Paragraph numbers below are the court’s original numbering, recovered from the source text.
6. She again visited at Pandharpur on third occasion for · the purpose of delivery in July 198a She was there from July D 1988 to October 1988. She delivered a baby boy. The appel- lant and the deceased took a residential quarter on rent and. stayed there for three weeks. However, they vacated the rental premises and started residing separately on the first floor of the ancestral house. The deceased was brought back to the an- cestral house against her wishes.
7. It is an_ admitted position that the appellant was a juni9r lawyer and not settled in practice. He used to constantly de- mand money from the d~ceased. The appellant used to give her threats of divorcing her even in case of slight delay in With- F drawing money from the bank to be given to the appellant. Ac- cording to the statements of Vidhya P.W.7 and Vasant P.W.8, sister and father of the deceased respectively, and Exh. 46, itis- abundaotly clear that the appellant constantly used to give threats of divorce. This led to extreme mental torture to the deceased.
8. There was a family function Jawal ceremony (first head- shaving ceremony of chJld) in August 1989 at the house of the appellant.All guests including the parents and sisters of the de- -ceased were invited for the . .c~remony. The-parents and sisters of the deceased noticed ill treatment meted out by the appel- H lant to the deceased on account of shortage of vegetable. The MILIND BHAGWANRAO GOOSE V STATE OF MAHARASHTRA & ANOTHER [DALVEER BHANDARI, J.] appellant had humiliated and insulted the deceased in pres- ence of all guests and announced that he would take decision to divorce her in that very month.
9. On 9.10.1989 at about 6:15 p.m., Vasant P.W.8, father of the deceased, received a telegram to the effect "Lata. burnt seriously. Do not come with Rohit for his insecurity". The tele- gram was signed by one Dodsay. In response to the telegram, the parents of the deceased rushed to Beed. They reached Beed __,_ at 2.15 a.m. on 10.10.1989. They saw the completely burnt dead body of the deceased in the hospital.
10. The deceased, because of constant mental torture caused by the appellant, decided to put an end to her life. On 9.10.1989 at about 2.30 p.m. at Dhondipura, Beed, the de- ceased committed suicide by setting herself on fire. c
11. One unknown boy informed Vidhya P.W.7 that the de- ceased had visited the· post office at 1 p.m. on 9.10.1989. Vidhya P.W. 7 went to the post office and made enquiry. It was found that the deceased herself had sent telegrams Exhs. 35 to 37 to her father Vasant P.W.8, to her sister Vidhya P.W. 7 and to her parental uncle at Kolhapur. Vasant P.W.8 went to the police station and lodged the first information report Exh. 50 on . 10.10.1989 at 4.00 p.m. On the basis of the first information report, Crime No. 313 of 1989 was registered under sections 498A and 306 read with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code.
12. The Investigating Officer prepared inquest panchnamma Exh. 16 of the dead body of the deceased on 10.10.1989. He prepared spot panchnamma Exh. 29. The de- ceased had committed suicide in the kitchen. The l.nvestigating Officer sent'the dead body for autopsy. The autopsy was per- formed on the dead body of the deceased on 10.10.1989. The G deceased had 100% burhs. The charge s~c~t was submitted ~gainst the appellant and his parents in the Court of Chief Judi- cial Magistrate, Beed. The learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Beed committed the original accused to the Sessions Court, Beed to stand their trial.
13. The prosecution examined 11 witnesses in order to prove the guilt of the accused. Sushma P.W.6 is the next-door neighbour. Vidhya P.W.7 and ,Vasant P.W.8 are the sister and father of the deceased respectively.
14. The defence of the appellant is that the deceased was a highly educated woman. She was over ambitious. She wanted all the luxurie~pf life. However, the appellant was a junior lawyer and not settled in the practice of law. His income was too mea- ger to fulfill the dreams of the, deceased. The appellant admit- k-· ted that he was demanding money from the deceased for the c purpose of their maintenance and not for bad. vices. As per the . appellant, the deceased was frustrated in life because her d~eams were not fulfilled and ultimately she had committed sui- cide.
15. In the instant case, the first information report was lodged by Vasant P.W.8 which fully stands corroborated to the 1' prosecution case. In his statement, he stated that the appellant was constantly demanding money from the deceased and he also prohibited the deceased from spending money even from her salary and used to threaten her to divorce her. Vasant P.W,8 further stated in his statement that the appellant used to con- tinuously demand money and in case of delay in payment, he used to scold her. Vasant P.W.8 stated that at the time of Jawal ceremony in 1989, the appellant scolded the deceased because of shortage of vegetable and food in the presence of everyone. Vasant P.W.8 also stated about letter Exh.46 and identified the writing of the deceased.
16. Exh. 46 is a letter written by the deceased to her par- ents on 9.10:1989, just before she had committed suicide. The deceased wrote in the letter that she was an unlucky girl. She thought that she would have some moments of happiness, but it was not possible because of the nature of her husband (the appellant herein). She mentioned that on the last day and night, the appellant had quarrelled with her and in the morning the appellant cursed the father of the deceased. She stated that MILIND BHAGWANRAO GOOSE V STATE OF MAHARASHTRA & ANOTHER [DALVEER BHANDARI, J.] the appellant had gone to the extent of saying that since she -t was so proud of the influence of her father, she should live with her father in matrimony and also said many things of that sort. She specifically stated that the appellant had harassed her so much that it would not be possible for her to live with him a~ny more. She further stated in the letter that it is one thing of not earning money and another to frequently dishonour and to give trouble to the deceased and her son Rohit. J_,
17. She stated in the letter that the appellant deliberately twisted the leg of Roh it (his small son) and broke his bone. She also stated in the letter that the appellant did so because he c had a brother Arvind who was physically handicapped and he wanted Roh it to be like Arvind and also because the deceased loved her son Rohit intensely. She stated in the letter that the appellant had unusual attraction towards other girls, particularly towards deceased's sister Asha, Sushma, Sandhya, sister of D Charuhas, wife of Anil Pangrikar. The deceased wrote in the letter that the appellant, in order to torture and mentally harass her, used to say that these girls had good physical figures and looked beautiful. The deceased also stated in the letter that the appellant used to say that there would be a row of girls now for marriage with him. These comments led to severe mental tor- tu re:
18. She requested her parents to take care of her minor k son Roh it and wanted that there should not be a shadow of the appellant on Roh it.
19. This letter is indeed very emotional and was written in extreme distressing mental condition. This letter clearly dem- onstrates that the deceased was so much mentally tortured by the appellant that she had decided to put an end to her life.
20. The accused persons were tried ~.;~ offences punish- · able under .sections 498A and 306 IPC. The learned llnd Addi- tional Sessions Judge, Beed relied on the evidence of Sushma P.W.6 (neighbour), Vidhya P.W.7 (sister) and Vasant P.W.8 (fa- ther) of the deceased respectively. After careful scrutiny of the [2009) 2 S.C.R. A entire evidence, the learned llnd Additional Sessions Judge ac- quitted accused nos. 2 and 3, but convicted accused no. 1 un- der section 498A IPC and;sentenced him to suffer rigorous im- prisonment for one year and to pay a fine of Rs.2,500/-, in de- fault of payment to fine to further undergo rigorous imprison- B ment for six months. The appellant was also convicted under section 306 IPC and was sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment and was also directed to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/ -, in default of which to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months. c
21. The appellant, aggrieved by the judgment of the learned llnd Additional Sessions Judge,· Beed, preferred an appeal v before the High Court of Bombay at Aurangabad Bench. The High Court correctly analyzed the entire evidence on record and came to a clear finding that the prosecution has established the D guilt of the appellant beyond reasonable doubt. The appeal -filed by the appellant was dismissed and the order of conviction and sentence passed by the Learned nnd Additional Sessions Judge, Beed was confirmed. The appellant, aggrieved by the judgment of the High Court, preferred this appeal. .
22. The concurrent findings were found against the appel- .. – lant, however, in the interest of justice, we again carefully exam- ined the entire evidence and documents on record. The evi- dence of Sushma P.W.6 (neighbour of the deceased), Vidhya P. w~ 7 (sister of the deceased) and Vasant P.W.8 (father of the F deceased) clearly lead to the only conclusion that this was a case of extreme mental cruelty which was perpetuated from the point of marriage and lasted till the·.deceased had committed suicide. There cannot be any iota of doubt that the extreme men-. tal cruelty and torture compelled the deceased to put an .end to G her life. The appellant was wholly responsible for creating all the circumstances which led the deceased to take an extreme step of putting an end to her life. l ,
23. Exh. 46, the letter written by the deceased to her par- H ents on 9.10.1989 immediately before she had committed sui- !— I l -I MILIND BHAGWANRAO GOOSE V STATE OF MAHARASHTRA & ANOTHER [DALVE~R BHANDARI, J.] cide, gives graphic description of the number of instances of extreme mental torture, day in and day out. This letter gives the impression that the appellant was deriving sadistic pleasure in causing extreme mental torture to the deceased. He would leave no stone unturned to ensure that the maximum mental tor- ture and agony is caused to the deceased. We do not find the slightest doubt that the circumstances which have been enu- merated in Exh. 46 and the testimony of P.Ws. 6, 7 and 8 lead to a situation where the deceased virtually was left with no op- tion except to take an extreme step of putting an end to her life.
24. In our considered view, the learned llnd Additional Ses- sions Judge and the learned Judge of the High Court correctly evaluated the entire evidence on record and arrived at correct conclusion. No interference is called for. The appeal being de- void of any merit is accordingly dismissed.
25. Consequently, the bail bond of the appellant are can- celled. The appellant is directed to surrender forthwith to serve out the remaining sentence. G.N. Appeal dismissed.