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Allahabad High Court APS Special Dictation (No. 2)

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Allahabad High Court APS Special Matter no. 2


The only credible evidence which has come against the appellant Jagdish Prasad husband of the deceased is that dying declaration of the deceased made to PW-9 Dr. Ajay Jain to the effect that he used to torture her and used to beat her. The allegation of torture made in the dying declaration coupled with the allegation that Jagdish Prasad used to beat her shows that the appellant Jagdish Prasad used to torture the deceased by beating her, though there is no credible evidence on record to prove the reason for the appellant Jagdish Prasad beating the deceased. However, the dying declaration made by the deceased, as far as the appellant Jagdish Prasad is concerned, cannot be discarded merely because the reason or motive for the appellant Jagdish Prasad to give beating to his wife could not be established by the prosecution. If the statement of PW-7 Mohan Lal is read in the light of the dying declaration made by the deceased what stands proved is that the appellant Jagdish Prasad used to subject the deceased Sukhna Devi to physical cruelty by beating her.

The next question which comes up for consideration is as to whether charge under section 306 IPC and/or 498-A of IPC stand established against the appellant Jagdish Prasad. As noted earlier there is no evidence to show when the deceased was last beaten by the appellant Jagdish Prasad. There is no evidence that she was beaten by her husband soon before her death. It is also not known how frequently beatings used to be given to the deceased and what was the nature of the violence committed by the appellant Jagdish Prasad with her. The presumption of Section 113-A of the Evidence Act as noticed earlier is not available in this case.

In Shyam Lal vs. State of Haryana 1997 CRL. L. J. 1927, there was persisting dispute between the two sides regarding the dowry paid or to be paid and on account of failure to meet the demand for dowry. The deceased was taken by her parents to her house about one and a half years before her death. A patch up was thereafter made, and the deceased went back to her matrimonial home, about 10-15 days before the date she committed suicide. Noticing that there was no evidence to show that she was either treated with cruelty or harassed with demand for dowry during the period between her taking back to home and her tragic end, the Hon’ble Supreme Court held that the appellant could not be convicted for the offence under section 304 -B IPC though the offence under section 498-A was made out from the testimony of PW-3, Bhagwan Das father of the deceased.



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