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REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1963 OF 2011  

RAVINDRA TRIMBAK PATIL       ..Appellant

Versus

STATE OF MAHARASHTRA        ..Respondent

J U D G M E N T

GYAN SUDHA MISRA, J.

1. The appellant is in appeal before us against  

the  judgment of the High Court of Bombay, Bench at  

Aurangabad  in  Criminal  Appeal  No.  52  of  1998,  

whereby  the  High  Court  partly  allowed  the  criminal  

appeal of the appellant herein and his mother (accused  

No.2)  and  thereby  confirmed  his  conviction  under  

Sections  306  and  498A  read  with  Section  34  IPC  

sentencing  him  to  RI  for  3  years  and  2  years  

respectively as awarded by Ld. Sessions Judge, Jalgaon.

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The  High  Court  in  the  said  appeal  maintained  the  

conviction of accused No.2 under the above sections,  

but  reduced  the  sentence  to  the  period  of  

imprisonment which she had already undergone i.e. 6  

months. 2. The  case  of  the  prosecution  was  

that  the  deceased Shobha was  wife  of  the  appellant  

herein.  Shobha married the appellant on 06.04.1992 at  

Chalisgaon.   Thereafter,  she  went  to  reside  with  the  

appellant, at his house.  However, eight days after the  

marriage, there was a quarrel as the mother of Shobha  

did  not  give  proper  respect  to  the  mother  of  the  

appellant and as per custom she did not touch the feet  

of mother of the appellant on her first visit.  Therefore,  

appellant  used  to  harass  Shobha.  In  spite  of  that,  

Shobha continued to live with the appellant and her in-

laws.  Sometime later, appellant gave a telephonic call  

and  told  PW3-Shivaji  Marathe-  father  of  Shobha  that  

they were coming with Shobha and mediators.  At that  

time, the appellant and his mother said Shobha was not  

doing household work and they wanted divorce while  

Shobha complained that the appellant used to beat her  

and he and his  mother  would  ill-treat  her.   She was  

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unable to live with the appellant and wanted to reside  

with her parents.  Thereafter, Shobha started residing  

with her  parents.    At  that  time,  Shobha complained  

that  the  appellant  and  her  mother-in-law  were  

demanding  golden  ring,  sewing  machine  and  some  

other articles and were harassing and beating her for  

that purpose.  Subsequently, Shobha filed maintenance  

application  in  the  Court.  However,  there  was  a  

compromise  which  was  reduced  writing  and  Shobha  

then went to the House of the appellant.  

3. Further,  case  of  the  prosecution  is  that  2  

months  later,  on  26.07.1993,  due  to  continuous  ill-

treatment, when Shobha was alone in the house, she  

poured Kerosene oil on her person and set herself on  

fire.  Due  to  her  shouts,  the  neighbours  came there.  

The  appellant  and  her  family  were  informed,  who  

rushed home and took Shobha in an injured state to  

Municipal  Hospital  at  Pachora,  where  statement  of  

Shobha was recorded.  Thereafter, Shobha was taken to  

Civil Hospital, Jalgaon as she had serious injuries.  

4. At  Jalgaon,  statements  of  Shobha  were  

recorded  by  Jalgaon  Police  before  the  Executive  

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Magistrate.  The next day, i.e. on 27.7.1993 at about 2  

p.m., Shobha  died of the burn injuries.  The first dying  

declaration of Shobha was treated as an F.I.R. and the  

case was registered.  Thereafter, the appellant and his  

mother  were  chargesheeted  while  brother-in-law  was  

sent to the Juvenile Court.  

5.  At  the  trial,  prosecution  examined  11  

witnesses and on behalf of defence, 2 witnesses were  

examined.  After considering the evidence, Ld Sessions  

Judge passed the  order of conviction and sentence as  

stated above.

6. The High Court vide its judgment and order  

which is impugned before us, came to the conclusion  

that  Shobha  had  been  subjected  to  cruelty  and  

harassment since the beginning of her marriage.  There  

was no change in their attitude and treatment in spite  

of living with her parents for 78 months.  It was noted  

that the death of the deceased had occurred within 7  

years of  marriage and ordinarily,  during such period,  

unless driven to wall,  she would not have committed  

suicide  and  her  dying  declarations  and  her  chit  

addressed to her advocate, speak volume.  Hence, High  

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Court  found  the  judgment  of  the  Trial  Court  well  

reasoned and hence upheld the same.  

7. Contention  of  the  Counsel  of  the  appellant  

was that Shobha suffered from mental illness and was  

under  treatment  of  Dr.  Joshi/DW-1,  even  before  her  

marriage as admitted by Dr. Joshi in evidence and this  

aspect was not considered by the Courts below.

8.  However,  the  High  Court  in  its  impugned  

judgment  and order observed   that it   did not appear  

that  the  alleged  mental  illness  of  the  deceased  had  

anything to do with the ill-treatment  to her so as to  

force her ultimately to commit suicide.

9. We have carefully  examined the judgment  

and order of  the trial  court   as also the  High Court  

which  are well-reasoned  on all aspects and we do not  

deem it necessary to enter into the correctness of the  

same  on  the  plea  that  the  deceased  Shobha  was  

suffering  from mental ill-ness  which had   driven her to  

commit  suicide ignoring the  dying declaration which  

was  recorded  before  the   Executive  Magistrate  soon  

after  the  occurrence.   In  case  the  dying  declaration  

could be disbelieved  for any reason, this Court would  

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have  thought it just and appropriate to enter into other  

circumstantial evidence like   the defence case that the  

deceased  Shobha   committed  suicide   due  to  her  

mental  ill-ness.   In  the  wake  of  dying  declaration  

recorded primarily after the incident  and the witnesses  

who  had  arrived  at  the   scene  of   occurrence  

corroborating the prosecution case, we see no further  

need   to  probe   the  evidence  merely  to  accept  the  

defence case that  the reason for the death of Shobha  

was due to her  mental ill-ness ignoring    the version  

given out in the dying declaration  when the deceased  

was conscious  and in  a fit state of mind  to   get her  

statement  recorded  which  finally  became  a  dying  

declaration  after  her  death.   The  prosecution  case  

being fully supported by the dying declaration which do  

not suffer from any blemish or infirmity supported by  

medical  evidence  and  evidence  of  other  witnesses  

corroborating the prosecution case, we do not consider  

that it is not a fit case for interference.  Above all, the  

deceased  having  died  within  seven  years  of  her  

marriage, there is a clear presumption that the charge  

against the appellant under Section 306 IPC stands fully  

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established apart from the fact that the prosecution is  

supported  even  by  the  dying  declaration  of  the  

deceased recorded before the executive magistrate.  It  

is  thus  not  a  case  where  further  scrutiny  of  the  

evidence led by the prosecution is required merely to  

uphold the findings recorded by the trial court and the  

High Court.  We thus find no substance in this appeal  

and  hence  the  same  is  dismissed.   The  appellant  

therefore shall surrender to serve out the sentence in  

case he is on bail.  Order accordingly.

………………………………….J.  (T.S. THAKUR)

………………………………….J. (GYAN SUDHA MISRA)

New Delhi; April 25, 2014    

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