PETITIONER:
KAILASH KAUR
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
STATE OF PUNJAB
DATE OF JUDGMENT28/04/1987
BENCH:
ERADI, V. BALAKRISHNA (J)
BENCH:
ERADI, V. BALAKRISHNA (J)
SEN, A.P. (J)
CITATION:
1987 AIR 1368 1987 SCR (2)1221
1987 SCC (2) 631 JT 1987 (2) 278
1987 SCALE (1)1172
ACT:
Indian Penal Code, 1860: s. 302--Bride Burning--Gruesome
murder of young wife--Barbaric act of pouring kerosene oil
and setting her on fire--Duty of the Court to award maximum
penalty.
Criminal Dial.
Dowry death--Necessity to award maximum punishment.
HEADNOTE:
The prosecution alleged that on the evening of May 30,
1974 the appellant's daughter caught hold of the deceased,
and the appellant poured kerosene oil on her and set her on
fire. On hearing deceased's screams the neighbours rushed to
the house and extinguished the flames. Thereafter, she was
taken to the hospital where on the basis of questions put by
the doctor (P.W. 2), Head Constable (P.W. 7) recorded her
statement. She expired on June 1, 1974. It was further
alleged that the husband and his parents were unhappy about
the quantum of dowry brought by the deceased and she was,
therefore being subjected to severe harassment and maltreat-
ment. In a letter written by the deceased to her father she
had set out the details of the iII treatment meted to her
and expressed grave apprehension that her life was in immi-
nent danger.
The trial court convicted the appellant and her daughter
of the offence under s. 302 I.P.C. acting on the dying
declaration made by the deceased, the letter written by her
to her father and his evidence as to the demands for dowry
and the torture inflicted on his daughter. The husband was
given benefit of doubt and acquitted.
The High Court confirmed the conviction of the appellant
but acquitted the daughter giving her benefit of doubt.
Dismissing the appeal, the Court,
HELD: 1.1. The conviction of the appellant by the High
Court was fully justified. The dying declaration made by the
deceased wherein
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she has given a clear and vivid account of the pouring of
kerosene oil over her body and being set on fire by the
appellant, has the ring of truth. The testimony of the
doctor (P.W. 2) and the Head Constable (P.W. 7) clearly
establishes that she was in a fit condition to make the
statement. There was, therefore, no reason whatever not to
act upon it. [1224D; G]
1.2. In addition, there was also clear circumstantial
evidence furnished by the letter written by the deceased to
her father and the testimony of the father regarding the
demands for dowry and the harassment and torture inflicted
on the deceased as part of the endeavour to extract more
dowry. [1224F-G]
2. Whenever a case of gruesome murder of a young wife by
the barbaric process of pouring kerosene oil over the body
and setting her on fire as the culmination of a long process
of physical and mental harassment for extraction of more
dowry comes before the court and the offence is brought home
to the accused beyond reasonable doubt, it is the duty of
the court to deal with the case in the most severe and
strict manner and award the maximum penalty prescribed by
the law in order that it may operate as a deterrent to other
persons from committing such anti-social crimes. [1222H;
1223A]
JUDGMENT:
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal No. 221
of 1978.
From the Judgment and Order dated 30.3.1978 of the
Punjab and Haryana High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 252 of
1975.
A.N. Mulla, R.L. Kohli, Harjinder Singh and R.C. Kohli
for the Appellants.
R.S. Sodhi for the Respondent.
The. Judgment of the Court was delivered by
BALAKRISHNA ERADI, J. This is yet another unfortunate
instance of gruesome murder of a young wife by the barbaric
process of pouring kerosene oil over the body and setting
her on fire as the culmination of a long process of physical
and mental harassment for extraction of more dowry. Whenever
such cases come before the Court and the offence is brought
home to the accused beyond reasonable doubt, it is the duty
of the Court to deal with it in most severe and
1223
strict manner and award the maximum penalty prescribed by
the law in order that it may operate as a deterrent to other
persons from committing such anti-social crimes.
Amandeep Kaur, deceased, was married to Avtar Singh who
figured as the first accused in the case in the Sessions
Court. Kailash Kaur, the appellant, is the mother-in-law of
the deceased and Mahinder Kaur who figured as the third
accused in the case is the sister of Avtar Singh. The hus-
band and his parents were allegedly unhappy about the quan-
tum of dowry brought by the deceased and she was being
subjected to severe harassment and maltreatment with a view
to extract more dowry from her parents. Exhibit PK is a
letter written by the deceased to her father Avtar Singh
(P.W. 3) in which she has set out the details of the harass-
ment and maltreatment and expressed her grave apprehension
that unless she was immediately taken back to the father’s
house, her life itself was in imminent danger. On may 30,
1974, in the evening. Kailash Kaur and Mahinder Kaur started
quarreling with the deceased and severely abused and threat-
ened her. Thereupon, the deceased went to her room and
bolted its door from inside. Sometime later Avtar Singh,
husband of the deceased, came to the house and started
knocking at the door of the said room with great force
because of which the door got unbolted. It would appear that
after the door was opened Avtar Singh went away from the
house. It is the prosecution case that immediately thereaf-
ter Mahinder Kaur caught hold of the deceased and Kailash
Kaur (appellant) poured kerosene oil on her and set her on
fire. The deceased started screaming on hearing which the
people residing in the locality rushed to the house. Avtar
Singh, the husband also reached there in the meantime, As
she was engulfed in flames, somebody put a blanket on Aman-
deep Kaur and extinguished the flames. Thereafter she was
carried to the Civil Hospital, Hoshiarpur. Dr. Har Parkash
Bhatia (P.W. 2), who examined her sent information to the
local police station on receipt of which Head Constable
Naranjan Singh (P.W. 7), went over to the hospital. The
doctor sent everybody other than the Head Constable out of
the room where the patient was lying. He told the deceased
that he would put her questions about the cause of her
death. On the basis of the questions put by the doctor, Head
Constable Naranjan Singh (P.W. 7) recorded her statement, on
the basis of which formal First Information Report was
lodged at Police Station, Hoshiarpur. Amandeep Kaur expired
on June 1, 1974.
At the trial the prosecution relied on Ex. PF/3, the
dying declaration made by the deceased–Amandeep Kaur, the
letter Ex. PK writ-
1224
ten by her to her father Atar Singh (P.W. 3) and the evi-
dence of P.W. 3 wherein he stated that the appellant, her
son and daughter were dissatisfied about the quantum of
dowry brought by Amandeep Kaur and on that account they had
been torturing her. The learned trial Judge acting on the
aforesaid evidence convicted Kailash Kaur and Mahinder Kaur
of the offence under Section 302 I.P.C.-and acquitted Avtar
Singh, the husband, accused giving him the benefit of doubt.
Kailash Kaur and Mahinder Kaur carried the matter in
appeal before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. The High
Court confirmed the conviction of the appellant–herein
namely, Kailash Kaur, but acquitted Mahinder Kaur giving her
the benefit of doubt. Aggrieved by the said judgment, the
appellant has preferred this appeal before this Court after
obtaining special leave.
Notwithstanding the learned and persuasive arguments
advanced before us by Shri A.N. Mulla, Senior Counsel ap-
pearing on behalf of the appellant, we find absolutely no
merit in this appeal. There is no reason whatever not to act
upon the dying declaration of the deceased wherein she has
given a clear and vivid account of the pouring of kerosene
oil over body and her being set on fire by the appellant.
She had also implicated Mahinder Kaur as the person who held
her while the kerosene oil was being poured on her body by
the appellant. We have very grave doubts about the legality,
propriety and correctness of the decision of the High Court
in so far as it has acquitted Mahinder Kaur by giving her
the benefit of doubt. But since the State has not preferred
any appeal, we are not called upon to go into that aspect
any further.
In addition to the dying declaration there is also clear
circumstantial evidence furnished by the fetter Ex. PK and
the testimony of Atar Singh (P.W. 3) father of the deceased
regarding the demands for dowry and the harassment and
torture inflicted on the deceased by the accused as part of
the endeavour to extract more dowry. The dying declaration
made by the deceased has the ring of truth and the testimony
of the doctor–P.W. 2 and of the Head Constable–P.W. 7
clearly establishes that she was in a fit condition to make
the statement. The conviction of the appellant by the High
Court was, therefore, fully justified and there is absolute-
ly no ground for interference with the same by this Court.
We only express our regret that the Sessions Judge did not
treat this as a fit case for awarding the maximum penalty
under the law and that no steps were taken by the
1225
State Government before the High Court for enhancement of
the sentence.
The appeal is accordingly dismissed. The bail bond of
the appellant will stand cancelled and she will be taken
into custody forthwith to serve out the remaining portion of
her sentence.
P.S.S. Appeal dis-
missed.
1226