Apex court nails accused in dowry death case

Sudhir Kumar and his mother get seven years imprisonment

“The medical evidence shows that the deceased had suffered 95 per cent burns and the body had been found in the bathroom of the house. Keeping in view the fact that the presumption under Section 113-B of the Evidence Act has to be raised in such matters, it is for the defence to dispel the presumption. “We find that the trial court and the high court have gone through the evidence and given the benefit of doubt to three of the accused while maintaining the conviction only against one i.e., the husband of the deceased. We also see from the evidence that the marriage had been performed on 28th July 1987, and death had occurred on 30th November 1987, that is, just four months after the marriage”, the apex court said in an order.

The apex court made the remarks while upholding the seven years’RI imposed on the husband Sudhir Kumar for causing the death of his wife Kamlesh Rani within four months of marriages for more additional dowry.

Severe burns

The victim was found dead with severe burn at the matrimonial home. The couple were married on July 28, 1989, at Maur Mandi in Punjab’s Bhatinda district.

A sessions court had convicted and sentened Sudhir Kumar and his mother Kaushalaya Devi to seven years RI under Section 304B(IPC)read with Section 113-B Indian Evidence Act but acquitted his father Angoori Lal and sisters Neelam Kumari and Urmila Devi of the charge.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had on April 7, 2003, acquitted Kaushalaya Devi but upheld Sudhir Kumar’s conviction, after which he appealed in the apex court.

Upholding the conviction, the apex court said the husband was rightly convicted as the material and other circumstantial evidence clearly established his involvement.

Moreover, the death occurred within seven years of the marriage as defined under Section 113B of the IE Act and 304B of the IPC, wherein a presumption of the accused’s guilt could be inferred the, apex court said.