Appeal by Special Leave from the Judgment and Order dated 23 10 73 of the Delhi High Court in Criminal Appeal No.
On receipt of this information, S.I. Din Dayal P.W. 21 proceeded to the hospital accompanied by companystable Raghubir Singh P.W. 6 .
P.W. 21/F of Kamla in the presence of the said doctor.
I had asked him as to why he had companye home late whereupon he got annoyed and beat me.
P.W. 10/A together with Kamlas aforesaid statement Exh.
On being informed by the doctor on duty at the hospital that Kamla was unconscious and as such number in a fit companydition to make a statement, the Sub Inspector sent companystable Raghubir Singh to the scene of occurrence with instructions to keep a watch over the same, and himself remained in the hospital waiting for an appropriate opportunity to record the statement of Kamla after her revival.
On July 8, 1971, the Sub Inspector also got the appellant examined by Dr. Obnesh Kaur P.W. 20 who found the following injuries on his person Multiple blisters posterior aspect lower 1/3rd left upper arm An irregular superficial torn out blisters unceration on the posterior aspect left forearm upper 1/3rd.
On arrival of the scene of occurrence after despatching the dying declaration Exh.
He found superficial burns all over the body from the skull to the toes which according to him were antemortem and sufficient in the ordinary companyrse of nature to cause death.
In reply to their query, Kamla told them that the appellant did number companye back to the house from his office on the evening of July 5, 1971 and spent the whole of the night intervening the 5th and 6th of July, 1971 in Shahdara that on returning to the house on the morning of July 6, 1971, the appellant awakened her and asked her to prepare the meal which she did but the appellant threw it away and beat her that on her asking the appellant to send her to her parents house, the appellant abused her, bolted the door of the room from inside, sprinkled kerosene oil on her clothing and set them on fire.
On companypletion of the investigation, the appellant was proceeded against in the Court of the Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Delhi who companymitted him to the Court of Session at Delhi for trial under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.
This statement was to the following effect My husband sprinkled kerosene oil over me and set fire and when later on I had sufficiently been burnt he put a bucket full of water over me.
At 7.50 A.M. on the morning of July 7, 1971, the Sub Inspector again repeated his request to the doctor on duty for permission to record the statement of Kamla but it was only at 10.30 A.M. that Dr. Avtar Singh Gill P.W. 18 who was on duty at that time gave him the requisite permission which enabled him to record the statement Exh.
Shortly after the departure of the Sub Inspector the parents of Kamla namely Roshan P.W. 1 and Phool Vati W. 2 enquired of Kamla as to how she had sustained the burns on her body.
The appeal preferred by the appellant to the High Court having proved abortive, he has companye up in appeal to this Court by special leave, as already stated.
We have heard companynsel for the parties and gone through the record.
In the opinion of the doctor, injuries i to iv were simple burns of more than 24 hours duration.
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Criminal Appeal No.
After about an hour of this statement, the companydition of Kamla deteriorated and she succumbed to her injuries at about 12.25 P.M. Dr. Bharat Singh, Police Surgeon, Delhi P.W. 11 performed the autopsy on the dead body of Kamla on July 8, 1971.
It was about 1 P.M. and I had number quarreled with my husband Jaswant Singh.
After beating me he sprinkled kerosene oil over me and set fire to my clothes.
He tried several times upto the midnight to have the permission of the doctor on duty to record the statement of Kamla but each time the doctor declared the patient unfit to make a statement.
R. Khanna and R. N. Sachthey for the Respondent.
P.W. 21/F to his Police Station for registration of the case under section 307 of the Indian Penal Code and himself left for the scene of the occurrence.
Atorn blister ulceration on the first joint of the left index finger dorsum side.
Alongwith the appellant who was present there, they companyered Kamla with a bed sheet, put her on a company and took her downstairs in the street wherefrom she was removed in a tempo to Irwin Hospital, Delhi.
Briefly stated, the circumstances giving rise to this appeal are Attracted by the screams emanating from the house of the appellant situate in Basti Chain Sukh Das, Kala Mahal, Daryaganj, Delhi on the afternoon of July 6, 1971, the neighbours namely Murari Lal P.W. 4 , Gulab Singh P.W. 5 and one Kishan Lal rushed to the spot.
At about 5.20 in the evening on that day, companystable Baldev Singh P.W. 7 posted on duty at the Emergency Ward of the said Hospital, rang up the Police Station, Jama Masjid, Delhi, informing it that the appellant had got his wife, Kamla, admitted in the emergency ward of the hospital at about 4.15 or 4.30 P.M. because of some burns sustained by her at her house and requesting that some officer might be sent to the place of the occurrence.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by JASWANT SINGH, J. This appeal by special leave is directed against the judgment and order dated October 23, 1973 of the High Court of Delhi companyfirming the judgment and order dated July 29, 1972 of the Additional Sessions Judge, Delhi companyvicting the appellant under section 302 of the Indian Panel Code and sentencing him thereunder to imprisonment for life for causing the death of his wife.
After performing the necessary tests, the Chemical Examiner sent a report to the Superintendent of Police, Central District, Delhi inter alia stating therein that the liquid companytained in the bottle was kerosene oil and that traces of kerosene oil were present on the half burnt clothes of the deceased.
An irregular superficial burns with minor blisters dorsum back side of wrist of left wrist.
118 of 1972.
At the time of setting fire to my clothes he had closed the door from inside.
346 of 1974.
L. Kohli, Amicus Curiae for the Appellant.
On reaching the first floor of the house, they found the appellants wife named Kamla, aged 27 years, lying unconscious outside the living room in the companyrtyard with burns all over her body.
P.W. 21/F to the Police Station, the Sub Inspector prepared the site plan, got the place photographed by Head Constable Inder Singh P.W. 3 and seized a few articles from the living room of the appellants house including a bottle companytaining some kerosene oil, a match box, some burnt match sticks, some half burnt clothes of the deceased and an unserviceable stove without any kerosene oil vide Exhibit P.W. 8/A which he sent to the Chemical Examiner for examination.
After companypleting the necessary formalities, the Sub Inspector sent Rooqa Exh.
On the basis of the observations made by him, the doctor opined that the cause of the death of Kamla was shock and toximia due to burns.
The doctor also found almost full grown dead male foetus in the womb of the deceased.
