District Hospital Pithoragarh. On 23.4.1999, information was received in the Police Station that Smt. Bimla Devi has succumbed to the injuries, on which an entry in the General Diary (Exh. A-9) was made and crime was converted into one under Section 304 I.P.C. and the same was re-investigated. The Inquest Report (Exh. A-10) was prepared by Sub-Inspector, Om Pal Singh on the very day i.e. on 23.4.1999. After preparing diagram of the dead body (Exh. A-ll), Police form