IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU DATED THIS THE 01ST DAY OF APRIL, 2019 BEFORE THE HON’BLE MR.JUSTICE B.A. PATIL CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 6430/2018 BETWEEN:
Sri.Golagani Anil Kumar, Aged about 29 years, S/o G.Satyanarayana, Resident of 80-27-14, J.N.Road, Near Abhaya Hospital, Rajahmundri (Urban) East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh – 533010. ...Petitioner (By Sri.C.V.Nagesh, senior counsel for Sri.Raghavendra.K, Advocate) AND:
State of Karnataka, By the Electronic City Police Station, Rep. by State Public Prosecutor, High Court of Karnataka, Bengaluru – 560001. ... Respondent (By Sri.M.Divakar Maddur, HCGP) This Criminal Petition is filed under Section 439 of Cr.P.C praying to enlarge the petitioner on bail in Crime No.132/2017 registered by Electronic City Police Station, Bengaluru and in Spl.C.C.No.244/2017 pending on the file of II Additional District and Sessions Judge, Bengaluru Rural District, Bengaluru for the offences punishable under Sections 498(A) and 304(B) of IPC and Sections 3 and 4 of Dowry Prohibition Act and Sections 3(1)(r) and 3(2)(v) of SC/ST (POA) Act.
This Criminal Petition coming on for Orders, this day, the Court made the following:
O R D E R The present petition has been filed by the petitioner/accused No.1 under Section 439 of Cr.P.C., seeking to release him on regular bail in Crime No.132/2017 (C.C.No.244/2017) of Electronic City Police Station, Bengaluru registered for the offences punishable under Sections 498A and 304B of IPC and under Sections 3 & 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 and under Sections 3(1)(r) and 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (for short ‘SC & ST Act’).
2. I have heard the learned senior counsel Sri.C.V.Nagesh for the petitioner and the learned High Court Government Pleader for respondent-State.
3. Though this Court by orders dated 31.08.2018 and 27.11.2018 notified the complainant to be present, but remained absent.
4. The gist of the complaint is that complainant’s parents have 3 sons and 1 daughter. The mother of the victim died when she was 5 years and she has been brought up in the hands of her maternal grand mother and uncles. She was educated till engineering and thereafter, the deceased informed that she has fallen in love with the accused/petitioner and if they agree, she will marry him. Thereafter, they enquired with the accused/petitioner and they came to know that he is having illegal affairs with few women and the said fact was told to the deceased that it is not good to marry him. Subsequently, when the deceased discontinued her studies and after 1 year she continued and at that time also accused/petitioner also discontinued his studies and thereafter they got married on 04.12.2016 in the presence of few elders. It is further alleged that to the said marriage, the uncles and relatives of the deceased have not attended and soon after 1 month of marriage the accused/petitioner started harassing the deceased as he wanted to buy a two wheeler and demanded Rs.1 lakh and the said amount has been paid by the deceased. Again thereafter, the accused/petitioner started illtreating and harassing her for dowry, then she took gold loan and had given him money. Again he started demanding the dowry and used to beat her and torture her and also used loose words using the name of her caste. It is further alleged in the complaint that in the month of April, 2017, deceased called the complainant and his brothers through phone and complained against the accused/petitioner that he is having an extra marital relationship with a married woman by name Gowri. It is also further stated in the complaint that the said accused/petitioner and Gowri used to communicate through watsapp and when she asked the accused/petitioner to stop the said relationship, then also there used to be quarrels. Even the accused/petitioner used to harass for bringing Rs.5 lakhs as dowry. If she is not going to bring then the said Gowri is more beautiful than her and he also abused deceased saying that she was a Scheduled Caste woman and used the word “Mala Munda” in Telugu and the said fact was told by the deceased to the grand mother. It is further stated that on 07.05.2017 on Sunday at about 11.00 p.m. complainant got a message that the deceased committed suicide by hanging and after coming to know about the said facts, a complaint was registered.
5. It is the submission of the learned senior counsel for the petitioner that already charge sheet has been filed and accused/petitioner is not required for the purpose of investigation or interrogation. He further submits that there is delay of 3 days in filing the complaint. He further submitted that during the life time of the deceased she has not raised a single little finger against the accused/petitioner and no compliant has been registered. He further submits that the accused/petitioner was intending to marry the deceased and the said marriage was objected by the uncle and grand mother of the deceased and they have not attended the marriage also. He further submitted that the mother of the deceased died by committing suicide and the father of the deceased ran away from the place and that no body was there to the deceased and marriage was attended by the relatives of the accused/petitioner. He further submits that the uncles and relatives of the deceased were not intending to give her in marriage and no basic evidence have been produced to show that the deceased used to call and inform the complainant and other witnesses about the ill-treatment and harassment caused by the accused/petitioner to her. He further submits that if actually the accused/petitioner has demanded dowry then there was no question of deceased giving the amount of Rs.1 lakh from her account. He further submits that no documents have been produced for having pledged the gold ornaments and given the amount to the accused/petitioner. He further submits that the main allegation which has been made in the complaint is that the accused/petitioner was having extra marital relationship with one Gowri and if the said fact if it is taken into consideration then the suicide will not be amounting to dowry death. He further submits by drawing the attention of this Court to Section 3(1)(r) of SC & ST Act, that the said altercation taken place between the deceased and the accused/petitioner within the close corner of four walls of the house and not in a public place and as such, the said provision is not applicable. In order to attract the said provisions, the said incident or intermediates or humiliation of the member of the SC & ST Act has to take place within the public view. In that light also, the said provision is also not attracted. He further submits that the word used is soon before the death there must be ill-treatment and harassment but no such material has been produced to show that soon before the death, the deceased was ill- treated and harassed. He further submits that prior to the alleged incident the deceased had been to the house of the complainant and she was carrying and it is the accused/petitioner who went and brought her and was residing along with the deceased. If really the accused/petitioner was ill-treating and harassing her then there was no question of he going and calling and bringing her back. He further submits that the Court below without considering all these aspects has come to a wrong conclusion. By drawing my attention to the provision of Section 15A(5) of SC & ST Act he further submitted that the victim or her dependant shall be entitled to be heard at any proceeding under this Act in respect of bail, discharge, release, parole, conviction or sentence of an accused or any connected proceedings or arguments and file written submission on conviction, acquittal or sentencing. But in this case no dependants are there and the said provisions are not applicable to the present facts on hand. He further submits that since 2 years the accused/petitioner is languishing in jail. Both are graduates and they have been employed in M/s. Infosys BPO Ltd. and that they were having sufficient income and they were leading happy matrimonial home. Under such facts and circumstances, there is no question of demand of dowry and there was no ill-treatment and harassment caused to the deceased. The accused/petitioner is ready to abide by any conditions that may be imposed on him by this Court and ready to offer surety. On these grounds, he prayed to allow the petition and to release the accused/petitioner on bail.
6. Per Contra, learned High Court Government Pleader vehemently argued and submitted that soon before the death, there was ill-treatment and harassment caused by the accused/petitioner for demand of dowry and gold and even the accused/petitioner has abused by taking the name of her caste. He further submits that the statement of CW 1, 5 and 6 clearly shows that there was harassment for demand of dowry. He further submits that the accused/petitioner was also having illicit relationship with one Gowri and because of the said illicit relationship there was ill-treatment and harassment caused to the deceased and as a result of which, the deceased committed suicide by hanging. He further submits that there are ample materials to connect accused/petitioner to the alleged crime and there are no good grounds to release the accused/petitioner on bail. On these grounds, he prayed to dismiss the petition.
7. I have carefully and cautiously gone through the submissions made by the learned counsel for both the parties and perused the records.
8. As could be seen from the records, the allegations which have been made are that there was ill- treatment and harassment by the accused/petitioner for demand of dowry and he was having extra marital relationship with a married woman by name Gowri, who has been sighted as accused No.2 in this case.
9. On close reading of the contents of the complaint and other materials, when discussing the merits of the case on hand, though it is alleged in the complaint that there was ill-treatment and harassment to the deceased for demand of dowry by the accused, there is a delay of 3 days in filing the complaint. No materials have been produced to show that the deceased used to inform the complainant and his brothers about the ill-treatment and harassment caused to her. If really she used to communicate over phone then under such circumstances, definitely the prosecution could have produced the call details. On going through the records, the investigating officer has requested to give call details and a mahazar has also been drawn on 12.05.2017 stating that on verifying the mobile phone and details no such messages had passed through the said mobile phone No.9986344434 and the same has been deleted and deletion will be noticed only when if it is retrieved from the said mobile.
10. Be that as it may, even as could be seen from the records, in the first instance, the demand of dowry of Rs.1 lakh was drawn from the account of the deceased and paid to the accused/petitioner and it is alleged in the complaint that thereafter when he started harassing her for demand of dowry at that time, she took gold loan and gave the amount. But in order to substantiate the said fact, so far as taking the gold loan, gold has to be pledged or she has to keep some where and this record has not been produced in this behalf. Even the Uncles and relatives of the deceased have not attended the marriage and the marriage has been performed by the relatives of the accused/petitioner. Then under such circumstances, demanding of dowry itself appears to be artificial and only for the purpose of the complaint such allegations have been made. Even as could be seen from the original complaint the complainant has marked/underlined wherever SC & ST word has been used. When it is observed, it is understood that he wants to take the advantage of the said act by filing the complaint. Be that as it may, even if the complaint, if it is closely read it has been alleged that the accused/petitioner was having extra marital relationship with the married woman Gowri and they used to converse with each other and the said Gowri used to ask the accused/petitioner to kill the deceased and the said deceased had seen the messages and she was shivering when she called to her grand mother Smt.Lakshmikanthamma. But as per the mahazar drawn on 12.05.2017, neither the said messages nor the call details have been furnished. That itself falsifies the contention taken in this behalf. The death is not in dispute. The death of the deceased is by hanging herself. But under the facts and circumstances, the provisions of the Dowry Prohibition Act does not attract. Even if on plain reading of the charge sheet material available, at the most, the offence which is attracted is either 306 of IPC or other offences. Under the said facts and circumstances, I feel that by imposing some stringent conditions, if the accused/petitioner is ordered to be released on bail, that when already charge sheet has been filed, it is going to meet the ends of justice.
11. In the light of the discussions held by me above, petition is allowed. Petitioner/accused is enlarged on bail in Crime No.132/2017 (C.C.No.244/2017) of Electronic City Police Station, Bengaluru registered for the offences punishable under Sections 498A and 304B of IPC and under Sections 3 & 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 and under Sections 3(1)(r) and 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 subject to the following conditions:
1. Petitioner/accused shall execute a personal bond for a sum of Rs.2,00,000/-(Rupees Two lakhs only) with two sureties for the likesum to the satisfaction of the trial Court.
2. He shall not leave the jurisdiction of the trial Court without prior permission.
3. He shall mark his attendance once in a month i.e., on 1st of every month between 10.00 a.m., and 5.00 p.m., before the concerned police station, till the trial is concluded.
4. He shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence directly or indirectly.
5. He shall regularly appear before the trial Court for trial, without fail.
Sd/- JUDGE NS