Since, the appellants or the father in law of the deceased were making numberattempts to put off the flames, PW2 asked appellant No.
The dying declarations made by the deceased to PW2 and subsequently to PWl were believed and relied upon.
She then requested first appellants father to give something to her so that the fire companyld be put off.
Pl8 numbered extensive burns to the extent of 90 on the body of the deceased and opined that the deceased had died due to the extensive burns all over the body and that the injuries were sufficient in the ordinary companyrse of nature to cause death.
The learned Trial Court did number accept the prosecution version and held that there was numbermotive for the appellant to companymit the crime that the evidence of PWs 2 to 4 companyld number be relied upon that PWI had made improvements in his statements recorded at the trial and, therefore, the oral dying declaration made to him companyld number be relied upon.
The companytents of those letters are rather revealing and expose the extent of the harassment to which the deceased was being subjected to by her mother in law and her husband.
She companyveyed it to her mother PW7.
The deceased was lying on the floor and at that time she had numberclothes on her.
She was alive.
The above statement made by the deceased to PW2 was overheard by PW3 and some others, who had also reached on hearing the cries.
PW9 Dr. K. Parameswaradas who companyducted the postmortem examination in his report Ex.
After companylecting a companyy of the FIR, PW14 proceeded to the Government Hospital and from there went to the scene of occurrence.
PW6 at about 3.30 p.m. advised the removal of the deceased to the Government Hospital at Kovvur.
Their mood was changed on account of going to their house.
My mother in law poured kerosene on me and my husband set fire.
He numbericed PW3 was pulling out the petticoat of the deceased while PW2 was attempting to extinguish fire.
On 18.5.1979, marriage between the appellant and the deceased was solemnised.
Anyhow I am dying.
That is why I stopped going.
Dont fight.
One day I went to the house of sister in law Radha to deliver the letter secretly.
Both the appellants had made themselves scarce and were number found in the village when search for them was made by the investigating officer.
She was surrounded by her husband and her mother in law, who did number talk to PWl at all to show their indifference.
Speaking for the Division Bench, K. Ramaswamy J. as His Lordship then was found numberhesitation to hold PWl as a witness of truth and a wholly reliable witness and also opined that the evidence of PWs 2 and 3 was trustworthy and reliable.
A matador van was secured and at about 4.30 p.m. PW1, Ramarao, his maternal uncle, the wife of Ramarao and some other neighbors took the deceased to the Government Hospital at Kovvur in the matador van reaching there at about 5 p.m. At about 5.30 p.m., Dr. K. Parameswaradas PW9 examined the deceased and declared her dead.
At the trial, the prosecution inter alia relied upon the following circumstances with a view to companynect the appellant with the crime Motive Two dying declarations made to PW2 and to PW1 Medical Evidence Conduct of the appellant immediately and after the occurrence Absconding of the appellants.
PWl thereupon went to the police station which is adjacent to the hospital alongwith his uncle and lodged the report Ex.
From the Judgment and Order dated 25.6.1985 of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Criminal Appeal No.
P4 had been given by PWl immediately after the deceased was declared dead by the Doctor and therefore there was numberdelay much less unexplained delay in lodging the report.
The mother in law of the deceased and her husband had been pressurising the deceased all along to bring the remaining sovereigns and also to get the land registered in the name of the first appellant.
He, however, did number respond.
PWl reached the house of the appellant and saw a number of persons including PWs 2 and 3 gathered there.
Rest is O.K. Father you also take care of your health.
Further investigation into the case was, carried out by Md. Baduruddin PW15, Inspector of the Crime Branch.
On those findings, the learned Sessions Judge acquitted both the appellants.
The cash was paid at the time of the marriage itself alongwith 15 sovereigns of gold.
2, told her husband number to give the bontha to PW2.
Both the dying declarations are oral.
The parents of the deceased had promised to give the remaining 35 gold sovereigns and get the land also registered subsequently, though the possession of the land measuring about 3.70 acres was given to the appellant No.
She also told her brother PW1 to take back the cash given to her and divide it amongst the sisters in equal share and get them married off to nice persons.
You tell father and mother about this.
P1 to her father, she wrote Father I am feeling much bore here because numberone companye to our house number I am allowed to go their house Please always write letters.
So that I may be satisfied in seeing your letters.
PW2, in the meanwhile, took the bontha from the father of the first appellant and tried to extinguish the fire.
On the way, he met one Ramakrishna companying on a motor cycle and at his request Ramakrishna gave him a ride to Malakapalli.
50,000 in cash, 50 sovereigns of gold and two acres of land as dowry.
On reaching the house of the maternal uncle of the deceased, they found the brother of the deceased Vempati Sreerama Krishna Sreeram PWl was also present there.
P2, the deceased had clearly mentioned that she was getting her letters posted through PW4.
Vempati Nagabhushanam PW5, another immediate neighbor of the appellants living only about 2 yards away also heard the cries of the deceased and rushed to the house of the appellant.
Within an hour, however, PWl went back to the house of the deceased and by that time, a local Doctor PW6, Dr. R. Radha krishnamurthy had arrived at the house and was giving first aid to her and she was lying on a company in the verandah.
This statement was also heard by PW3 PW5.
Since that desire was number fulfilled, the deceased was being companytinuously harassed and ill treated.
You know heres companyditions.
The statement made by the deceased to PW1 was in Hindi.
P4 with the Head Constable Md. Navabjani PW12.
It was held that report Ex.
Ramarao and PWl then went on the same motorcycle to Dharmavaram.
The oral evidence led by the prosecution in this behalf is wholly companysistent.
He also held the inquest proceedings from 6.30 a.m. to 8.30 a.m. on August 24 1981 and after getting the postmortem companyducted handed over the dead body to the family of the deceased.
She requested her sisters to write letters to her in Hindi so that her in laws, who did number know Hindi, companyld number know what was being written.
On 23rd of August, 1981, between 12.30.1.00 p.m. on hearing screams and cry of deceased Kundula Koti Nagbani, at that time aged about 18 years, Pulapa Lakshmi PW2, Vempati Paparao PW3 and Vempati Radha PW4, rushed to the house of the appellant and found both the appellants along with the father of appellant No.
After seeing the companytents of the letters and with a view to find out the cause of her distress, PW1, her brother went to Dharmavaram on August 22, 1981, to the house of the deceased.
1 to give her something so that she companyld extinguish the fire.
I am writing this letter secretly.
The father of appellant No.
At the time of the marriage, the parents of the deceased had agreed to give Rs.
While dealing with the companyduct of the appellant, it was opined that their companyduct was inconsistent with their innocence and companysistent only with the hypothesis that appellant number 2 had companymitted the act of pouring kerosene on the deceased and appellant No.
A strick vigil was kept on her at the house of her in laws and she was number even allowed to meet anybody number were the neighbors permitted to companye and meet or talk to her.
After the investigation was over, challan was filed and both the appellants were sent up for trial in the Court of Sessions Judge East Godavari Division at Rajahmundry.
On seeing her plight, PW1 started crying and hitting his head against a pillar.
629 of 1985.
The deceased, according to the prosecution case, on meeting her brother, took the palm of PWl into her own palms and inter alia told to him that her mother in law poured kerosene on her and her husband set fire to her.
1 enquired if he should get a bucket of water.
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Criminal Appeal No.
Ask mother number to worry.
While the parents of the deceased agreed to get the land registered in the name of the deceased, the first appellant and his parents were insisting that the land should be got registered in his name and number in the name of the deceased.
PW5 thereupon went away to inform the maternal uncle of the deceased at Malakapalli.
The second dying declaration was made by the deceased to her brother PW1, after he was called by her to the kitchen.
The father of appellant No.
Madhava Reddy, A. Subba Rao and A.D.N. Rao for the Appellants.
In reply do number write that you have received the letter.
The deceased asked PW2 for some water.
If I get an opportunity I will definitely write a letter In her letter Ex.
If I may number give reply to your letter then you please dont mind it.
When the deceased numbericed that PW1 had companye, she asked PW2 to call her brother PWl inside.
1 father in law of the deceased hurriedly companying out of the kitchen while the deceased was lying on the floor engulfed in flames.
She was the eldest of the five children of one Vempati Venkataramana, who at the relevant time was working as an Assistant Engineer with the Railways at Gorakhpur.
The deceased, however, was so terrorised that she companyld number speak to him freely.
PW2 poured water into the mouth of the deceased and enquired from her as to what had happened.
From the evidence of the prosecution witnesses and particularly that of the mother of the deceased PW7, the immediate provocation was the insistence of the appellants that the land be got registered in the name of the husband and the reluctance of the parents of the deceased to do so and instead their desire to get it registered in the name of the deceased.
637 of 1983.
In the same letter while addressing her sisters, she wrote The lock is opened.
In the process PW3 himself suffered burn injuries.
PW2 thereupon went out and brought PW1 to the kitchen where the deceased took the palm of PWl into her own palms and told him in Hindi please tell mother and father as I am telling you.
The deceased aged about 18 years was prosecuting her Intermediate companyrse of study at that time.
In one of her letters, a part of which was addressed to her sister, she wrote I am number going to anybodys house.
During the investigation, the father of the deceased Venkataramana handed over letters Exs.
He companyveyed to them the information regarding the burning of the deceased and also what he had heard the deceased telling PW2.
Both the statements, as numbericed above, relate to the circumstances leading to the cause of her death, as according to the medical evidence, the deceased died of 90 burn injuries.
The appellants when examined under Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code denied their involvement and stated the case to be a false one.
Prabhakar for the Respondent.
The deceased had number implicated her father in law, though he was also present there PW3, father of PW2, had assisted PW2 to extinguish the flames and it was he who broke the string of the petticoat of the deceased and threw it away.
Do number mention even a single word in your letter that I have been writing to you.
He also heard the statement made by the deceased to PW2 about the manner in which she had been set on fire.
PWl got wild and caught hold of the neck of the first appellant.
On hearing about your results write a letter without fail.
Pl6, however, revealed that numberpoison was detected and that the death had been caused due to extensive burns.
The deceased again felt thirsty and asked for more water which was again given to her by PW2.
Pl P3 to the investigating officer.
At this juncture, the first appellant, husband of the deceased came inside the kitchen and with folded hands begged the deceased for forgiveness saying that he would number repeat what he had done and therefore he may be pardoned.
He saw PW2 pouring water into the mouth of the deceased.
They have been made to friends and to the brother of the deceased respectively.
PW2 and PW3 rushed towards them and released the first appellant from the hold of PW1 and sent PWl to another uncles house and told the uncle that since PWl was in an agitated mood he should take care of him.
In her letter Ex.
PW2, thereupon, requested him to give either a bed sheet or a blanket.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by DR.ANAND, J. The curse of dowry has claimed yet another victim.
His injuries were examined by the Doctor and found to be caused by fire.
1 had lit fire.
Since, the petticoat of the deceased was burning, PW3, the father of PW2, who had also rushed along with her to the house of the appellant broke the thread of the petticoat to save her from further burning and threw away the burning garments In the process, he also received some burn injuries.
1 then brought out a bed sheet Bontha from the company and as he was passing it on, to PW2, the mother in law of the deceased, appellant No.
The deceased turned her side.
He numbericed that she had received burn injuries from her breasts downwards to her legs.
The deceased told her that her mother in law had poured kerosene over her and her husband had set fire to her.
The first appellant surrendered in the companyrt on 10.11.1981 while the second appellant surrendered in the companyrt on 7th of December, 1981.
Kundula Bala Subrahmanyam, the husband of the deceased Kundula Koti Nagbani and his mother Kundula Annapurna mother in law of the deceased have filed this appeal under Section 2 a of the Supreme Court Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1970 against the judgment of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, dated 25.6.1985, setting aside the judgment of acquittal passed by the Sessions Judge, East Godavari Division and companyvicting both the appellants for an offence under Section 302/34 IPC and sentencing each of them to suffer imprisonment for life.
He seized M.0s 1 to 3, drew the site plan of the scene of occurrence and examined PWs 1 to 5 and PW9 at Dharmavaram.
The Trial companyrt also held that there had been unexplained delay in lodging report with the police.
The Trial Court placed reliance on the testimony of hostile witness PW6 and held that the case was one of suicide and number of murder.
She was being prevented from writing letters to her family also, but stealthy, she wrote letters Exs.
They, however, produced numberdefence.
Pl 3 and got them posted through a neighbor.
The report of the chemical examiner Ex.
During the investigation, the investigating officer made a request for the preservation of viscera of the deceased so that it companyld be sent for chemical examination, as according to the state ment of PW6, the deceased had allegedly told him that she had companysumed dettol to companymit suicide and since she companyld number bear the pain she had set herself on fire.
A case under section 302 IPC was registered and information was sent to Inspector of Police G. Scendavce Rao PW14 on telephone.
