State Of Punjab vs Sukhwinder Singh And Others on 24 October, 2009

Criminal Appeal No.434-MA of 2009                               -1-

                                ****


IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
              AT CHANDIGARH

                         Criminal Appeal No.434-MA of 2009
                         Date of decision : 24.10.2009

State of Punjab                                           .....Appellant

                         Versus
Sukhwinder Singh and others                               ...Respondents

                                ****

CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S. D. ANAND

Present: Mrs. Ravinder Kaur Nihalsinghwala,
         Additional Advocate General, Punjab for the appellant.

S. D. ANAND, J.

The impugned finding of acquittal draws sustenance from the

fact that though the deceased lady visited her parents about one week

before the date on which she committed suicide, did not make a grievance

qua the behaviour of her in-laws. Her brother entered the witness box and

conceded that no complaint had ever come to be lodged by the natal family

of the deceased lady with the police or the panchayat. That refrain on

their part does not fit in with the testimony of that witness at the trial that

the respondent/accused started inflicting dowry-related torture upon the

deceased after 2-3 months of the marriage and that she had disclosed

that fact to her parents and other members of her family. It is also in the

testimony of brother of the deceased lady that husband of deceased lady

used to occasionally visit their house after marriage in the company of his

wife. If the deceased had been subjected to any dowry-related torture,

there is no reason why she could not have brought the facts to the notice

of the members of her natal family. It is further in the testimony of brother
Criminal Appeal No.434-MA of 2009 -2-

****

of the deceased lady that there never was any quarrel between the

deceased lady and her husband. He was not in a position to quote any

specific instance of harassment or mental cruelty in the context. On the

other hand, father of the deceased lady who appeared as PW-8 conceded

that the deceased was on medication and that she used to accompany her

mother-in-law to obtain medicines. She used to bring those medicines

whenever she would visit her natal house. On that basis, the learned Trial

Judge found preponderance of probability in the defence view that she was

under treatment and mental depression due to her ailment. It is also in

evidence that respondent-accused Sukhwinder Singh was not at home on

the date of occurrence. Further, it was on 5.5.2007 that she had gone to

the matrimonial house. She consumed poison on 15.5.2007. She never

talked to her father even on telephone during that period.

The line of reasoning adopted by the learned Trial Judge is in

accord with the settled principle of appreciation of evidence in the light of

fragility noticed by the learned Trial Judge in the evidence on which no

finding of conviction could have been recorded. There is no perversity or

illegality in the manner of appreciation of evidence at the hands of the

learned Trial Judge. The plea for obtaining leave of the Court to appeal

against the acquittal shall stand declined.

Dismissed.

October 24, 2008                                     (S. D. ANAND)
Pka                                                     JUDGE

Note: Whether to be referred to Reporter: Yes/No