SATYA PALversusSTATE OF HARYANA & ANR.

                    [2013] 4 S.C.R. 745

                         SATYA PAL                               A
                              v.
               STATE OF HARYANA & ANR.
        (Criminal Appeal Nos. 1447-1448 of 2007)
                      MARCH 13, 2013
                                                                 B
         [A.K. PATNAIK AND SUDHANSU JYOTI
                 MUKHOPADHAYA, JJ.]

     Penal Code, 1860 - ss. 3048 and 498A - Prosecution u/
ss. 302134 and 3048 - Acquittal by trial Court - Conviction by   C
High Court u/ss. 3048 and 498A - Held: Conviction justified
- In view of the prosecution evidence, High Court rightly held
that the deceased was subjected to demand of dowry as well
as cruelty and harassment in connection with such demand,
soon before her death - High Court also rightly drew             D
presumption u/s.113 8 of Evidence Act that the appel/ant-
accused caused dowry death - Evidence Act, 1872 - s.1138.

     Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 - Explanation to s. 161
- Police statement - Omission of a fact or circumstance - The    E
question whether the omission amounts to contradiction is a
question of fact which is to be determined by the Court.

    Appellant-accused, alongwith his other relatives was
prosecuted u/ss. 302/34, 3048 IPC, for killing his wife. Trial
court acquitted all the accused of all the charges. High         F
Court reversed the acquittal order and convicted the
appellant u/ss.3048 and 498A IPC. Hence the present
appeal by the appellant-accused.

    Dismissing the appeal, the Court                             G
    HELD: 1. The High Court was right in reversing the
judgment of acquittal against the appellant so far as the
offences u/ss. 3048 and 498A IPC are concerned. [Para
10] [752-8]
                          745                                    H
    746   SUPREME COURT REPORTS             [2013] 4 S.C.R.

A      2. The High Court was right in coming to the
  conclusion on the basis of the evidence of P.Ws 1 and 2
  that there was in fact a demand of television, fridge and
  cooler about two months after the earlier demand of
  dowry was met and this subsequent demand was also
B followed by beatings and harassment so much so that a
  visit had to be made by P.W. 1 to the matrimonial house
  of the deceased to persuade the appellants and his
  family members not to make the demands and soon
  thereafter the deceased died. [Para 7] [750-D-F]
c      3. The explanation to Section 161 Cr.P.C. states that
  an omission to state a fact or circumstance in the
  statement made to the pollce may amount to
  contradiction, if the same appears to be significant and
  otherwise relevant having regard to the context in which
D such omission occurs and whether. any omission
  amounts to a contradiction in the particular context shall
  be a question of fact. It was, therefore, for the Court to
  decide whether the omission in the statement of P.W 2
  about the beatings given to the deceased before the
E police  was significant enough for the Court to disbelieve
  that the deceased was beaten In connection with the
  demand for dowry. Considering the evidence of P.W. 1
  and P.W. 2 in Its entirety, the High Court was right In
  coming to the finding that the deceased was not only
F subjected to a subsequent demand of dowry but also
  subjected to cruelty and harassment in connection with
  such demand for dowry soon before her death and that
  the trial court had not taken a correct view on the
  evidence of P.W. 1 and PW 2. [Para BJ [751-A-D]
G
       4. The High Court had also rightly drawn the
  presumption u/s. 1138 of the Evidence Act that appellant
  had caused the dowry death of the deceased within the
  meaning of Section 3048 IPC and the appellant was
  required to rebut this presumption that he had caused
H
    SATYA PAL v. STATE OF HARYANA & ANR.                     747

the dowry death. The appellant did make an attempt to                A
rebut this presumption in his statement under Section
313 Cr.P.C. but he failed to rebut the presumption that it
is he who had caused dowry death of the deceased
within the meaning of Section 3048 IPC. [Para 9] [751-E-
F, H; 752-A]                                                         B
    CRIMINAL AP PELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal
Nos. 1447-1448 of 2007.
    From the Judgment & Order dated 16.03.2007 of the
High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in Criminal           c
Appeal No. 334-DBA of 1997 and Crl. Revision No. 246 of
1997. '
    Shantanu Singh, Niraj Jha, Rakesh Dahiya for the
Appellant.
                                                                     D
      Rajesh Gaur Naseem, Sudhir Bisla, Kamal Mohan Gupta
for the Respondents.
     The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
    A.K. PATNAIK, J. 1. These are appeals against the                E
judgment dated 16th March, 2007 of the Division Bench of the
High Court of Punjab and Haryana in Criminal Appeal No. 334-
DB/1997 and Criminal Appeal No.246 of 1997.
     2. The facts very briefly are that a First Information Report
was lodged by Sombir (the complainant) on 14th July, 1992            F
alleging therein, inter alia, that his sister Rajwanti was married
to the appellant and after one or two months of the marriage
she came home and told her mother that her in-laws were
demanding dowry in the shape of a flour machine, electric motor
with equipment to chop the fodder and these articles were            G
given in December 1991, when his sister Rajwanti gave birth
to male child and the in-laws of Rajwanti became happy. But
thereafter Rajwanti came after sometime and told that her
mother-in-law, sister-in-law and brother-in-law and
husband(appellant) were demanding a fridge, cooler and TV,           H
    748      SUPREME COURT REPORTS                  (2013} 4 S.C.R.


A but the mother and father of Rajwanti said that if this demand
  is met the demands will go on increasing and Rajwanti left for
  her in-laws' house on 19th June, 1992. Thereafter on 12th July,
  1992 at about 9:00a.m. the complainant had been to the house
  of Rajwanti and he saw that the appellant and Subhash pushed
B Rajwanti into a well and as a result Rajwanti died. A case was
  registered and investigation was conducted by the police and
  a charge sheet was filed against the appellant and his other
  family members under Sections 302134 IPC and under Section
  3048 IPC.
c         3. At the trial, amongst others, the complainant was
    examined as P.W. 1 and the mother of Rajwanti(deceased) was
    examined as P.W. 2. The trial court, however, held in its
    judgment dated 9th October, 2006 that there was no
    satisfactory explanation about the inordinate delay of 51 hours
D   in lodging the FIR with the police and it appears that the
    aforesaid time was utilised for implicating certain persons after
    consultations and deliberations. The trial court was thus of the
    opinion that the offence under Section 302/34 IPC framed
    against the accused persons has not been proved by the
E   prosecution beyond reasonable doubt. On the charge under
    Section 3048 IPC, the trial court found that there were
    improvements in the evidence of PWs. 1 and 2 over their
    statements made before the police under Section 161 Cr.P.C.
    and accordingly, disbelieved Pws 1 and 2 and held that the
F   demand of dowry as well as harassment and cruelty by the
    appellant or any of his relatives in connection with the demand
    for dowry had not been proved and hence the presumption
     under Section 1138 of the Indian Evidence Act was not
    attracted and the appellant and his family member could not
G    be held guilty under Section 3048 IPC.

      4. The State as well as the complainant went in appeal to
  the High Court in separate Criminal Appeal No. 334 -DB of
  1997 and Criminal Appeal No. 246 of 1997 respectively and
H the High Court in the impugned judgment dated 16th March,
     SATYA PAL v. STATE OF HARYANA & ANR.                     749
                [A.K. PATNAIK, J.]
2007 found on the basis of the evidence of Pws. 1 and 2 that          A
after about two months from November, 1991 when the earlier
demand of dowry was fulfilled on the occasion of Chuchak
ceremony, the appellant and his family members made a fresh
demand of television, fridge, cooler· and the deceased was
subjected to beatings for this fresh demand and this led P.W.         8
1 to make a visit to the matrimonial house of the deceased in
the month of June, 1992 and he persuaded the appellant and
his family members not to make such demands but on 12th July,
1992, within one month of such visit, the death of the deceased
took place in the matrimonial house. The High Court, further,         c
held that since the prosecution has been able to prove both the
fact of demand of dowry in the shape of television, fridge and
cooler and the fact of harassment or cruelty meted out to the
deceased soon before her death, the presumption under
Section 1138 of the Evidence Act was attracted and the                0
appellant has not been able to rebut the presumption and was
thus guilty of the offences under Section 3048 as well as under
Section 498A IPC.

     5. At the hearing before us, learned counsel for the
appellant, vehemently submitted that the view taken by the High       E
court on the evidence of P.Ws. 1 and 2 was not a correct view
inasmuch as there were substantial improvements made by
P.Ws. 1 and 2 in Court over their statements made to the police
under Section 161 CrP.C. He submitted that the findings of the
High Court on the basis of the evidence of P.Ws. 1 and 2 that         F
the deceased was subjected to a subsequent demand of
television, fridge and cooler and also was subjected to cruelty
soon before her death were not at all correct. He submitted that
the trial court was right in taking a view that the delay of 51
hours in lodging the FIR by P.W. 1 was not properly explained         G
and, therefore, th~ prosecution story could not be believed.

      6. We find on a reading of the judgment of the trial court
that the trial court has held that the delay of 51 hours in lodging
the FIR with the police by P.W. 1 was a good ground for               H
    750     SUPREME COURT REPORTS                 [2013] 4 S.C.R.

A rejecting the case of the prosecution that the accused persons
  were guilty of the offence under Section 302134 IPC saying that
  this time of 51 hours could have been utilised for implicating
  some innocent persons after consultations and deliberations to
  make out a false story. The High Court has not held the accused
B persons guilty of the offence under Section 302/34 IPC
  presumably for the very same reason although an appeal was
  filed by the State as well as the complainant challenging the
  findings of the trial court in this regard.

          7. So far as the charges under Section 3048 and 498A
C   IPC are concerned, we find that the trial court has disbelieved
    the evidence of Pws 1 and 2 on the ground that there have
    been improvements in their evidence over what they had been
    stated before the police under Section 161 CrPC and on the
    ground that there were discrepancies in their evidence. We
D   have gone through the evidence of P.Ws 1 and 2 and we find
    that the High Court was right in coming to the conclusion on
    the basis of the evidence of P.Ws 1 and 2 that there was in
    fact a demand of television, fridge and cooler about two months
    after the earlier demand of dowry was met in November, 1991
E   on the occasion of the chuchak ceremony when the male child
    was born to the deceased and this subsequent demand was
    also followed by beatings and harassment so much so that a
    visit had to be made by P.W. 1 to the matrimonial house of the
    deceased to persuade the appellants and his family members
F   not to make the demands and soon thereafter the deceased
    died on 12th July, 1992.

       8. We, however, find that P.W. 2 had not stated in her
  Statement [Exhibit DA] before the Police that P.W. 1 had not
G told her that the deceased was beaten by the appellant and his
  family members and that the deceased was closed in a room,
  but we find on a reading of the evidence of P.W. 1 that the
  deceased was subjected to beatings twice or thrice for
  demands of dowry. Moreover, P.W 2 when asked whether she
  has told the Police about the aforesaid beatings given to
H
     SATYA PAL v. STATE OF HARYANA & ANR.                     751
                [A.K. PATNAIK, J.]
deceased, she has said that she in fact, told the police about        A
 such beatings. The explanation to Section 161 Cr.P.C. states
that an omission to state a fact or circumstance in the statement
made to the police may amount to contradiction if the same
appears to be significant and otherwise relevant having regard
to the context in which such omission occurs and whether any          8
omission amounts to a contradiction in the particular context
shall be a question of fact. It was, therefore, for the Court to
decide whether the omission in the statement of P.W 2 about
the beatings given to the deceased before the police was
significant enough for the Court to disbelieve that the deceased      c
was beaten in connection with the demand for dowry.
Considering the evidence of P.W. 1 and P.W. 2 in its entirety,
we think that the High Court is right in coming to the finding that
the deceased was not only subjected to a subsequent demand
of dowry but also subjected to cruelty and harassment in              D
connection with such demand for dowry soon before her death
and that the trial court had not taken a correct view on the
evidence of P.W. 1 and PW 2.

     9. The High Court had also rightly drawn the presumption
under Section 1138 of the Evidence Act that appellant had             E
caused the dowry death of the deceased within the meaning
of Section 3048 !PC and the appellant was required to rebut
this presumption that he had caused the dowry death. The
appellant did make an attempt to rebut this presumption in his
statement under Section 313 Cr.P.C. while answering question          F
No. 16. The appellant stated that the deceased had died a
natural death because she was suffering from rheumatic pain
(heart disease) and at that time she was being treated by Dr.
Roop Chand at Satnali and she was also attended by Dr. Roop
Chand on the day of her death. If this was the defence of the         G
appellant in his statement under Section 313 Cr.P.C. it was
incumbent upon him to have produced Dr. Roop Chand as a
defence witness, but he has not done so. The result is that the
appellant has failed to rebut the presumption under Section
 1138 of the Indian Evidence Act that it is he who had caused         H
    752      SUPREME COURT REPORTS                 [2013] 4 S.C.R.


A dowry death of the deceased within the meaning of Section
  304B of the IPC.

        10. We are therefore of the opinion that the High Court was
  right in reversing the judgment of acquittal against the appellant
B so far as the offences under Sections 3048 and 498A are
  concerned and accordingly we dismiss the appeal. Since the
  appellant is on bail, we direct that his bail bond be cancelled
  and he be taken into custody forthwith to serve out the remaining
  sentence.

C   K.~.T.                                     Appeal dismissed.