Criminal Appeal No. 235 of 1990. Case: Sarojakshan Shankaran Nayar, and others Vs State of Maharashtra. High Court of Bombay (India)
| Case Number | Criminal Appeal No. 235 of 1990 |
| Counsel | For Appellants: S. G. Deshmukh, Adv. and For Respondents: D. U. Mirajkar, A.P.P. |
| Judges | Mr. V. A. Mohta and V. Bahuguna , JJ. |
| Issue | Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) - Section 498A |
| Citation | 1995 CriLJ 340 |
| Judgement Date | August 17, 1994 |
| Court | High Court of Bombay (India) |
Judgment:
Vijay Bahuguna, J.
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The Appel lants herein have been convicted by the Addi tional Sessions Judge, Pune, for offence under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code. Appel lant No. 1 has been awarded R.I. for a period of six months and to pay fine of Rs. 1000/- and in default, to suffer further imprisonment of 15 days. Appellants Nos. 2 and 3, who are father and mother respectively of Appellant No. 1, have been sentenced to suffer S. I. till rising of the Court and pay a fine of Rs. 500/- and in default suffer 10 days R.I. The Appellants were acquit ted of the charge under Section 302 IPC against which the State has preferred an appeal.
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Deceased Rajaeshwari was married to the 1st Appellant on 24-8-1977 at Madras and after marriage she was living with her husband and in- laws at Vadgaon-sheri, Pune. She died of exten sive burns injuries between 9.30 and 10.00 p.m. on 4-7-1981 at her residence. The Appellants were tried for offence under Section 302 r/w. S. 498A of the IPC but the learned Addl. Sessions Judge giving benefit of doubt acquitted the Ap pellants from the charge under Section 302 IPC for having committed the murder of deceased Rajeshwari. The Appellants were however con victed and sentenced under Section 498A of the IPC as stated above.
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Section 498A of the IPC extends protection to the woman from the whims and caprices of man. This Section was incorporated in the statute to fill in the lacuna in the existing law, so that if the wife commits suicide, the guilty does not escape. 'Cruelty' as defined in Section 498A means"any willful 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 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." The expres sion 'cruelty' takes within its sweep both mental and physical agony and torture. The concept of cruelty varies form place to place and individual to individual and according to the social and economic status of the person involved. The question whether the act complained of was an act of cruelty has to be determined from the whole fact and relationship between the parties. The cultural and temperamental state of life among them are factors from where the cruelty has to be inferred and will depend on the facts of each case. The expression cruelty postulates such a treatment as to cause reasonable apprehension in the mind of the wife that her living with the husband will be harmful and injurious to her life. Therefore, to decide the question of cruelty the relevant factors are the matrimonial relationship between the husband and wife, their cultural and temperament status in life, state of health, their interaction in their daily life which dominate the aspect of cruelty.
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In this background of the legal position, we proceed to examine the evidence on record to satisfy ourselves in regard to the correctness of the judgment of the learned trial Judge. We have heard the Counsel for the Appellant and for the State.
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The prosecution story in a nutshell is that the deceased Rajeshwari married with the Appel lant No. 1 on 24-8-1977 at Madras and after the marriage she was living with her husband and his parents and given birth to a child who is now 8 to 9 years old. The incident took place on 4-7-1988 between 8.30 and 10.00 p.m. Deceased Rajeshwari was found dead with extensive burn injuries in the toilet of her residence at Pradhikaran Section No. 27/A, Nigdi. The prosecution story as it unfolds from the evidence is that the de ceased Rajeshwari was subjected to harassment, insult, and torture by the Appellants and there were frequent quarrels. The deceased had to leave her job as a Stenographer in a private company. Thereafter again she got a job in Maharashtra Capacitors at Pune, which also she was compelled to leave as her husband was suspecting her character and was calling her a prostitute. The 1st Appellant was a person of highly suspicious nature and suspected the char acter of his wife Rajeshwari and quarreled with her on petty issues. On 4-7-1987 at late hours the deceased was found dead in the toilet and a report of the said incident was given by the 1st Appel lant. After investigation the Appellants were tried for the offence of murder punishable under Section 302 and also under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code. In support of the prosecution case, the following witnesses were examined:-
Madhav Shankar Purandare (P.W. 1), Balkrishna Keshavan Nayar (P.W. 2), Sujata Madhav Purandare (P.W. 3), Pharurkrishna Narayanaswami (P.W. 4), Aparna Madhav Purandare (P.W. 5), Pramila Ramchandra Nayar (P.W. 6), Kumud Madhukar Samant (P.W. 7), Laxmi Keshavan Nayar (P.W. 8), Sarla Narayan Nayar (P.W. 9), Mrs. Ramni Ravi Menon (P.W. 10), Umesh Madhav Purandare (P.W. 11), Chandrakant Tabaji Dere (P.W. 12), Rajaram Radhakrishna Iyer (P.W. 15), Palliyil Unnira Sriniwasan (P.W. 14), Arun Dattatraya Walture (P.W. 15), Sambhaji Dattoba Chobe (P.W. 16).
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The Defence also examined the following witnesses in support: -
Smt. Ujawala Balwant Godbole (D.W. 1) and Dr. Arun Dattatrya Daware (D.W. 2).
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The learned Sessions Judge after consider ing the evidence acquitted the Appellants from the charge under Section 302 IPC. We find that the verdict of acquittal passed by the learned Sessions Judge is based on correct appreciation of evidence and we endorse the reasoning given by...
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