[1] The present Appeal, under Section 378 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, is filed by the appellant - State of Gujarat against the Judgment and order dated 16.04.1994 passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge, Banaskantha at Palanpur, in Sessions Case No. 85 of 1988, whereby the learned Judge has acquitted the respondents - original accused from the charges alleged against them.
[2] The brief facts of the prosecution case are that the incident took place between 20.04.1988 and 21.04.1988 between 11.00 p.m to 6.00 a.m. According to the complaint, accused No.3 - Ganesh Valbhaji Brahman is the son of accused No.2. The accused No.1 is distant relative of them. The marriage of deceased Ganga, daughter of the complainant was solemnized with respondent No.3 (original accused No.3) before about 4 years of the incident. According to the complaint, after two years of marriage, the accused started giving harassment to the deceased Ganga. According to the complaint, at the instigation of the accused No.1 and 2, the accused No.3 is gave mental as well as physical torture frequently to her. It is alleged that as and when Ganga went to her parental home, she talked her parents about the harassment by her inlaws. It is also alleged that the accused - Ganeshbhai had demanded Rs.15,000/- from his brother-inlaw Manubhai through his wife Ganga. It is alleged that thereafter between 20.04.1988 and 21.04.1988, the accused No.1 threw Ganga in the well. On 21.04.1988 in the morning at about 10.00 a.m, it is informed that his daughter is ill and, therefore, the complainant, his brother and relatives went to the house of the accused at Village : Rampura where the accused No.1 saw that Ganga, daughter of the complainant fallen in the well and dead. Therefore, the complaint was lodged against the accused for the offence under Sections 498(A), 306 of I.P. Code before the Dhanera Police Station.
[3] Necessary investigation was carried out, statements of the witnesses were recorded. Thereafter, after completion of investigation, the charge-sheet was filed against the respondents - accused in the Court of learned J.M.F.C. Thereafter, as the case was triable by the Court of Sessions, the learned Magistrate committed the case to the Court of Sessions. Thereafter, the charge was framed against the respondents - accused. The respondents - accused pleaded not guilty to the charge and claimed to be tried.
[4] To prove the case against the accused, the prosecution has examined the witnesses and relied upon certain documents. At the end of trial, after recording the statements of the respondents - accused, under Section 313 Cr. P.C., and after hearing the arguments on behalf of the prosecution and the defence, the learned Additional Sessions Judge, vide the impugned Judgment and order, has acquitted the respondents - accused from the charges levelled against them.
[5] Being aggrieved by and dissatisfied with the aforesaid Judgment and order of acquittal, the appellant - State of Gujarat has preferred this Appeal.
[6] Heard learned A.P.P. Ms. Hansa Punani, appearing on behalf of the appellant
- State of Gujarat and Mr.Kishor Prajapati, learned advocate for Mr.Mehul Rathod, learned advocate for the respondents. I have gone through the Judgment and order passed by the trial Court and also considered the documents produced on the record of the case.
[7] Learned APP, appearing on behalf of the appellant, has contended that the Judgment and order passed by the learned Judge is without considering the facts and evidence on the record. She has contended that looking to the complaint and the deposition of the witnesses it clearly appears that due to the mental and physical harassment by the husband and in-laws, the deceased Ganga had committed suicide. She has also contended that, prima-facie, it appears that due to mental and physical torture from the husband and other family members, the deceased had committed suicide. The learned APP has also drawn the attention of the deposition of the prosecution witnesses and contended that from the deposition of witnesses it clearly appears that there was mental harassment on the part of the accused and her husband was taunting her by saying about her bad character. She has also read the medical evidence as also the Post Mortem Report and contended that the death of deceased was caused due to asphyxia due to drowning. She has, therefore, contended that looking to the over all evidence, the prosecution has established its case beyond reasonable doubt and the learned Judge has wrongly acquitted the accused from the charges levelled against them. She, therefore, contended that the Judgment and order of the trial Court is bad in law and perverse and, therefore, the same requires to be quashed and set aside.
[8] Mr.Kishor Prajapati, learned advocate for Mr.Mehul Rathod, learned advocate for the respondents has contended that looking to the oral version of the complainant and other witnesses, it is beyond reasonable doubt. He has contended that the ingredients of Sections 107 and 108 of the Indian Penal Code is not proved beyond reasonable doubt by the prosecution. He has also contended that the ingredients of Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code is also not proved by the prosecution beyond reasonable doubt. Learned advocate read paragraph Nos.14 to 17 of the judgment and contended that learned Judge has rightly observed that the prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and rightly acquitted the respondents from the charges levelled against them. He has, therefore, prayed that the appeal deserves to be dismissed and the judgment and order of the trial Judge is required to be confirmed.
[9] I have gone through the papers produced before me as also the Judgment of the Court below. I have also considered the oral as well as documentary produced on record. From the deposition of witnesses it appears that the witnesses are relatives of the deceased and though they are related to the deceased, not a single witness has deposed anything about the conduct or mis-behaviour of the accused with the deceased. From their depositions the prosecution could not be able to prove that due to physical and mental cruelty the deceased committed suicide. I have also gone through the main ingredients of Section 498-A I.P.Code, which reads as under :
"498-A
- Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty - whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine -
[Explanation
- For the purpose of this section, "cruelty" means
-
(a) any wilful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of the woman, or
(b) harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand].
[10] Cruelty must be proved through direct evidence of witnesses. In the present case, from the oral evidence of witnesses, the prosecution could not prove that due to the conduct and harassment by the accused the deceased has committed suicide. The learned Judge, in his Judgment in Para - 19 has clearly observed that the prosecution has not produced any evidence to show that the deceased was harassed by the accused. There are material contradictions in the evidence of witnesses. No independent witnesses have been examined to support the case of the prosecution. Learned Judge has observed that the prosecution has failed to prove the ingredients of Sections 498A, 306 and 114 of the Indian Penal Code.
Looking to all the evidence examined before the learned Judge, the aspect of instigation or provocation are not established which resulted to commit suicide by the deceased.
Even the ingredients under Section 498(A) and 306 of the Indian Penal Code are not attracted to the case of the accused. Therefore, the learned trial Judge has rightly acquitted the accused from the charges levelled against them. Therefore, it appears that the accused have been falsely involved in the case. I am, therefore, of the opinion that the learned Judge has not committed any error in not believing the case of prosecution. In my opinion, therefore, the Judgment of the trial Court is proper and no interference is called for.
[11] It is settled legal position that in acquittal appeal, the Appellate Court is not required to re-write the Judgment or to give fresh reasonings when the Appellate Court is in agreement with the reasons assigned by the trial Court acquitting the accused. In the instant case, this Court is in full agreement with the reasons given and findings recorded by the trial Court while acquitting the respondents
- accused and adopting the said reasons and for the reasons aforesaid, in my view, the impugned judgment is just, legal and proper and requires no interference by this Court at this stage. Hence, this Appeal requires to be dismissed.
[12] In view of above, the Appeal is dismissed. The Judgment and order dated 16.04.1994 passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge, Banaskantha at Palanpur, in Sessions Case No. 85 of 1988 is hereby confirmed. Bail Bonds, if any, shall stand cancelled. Record & Proceeding to be sent back to the trial Court immediately.
[ Z. K. SAIYED, J. ] vijay Top