- (1.)A woman by name Yellamanda shamimunissa, wife of the 1st appellant, died on 28-10-2002. Her husband, the 1st appellant, and her parents-in-law, appellants 2 and 3, were tried for the offence punishable under section 304-B of the Indian Penal Code (for short 'ipc') and Section 4 of the Dowry prohibition Act (for short 'the Act' ). The 1st appellant was also tried for the offence punishable under Section 307 IPC, by the court of IV Additional Sessions Judge (F. T. C.), tirupathi, in S. C. No. 97 of 2003. Through its judgment dated 09-01-2006, the trial Court acquitted the 1sl appellant of the charge under section 307 IPC, but convicted all the appellants for the offence punishable under section 304-B IPC and sentenced them to undergo imprisonmentfor life. They were also convicted for the offence under Section 4 of the act and were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for three months each. Hence, this appeal.
(2.)THE case, as presented by the prosecution, before the trial Court, was that: the deceased was married to the 1st appellant in the year 1998 and they lived happily for some time. Thereafter, the 1st appellant started harassing the deceased for additional dowry, and in the 1st instance, a sum of Rs. 3000/- was paid as additional dowry, and two months thereafter, a sum of rs. 10,000/-was paid for purchase of an auto. Subsequently, the 1st appellant demanded a further sumof Rs. 2000/-,forrepair of auto, and since that amount was not paid, he took the deceased to outskirts of the village and pushed her intoa well. The deceased somehow survived and the 1st appellant assured the father and brother of the deceased, P. Ws. 1 and 2, respectively, that he will look after her well. In the meanwhile, he developed illegal intimacy withoneshahanaj. On28-10-2002,atelephone call was received by P. W. 1 to the effect that his daughter became unconscious and was shifted to hospital and when he wentthere, he found his daughter dead. He gave a complaint, marked as Ex. P-1, alleging that the death of the deceased was on account of harassment by the appellants.
(3.)THE police undertook the investigation and examined various witnesses. Inquest and the postmortem of the dead body were conducted and charges under the relevant provisions were framed. Theappellants pleaded not guilty. The trial Court held, as mentioned above.