The prosecution must establish a proximate link between dowry harassment and the victim's death to uphold a conviction for dowry death under IPC Section 304-B.

Per Radhakishan Agrawal, J. 1. This criminal appeal under Section 374(2) of Cr.P.C. is directed against the impugned judgment dated 16.03.2021 passed by the 4th Additional Sessions Judge, Durg, C.G. in Sessions Trial No.172/2017, by which the appellants herein have been convicted for the offence under Section 304-B read with 34 of Indian Penal Code (for short, 'IPC') and sentenced for life imprisonment.

2. Case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on 01.06.2017 at village Shardapara, Camp-2, Bhilai, deceased- Smt. Jyoti Soni, wife of appellant No.1 Narendra Soni and sister-in-law of Smt. Pinki Soni (appellant No.2) committed suicide by hanging herself in her house as the appellants harassed her mentally and physically in connection with demand of dowry, on account of which, she died in an abnormal circumstances within seven years of marriage and thereby the appellants committed the aforesaid offence.

3. Further case of the prosecution is that marriage of deceased- Jyoti Soni was solemnized with appellant No.1 Narendra Soni on 22.04.2015 as per Hindu Rites and Rituals and after marriage, she started living with the appellants. During her stay with the appellants, she was subjected to harassment and torture by the appellants for bringing insufficient dowry. In this connection, appellant No.1 Narendra Soni used to abuse her and commit assault on her for brining 3 lakhs more from her maternal home. On the date of incident i.e. 01.06.2017, present appellants, in front of the house of the appellant No.2 Pinki Soni, again assaulted her by hands, fists and kicks, which was intervened by the witnesses. Being fed up with the persistent ill-treatment meted out by the appellants, deceased- Jyoti Soni committed suicide by hanging herself. Thereafter, PW-6 Amarnath Shankar lodged a written report (Ex.P-22) against the present appellants and the acquitted co-accused persons and on the basis of written complaint (Ex.P-22), FIR vide Exs.P-23 & 23-A has been registered against the present appellants and the acquitted co-accused persons for the offence punishable under Section 304-B read with 34 of IPC. Inquest proceeding was conducted vide Ex.P-2 and dead body was sent for postmortem examination which was conducted by PW-12 Dr. S.D. Bhupendra, who has proved the postmortem report Ex.P-31. According to postmortem report, cause of death of the deceased was due to shock and asphyxia as a result of antemortem hanging. Spot map was prepared vide Ex.P-27. Marriage card of appellant No.1 Narendra Soni and deceased has been seized from the appellant No.1 vide Ex.P-3. Vide Ex.P-25, clothes of the deceased were seized. After due investigation, the accused persons were taken into custody vide Exs.P-36, P-39 & P-40.

4. Statements of the witnesses were recorded under Section 161 of Cr.P.C. After completion of investigation, the appellants and acquitted co-accused persons were charge-sheeted under Section 304-B/34 of IPC and in alternative Section 306/34 of IPC before the jurisdictional criminal Court and the case was committed to the trial Court for hearing and disposal in accordance with law, in which co-accused persons (acquitted) including appellants abjured their guilt and entered into defence by stating that they have not committed the offence.

5. The prosecution in order to bring home the offence, examined as many as 17 witnesses in support of its case and exhibited 48 documents. Co-accused persons (acquitted) including appellants in support of their defence have examined two witnesses i.e. DW-1 Manoj Soni and DW-2 Mainak Dev Sikdar and exhibited five do