To convict under Section 304B IPC, evidence of specific instances of cruelty or harassment connected with dowry demands must be established; otherwise, lesser offences may be considered.

JUDGMENT

(Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SMT. SONI SHRIVASTAVA)

Date : 10-12-2025

Heard Mr. Yashraj Bardhan, the learned counsel for the appellant, Mr. Dhananjay Kumar Tiwary, the learned counsel for the respondent no.2 and learned APP for the State, Mr. Sujeet Kumar Singh at length.

2. The present appeal has been preferred under Section 372 (proviso) of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 challenging the judgment and order dated 14.09.2023 passed by learned Court of Additional Sessions Judge-IV, Saran at Chapra in Sessions Trial No. 186 of 2020 (arising out of Bhagwan Bazar P.S. Case No. 621 of 2019), whereby and where under the learned Trial Court has held that the charges under Section 304B and alternatively under Section 302 read with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘ IPC ’) have not stood proved and Respondent No. 2 has been convicted for a lesser offence under Section 306 (under which charges were not framed) and by an order of sentence dated 20.09.2023, the respondent no. 2 has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 5 years with a fine of Rs.10,000/- and in default of payment of the same, he has further been directed to undergo additional imprisonment for 2 months.

3. The records of this appeal has been placed before this Court to consider the prayer of the appellant for convicting the respondent no. 2 for a greater offence under Section 304 B of the IPC as he has been acquitted of the charges thereunder and has instead been convicted u/s 306 .

4. The case of the prosecution, in brief, according to the fardbeyan of one Brijendra Kumar (informant, i.e. PW-3) recorded on 30.12.2019 at around 01.15 am is that the marriage of his sister Punam Kumari alias Pallavi Kumari was solemnized with one Naveen Kumar (respondent no. 2) according to Hindu rites and rituals on 12.12.2019 and articles were given as per capacity of the father of the informant and deceased. However, after marriage, the sister of the informant was assaulted on account of varied reasons and demands which she informed telephonically with specific reference to the fact that at the instigation of Vinod Kumar and Rabindra Giri, Navin Kumar was making a demand of Rs. 5 lakhs from her sister saying that adequate dowry was not given and the same was reiterated by the mother and the 3 sisters of Navin Kumar. It has been alleged that on 29.12.2019 at about 04 pm the accused persons killed the informant’s sister by strangulating her and at about 06 pm Navin Kumar had called the informant’s father and told that his daughter had committed suicide by hanging. Upon making a query about the condition of the deceased, he disconnected the phone and made no reply to repeated calls. This led the informant to believe that the accused persons, in conspiracy with others, have killed his sister for want of dowry, whether he reached the matrimonial household of his sister to find that her sister had been killed by strangulation, where after he reported the incident to police, whereupon Bhagwan Bazar P.S. Case No. 621 of 2019 dated 30.12.2019 was instituted for offences u/s 304 B / 34 IPC .

5. The learned Counsel for the appellant/Informant, Mr. Yashraj Vardhan has submitted that the allegations made in the First Information Report with regard to killing of the deceased on account of non-f