In order to convict an accused person of dowry death under Section 304-B of the Indian Penal Code, the prosecution must prove that the death of the woman was caused by burns or bodily injury, that it occurred within seven years of her marriage, and that she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or any relative of her husband for, or in connection with, any demand for dowry.

The State has preferred this present appeal against the judgment dated 06.04.2015, passed by the learned Sessions Judge, South Tripura, Belonia, in Case No. ST 45(ST/S) 2014 whereby and where under the accused-respondents were acquitted from the charge framed against them under Section 498-A/109 read with Section 498-A/304-B of IPC and Section 34 of IPC.

1.1 In this appeal, at the outset, I should take note of scopes of interference of this Court against the finding of acquittal. For me, it is profitable to refer a case in Chandrappa & Ors. Vrs. State of Karnataka, reported in (2007) 4 SCC 415, the Apex Court culled out the general principles regarding powers of the appellate Court while dealing with an appeal against an order of acquittal. The said principles are enumerated below:-

“(1) An appellate Court has full power to review, reappreciate and reconsider the evidence upon which the order of acquittal is founded;

(2) The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 puts no limitation, restriction or condition on exercise of such power and an appellate Court on the evidence before it may reach its own conclusion, both on questions of fact and of law;

(3) Various expressions, such as, 'substantial and compelling reasons', 'good and sufficient grounds', 'very strong circumstances', 'distorted conclusions', 'glaring mistakes', etc. are not intended to curtail extensive powers of an appellate Court in an appeal against acquittal. Such phraseologies are more in the nature of 'flourishes of language' to emphasize the reluctance of an appellate Court to interfere with acquittal than to curtail the power of the Court to review the evidence and to come to its own conclusion.

(4) An appellate Court, however, must bear in mind that in case of acquittal, there is double presumption in favour of the accused. Firstly, the presumption of innocence available to him under the fundamental principle of criminal jurisprudence that every person shall be presumed to be innocent unless he is proved guilty by a competent court of law. Secondly, the accused having secured his acquittal, the presumption of his innocence is further reinforced, reaffirmed and strengthened by the trial court.

(5) If two reasonable conclusions are possible on the basis of the evidence on record, the appellate court should not disturb the finding of acquittal recorded by the trial court.”

Keeping in view the aforesaid principle let me decide the case on merits.

2. Brief facts:

2.1 On 7th August, 2011 one Ananta Kumar Das, the father of the victim lodged a complaint to the Officer-in-Charge, Sabroom Police Station stating inter alia that his daughter Anjali Das (21 years) was given marriage with one Sri Utpal Das, who is also a resident of Sabroom, as per Hindu rites and customs. On demand from the groom’s side and as per capability, the complainant-father gave Rs.30,000/-cash along with furniture, gold ornaments, etc. During their conjugal life she gave birth of a male child but after the birth of the child, the accused Utpal Das started torturing her both physically and mentally at the ill advice of his father Biswajit Das and mother Smt. Sandhya Rani Das, the respondent Nos. 2 and 3 respectively in this appeal for taking more cash amount from them. But the complainant being the father was unable to fulfill the illegal demand of his son-in-law due to financial crisis and the accused persons, the respondents herein, had increased the extent of torture upon his daughter Anjali. It is stated in the complaint that on 6th August, 2011 at about 12-00 hours the accused and his mother Smt. Sandhya Rani Das poured kerosene oil on her daughter’s body and set her on fire with the intention to kill her by burning. She was shifted to Tripura Sundari District Hospital by Sabroom Hospital and he got the information from Sabroom Police Station. While his daughter was in a critical condition at Tripura Sundari District Hospital, the father of the victim lodged the complaint. Later on, his