State Of Chhattisgarh, Through Police Station Nagari, District Dhamtari (Chhattisgarh) v. Rajesh Sahu, S/o Puran Lal Sahu, Aged About 34 Years, R/o Bajar Para, Village
Case Details
1 PRASHANT DEWANGAN Digitally signed by PRASHANT DEWANGAN Date: 2025.07.08 18:30:06 +0530 2025:CGHC:31044 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR ACQA No. 66 of 2022 State Of Chhattisgarh, Through Police Station Nagari, District Dhamtari (Chhattisgarh). ... Appellant versus Rajesh Sahu, S/o Puran Lal Sahu, Aged About 34 Years, R/o Bajar Para, Village Farsinya, Police Station Nagari, District Dhamtari (Chhattisgarh). ... Respondent
Legal Reasoning
For Appellant/State : Mr. Ratan Pusty, Govt. Advocate For Respondent : None, though served Single Bench : Hon'ble Shri Justic e Sanjay S. Agrawal Judgment on Board 07/07/2025 1. This appeal has been preferred by the appellant/State under Section 378 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, questioning the legality and propriety of the judgment dated 13/09/2019 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Dhamtari, District- Dhamtari (C.G.) in Sessions Trial No.15/2019, whereby, the respondent- Rajesh Sahu has been acquitted from the offence punishable under Section 306 of IPC. 2 2. Briefly stated, the case of the prosecution is that, prior to the date of incident, i.e. 06/06/2018, Khemlata Sahu was subjected to cruelty mentally and physically by her husband-Rajesh Sahu, the respondent/ accused herein, and he always suspected her character by raising a doubt that, she has illicit relations with her father-in-law (his father) and, on account of the harassment meted out by her husband based upon the alleged allegations, she committed suicide by pouring kerosene oil upon herself and set her ablaze, due to which, her daughter, namely, Bhavna, aged about 04 months and son, namely, David, aged about 02 years were also affected and were taken to the hospital for treatment but, during the course of treatment, all three succumbed to the injuries. On the basis of the said information, an FIR (Ex.P/27) was registered by Police Station- Nagari, District- Dhamtari (C.G.) against the respondent with regard to the offence punishable under Section 306 of IPC. The autopsy of the dead body of deceased- Khemlata Sahu and her daughter, namely, Bhavna was conducted by Dr. Abha Hishikar (PW-23), while the autopsy of the dead body of her son, namely, David was conducted by Dr. D.S. Dev (PW-24) and, Dr. Abha Hishikar (PW-23) opined the cause of death of the deceased- Khemlata Sahu and her daughter that it occurred due to extensive burns leading to asphyxia, while the cause of the death of deceased’s son, namely, David was opined by Dr. D.S. Dev (PW-24) that it occurred on account of Hypovolemic shock and loss of fluid and electrolyte due to 95% kerosene deep burn and, after completion of due investigation, the charge-sheet was submitted before the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Nagari, District- Dhamtari against the respondent for the offence punishable under Section 306 of IPC in 3 connection with Crime No.106/2018 and the matter was, thereafter, committed to the concerned trial Court, where the charge has been framed against him under Section 306 of IPC, which was denied by him and claimed to be tried. 3. In order to bring home the guilt of the respondent, the prosecution has examined as many as 33 witnesses and exhibited 39 documents, while none was examined by him in his defence. 4. The trial Court, after considering the evidence led by the prosecution, particularly, the statement of deceased’s mother (PW-2), maternal aunt/Mausi (PW-1) and her father (PW-4), vis-a-vis, the dying declaration (Ex.P/25) of her, held that the respondent is not involved in connection with the alleged crime and, accordingly, he has been acquitted from the commission of the alleged offence and, being aggrieved, the instant appeal has been preferred. 5. Learned counsel appearing for the appellant/State submits that the finding of the trial Court holding that the respondent is not involved in connection with the alleged crime, is apparently contrary to the materials available on record, inasmuch as, the evidence led by the prosecution has not been scanned in its proper manner and, thereby, erred in acquitting him as such from the commission of the alleged crime. 6. I have heard, learned counsel appearing for the appellant/State and perused the entire record carefully. 7. From perusal of the record, it appears that the respondent is charge-sheeted with regard to the offence punishable under Section 4 306 of IPC with regard to the incident occurred on 06/06/2018 at about 04:30 A.M., when his wife- Khemlata Sahu committed suicide, by pouring kerosene oil upon herself, where children of him were also affected and succumbed to those injuries. 8. According to the prosecution, the respondent has doubted the character of his wife that her illicit relation is with her father-in-law (his father) and on account of which he, after consuming liquor, often used to assault and harassed her, which compelled her to commit suicide by pouring kerosene oil upon herself on the said fateful day, i.e., 06/06/2018 around 04:30 A.M. 9. In order to establish the alleged allegation, maternal aunt (Mausi) of the deceased, namely, Smt. Ramla Bai was examined as PW-1 and according to her testimony, it appears that when she asked with the deceased, as to how she burnt, it was then replied that because her husband used to assault her on the suspicion that her illicit relation is with her father-in-law. Though, she deposed as such, but, it however, appears from her cross-examination, particularly paragraph 3, that she has not lodged any report against the husband of the deceased that she was harassed and maltreated by him after consuming liquor, nor has lodged any report against him after her death. Smt. Devbati (PW-2) is the mother of the deceased and it reveals from her testimony that her daughter was harassed and maltreated by her son-in-law– respondent, while alleging that her illicit relation is there with her father- in-law, but, she has also not lodged any report against him that because of his harassment, she died and has turned hostile without supporting the prosecution story. 5 10. Smt. Kesari Bai (PW-3) was acquainted with the deceased and reached the spot after hearing the noise and has seen that the respondent, her husband- Rajesh Sahu was trying to extinguish the fire and when she asked the deceased, she, however, replied nothing to her and she has also turned hostile. Kalyan Singh (PW-4) who is the father of the deceased, has, however, stated that, he received the information on telephone that his daughter and her children have burnt and stated further in his cross-examination that because of harassment and torture made by her husband, she poured kerosene oil upon herself and ablazed her, and her children, namely, David and Bhavna, have came into her contact, owing to which, they also succumbed to the injuries. The statement of others’ are formal in nature. 11. From perusal of the aforesaid evidence, it, thus, appears that though it was alleged by the prosecution that the deceased has committed suicide because she was harassed and maltreated by her husband on the suspicion that she has illicit relations with her father-in- law, but despite knowing the said fact from the deceased, no report as such was, however, lodged against him, either by her or by her parents’ nor the evidence of theirs’ were found to be corroborated by her dying declaration (Ex.P/25) recorded on 12/06/2018 by the Naib Tahsildar, the Executive Magistrate (PW-26), namely, Govind Kumar Sinha, as nothing was alleged therein by the deceased against her husband that she was assaulted or harassed by him and, instead stated that she has burnt herself while pouring the kerosene oil upon herself and stated further therein that none is responsible for it. No cogent and reliable evidence has, thus, been placed on record, so as to hold that the 6 deceased has committed suicide on account of the alleged torture and maltreatment alleged to have been committed by her husband while alleging her illicit relation with her father-in-law. The trial Court after considering the evidence led by the prosecution has, therefore, not committed any illegality in acquitting the respondent from the commission of the alleged crime, so as to call for any interference in this appeal. 12. The appeal being devoid of merit is, accordingly, dismissed at the admission stage itself. Sd/- (Sanjay S. Agrawal) Judge Prashant