The High Court · 2025

A P rep , bv the Public Prosecutor, High court of Andhra pradesh, ...AppellanUPetitioner I 2 4 Mohd Adbdul Ravees. S/o Mohd. Abdul Waheed, Occ:Business, R/o. H.No '15-'17, SBH Colohy, ZaheerrOra-, nA.Jri. ii:t) "' " Mohd Abdul Khadeer. S/o Mohd. Abdul Waheed, Occ: Business, Rio. H.No 15-17, SBH Cotony, Zaheeranjo, v.orr, iI_5i"' " Mohd Ab_dul Saleem, S/o Mohd Abdul Waheed, Occ: Business, R/o. H.No 15-17, SBH Cotony, ZaheeraOaa. MeJaf<'1A;;-' Mohd Abdul Raheem, S/o. Mohd Azeez Ahmed, Occ:Business, R/o. Gadi Mahalla, Zaheerabad, Medak(A-S j

5. Smt. Kubera Beoum Wlq [Vo!d Azeezuddin, Occ:Business, R/o. Gadi Mahalla, Zaheeriad, rvreoai lA_di-" ...Accused/Respondents Counsel for the Appellant : Sri Vivekananda Reddy, Additional Public Prosecutor Counsel for the Respondents: Ms.D Sangeetha Reddy The Court delivered the following: Judgment THE }IIONOURABLE SRI JUSTTCE K.SURENDER CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 4AO OF 20L2 JUDGMENT: This C::irninal Appeal is frled questiorrirrg the acquittal of the respondents/accused Nos- 1 t'l 6 vide Jndgmenr, dzLt.ed 3O.O5.2O).1, passed in S-C.No. l91 of 2O1rO, on thr: file of the Family Court-cum-Adclitional District and lSessions Judge, Medak, at Sangaredrly,. (for short, 'tri;al CourtJ for the offences under Sections 3O4-B and 498-r\ of Indian Penal Code, 186O (for short, II:'C).

2. The citse of the Prosecution 11.O8.2O1O, at about 23.OO hours, Md. As,lam, the 1-hr,rt, 1S defacto clom.plairrant-Pw. 1, who is the brother of the deceased-Taj r.rwer Begum, lodged a complaint before Zalteerab ad Town Police Station stating t.hr'rt, the deceased was rnarried to accused No.1 on 11.Orl>.2OlO, and at the time of marriage, they gave Rs.6I),OOO/- cash, 4 tulas gold, and house hold articles. Howt,:ver, all the accursed started trarassing the deceased ph'gsically and mer.Ltally for want of additional dowry, rlnd on Z coming to know about the harassment, pW. 1 along with his relatives went to the house of the accused and requested them not to harass the deceased, and further gave 5 tulas of gold chain to accused No.l. But, not satislied with the gold chain, the accused continued to harass the deceased for additional dowry. Four days prior to the complaint, the deceased was beaten by the accused and driven out of the house. On 11.Og.2O10, PW. 1, along with some relatives, went to the in_laws, place of the deceased and left the deceased there, convinced with the assrlrance given by the elders that they will look after the deceased well. On the very sarne day, PW. 1 came to know that the deceased consurned poison and was admitted in the Government hospital, Za}rcerabad. Later, she died in the'hospital. 3 On the basis of the said cornplaint, ASI of police, Zalrcerabad Town Police Station, registered a case in Crime No.147 of 2OlO. During the course of investigation, the police went to the hospital and conducted inquest and thereafter, the body was sent for Post Mortem Examination. As per the FSL report 3 and PMF) report, deceas6d died as a result ol Neuro Respiratory l?aralysis due to Endosulphan, wtrich is an insecticicle lroison. On the basis -of the statements narrated bl, the relatives of the decease C, the Investigating Offrcer filed a Charge Sheet under Sections 3O4-B and 498-4 of IPC.

4. During t.he course of trial, learned Sessionr'; Judge examinerl P\Vs.l to 15, out of whom, PWs.l to 1O are the relatives of the deceased ald rnarked Exs.P1 to 15'

5. Lea.rne<l Sessions Judge, having exarnirled the evidence placed on record, acquitted the accl'rsed on the follovring grotr.nds: A. Though it was admitted that at the 'iirne of marrialle, list of articles were given by bot.h sides to cne alother, and details written in a book, the saicl book was not handed over to the policr,:. B. Not pr:ducing the said book creates sttspicion regzrrdin.g any dowr5r being given. C. In the cornplaint made adnr.ittr:d that he did not regzrrdin.g harassrnent to the poli,:e narrate to tht:: regardjrni,l PW.1 police 4 deceased informing him about the harassment over the cell phone. It was further adrnitted that the version given during the trial, that the deceased went to the house of . pW. 1 one month prior to her death, was also an improvement. D. Though it is stated that 5 trllas of gold chain was given to accused No. 1, the prosecution failed to produce any receipt or details of the place from where the gold was purchased. pWs.4 and 5, who were exarnined by the prosecution, were independent witnesses, and have turned hostile to the prosecution case. E. Though the statements of pWs.S and 6 were recorded, the date is not mentioned in the staternents recorded under Section 161 Cr.p.C., nor has the investigation officer given the details of the date and place of the examination. No evidence is placed on record to substantiate that there was any kind of panchayat that was held. In the absence of such evidence, it cannot be believed that Rs.65,OOO/- cash and 4 tulas of gold were given at the tirne of marriage. F. The prosecution failed to prove that there was any kind of harassment soon before the death of the deceased, as such, Section 3O4-B of IpC is not attracted. Section 49a-A of IpC is also not 5 attrilcted since a bald allegation was made by the witr.esses regarding the harassment. In cases of acquittal, the Hon'lale Supre:mr': Court 6. in Raui Shartna u. Stcrte (Gouerrttrrent of NCT of Dethi) and dnotherr, held that, while dealing ''vith an appeal against acqr.rittal, the appellate Court has to consider wh:ther the triat Court's wiew can tre termed as a poss;iblt: one, particularly when evidence orr record has been analyzed. The reason is thal. an ordbr of acquittal ad,ls up to the presurnption ofinnocence in favour of the' accused. Thus, the appellate Courl' has to be relatively slow in reversing the order of the trial court rer,dering acquittal. In tihu.reg Lat tt. State of .Uttar Pradeshz, t}re 7. Hon'ble Sucreme Court, after referring to several Judgments regarding the settled principles of law and the powe:rs rrl appellate Court in reversing ttr'e r:)rder of acqrrittal, held at paraTO as follows: "7O. In the ligltt of the aboue, the High Court and t (2022) A Supreme Court Cases 536 , (2008) 10 Suprerne Court Cases 450 6 other appellate Courts should follow the well-settled pinciplei crystalli-z,ed bg number of Judgments if it 1" goirrg to ouerntle or otherwise disturb the tial court's acquittal: 1 . The appellate court mag only ouerntle or otheruise disturb the tial court's acquittal if it has "uery substantial and compelling reasons" for doing so. A number of instances aise in uhich the appellate court tttould haue 'uery substantial and cimpelling reasons' to discord the trtal court's d.ecision. 'Very substantial and compelling reasorts" exist when: i) The tial court's conclusion ruith regard to the ii) ih"- taot court's decision u-tas based on an iii)The trial court's judgment is likelg to result in iu)The entiie approach of the tial court in u) The tial court's judgment utas manifestly unj ust and unreasonable ; ui)The tial court has ignored the euidence or .rnisread the mateial euidence or has ignored mateial docurnents like dying declarations/ report of the balli.sttc exPert, etc. fi* tist is intended to be illustratiue, not facts is palpablg urong: ' erroneous uieu.t of latu; dealing utith the euidence uas patentlg illegal; uii) exhaustiue. 2. The appellate court must alutagis giue proper Lueight and ion sideration o thafindings of the tial court. ' 3. If tu.to reasonable uieu)s can be reached- one that leids to acquittal, the other to conuiction -the High Courts/ appetlate courts must rule in fauour of the accused. " "graue miscarriage of justice';

8. The finding of the learned Sessions Judge is based on record. In the absence of any , acceptable and adrnissible evidence placed on record by the 7 ingredients prosecution to show that there was any derna-nr:l for additional clow.r'g which was made in proximitSr w'ith the death of the d:ceased, and pursuant tp such dernand there was harassment, the question of attracting the un cler Section 304 of IPC does no1: ilrise' onrnibus allegations were rnade thal- the Vague ald deceased r''"'as harassed. Such vague allegations cannot be made b:rsis lo convict the accused for the ofI'err'ce of cruelty, ptrnishable under Section 498-A of IPC' As such, there ilre no grounds to interfere wiLtLr the Iindings of the learned Sessions Judge' 9 Accordinlgly, this Criminal Appeal is dismisse'1' Pending miscellaneous petitions, if an1', shall stand clos<:d. ,TRUE COPY// Sd/- B. SATYAVATHI (orNr REGISTRAR: ,\ \ 0 SECTION OFFICER To,

1. The Judge, I:ami !' Court-cum-Additional District and Sessions 'Judge' Medak at Sa nga ReddY

2.fwoCCsto'heFubllcProsecutor,HighCourtfortheStateof-Ieianganaat Hyderabad (3UTt

3. One CC to tvls. D Slangeetha Reddy, Advocate [OPUC] 4. Two CD Cop ies ADK/DL W HIGH COURT DATED: 1 010212025 JUDGMENT * , CRLA.No.480 of 201\2. oF TE L4 c, n .9 > * *\qs \ \ tr '._'.- ,-;:, I' '-;/ Jvg,1fl l-;'-' --i-__:-/ DISMISSING THE CRLA ( \i.