JABALPUR, India, May 26 -- Madhya Pradesh High Court issued the following judgment/order on April 23:

1. This criminal appeal under Section 378(III) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 has been filed by the appellant/State being aggrieved by the judgment dated 29.05.2014 passed by the learned Second Upper Sessions Judge, Katni, District Katni, in ST No.125/2010, whereby the respondent (hereinafter referred to as the 'accused persons') have been acquitted from the charges under Sections 306 and 294 of IPC.

2. The prosecution case, in brief, is that on 26.11.2009, the Station House Officer, Sleemanabad, registered a marg case No.73/2009 in connection with the death of Vimla Bai and conducted an inquiry. According to the report, it was around 3 O'clock on that date. Kanta Bai was sitting in the courtyard outside her house, basking in the sun, when Kiran Gupta and Vimala Patel approached from the Kharadi side of the village, fighting with each other, Kiran Gupta caste aspersions upon Vimala and hurled filthy abuses at her. When they approached Kiran's house, Kiran's mother, Radha, came out from her house. Seeing Vimala fighting, she also began abusing Vimala. Radha and Kiran continued to hurl profanities at Vimala. Just then, Radha's son, Dilip, arrived, grabbed Vimala from her house, and took her inside. She sat in the sunshine in her courtyard. After 10-15 minutes, there was a commotion that Vimala had set herself on fire. Vimala's husband, Rajesh, arrived shortly afterward, and he and her father-in-law took her to Katni for treatment, from where she was flown to Jabalpur. Vimala remained there and died during treatment in Jabalpur.

On the basis of the above mentioned marg case Ex.P/19, the FIR Ex.P/20 got registered vide Crime No.42/2010 for the offence under Sections 294 and 306 IPC at Sleemanabad Police Station. During investigation, spot map Ex.P/5 was prepared and after informing the witnesses of Ex.P/1, a naksha panchayatnama Ex.P/2 was prepared. During investigation, the statements of witnesses were recorded. Saree, blouse and petticoat were seized from the scene of incident by Ex.P/4. Post-mortem of the dead body of the deceased was conducted by Ex.P/16 and the accused were arrested by arrest memos Ex.P/22 and Ex.P/24.

3. After completing the investigation, the charge sheet was filed against the accused persons before the Court. Statement of the witnesses got recorded. Charges were framed; read out and explained to the accused prsons. They denied to committing the crime and sought a trial. During their examination under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the accused persons stated that they are innocent and have been falsely implicated in the case. 4. In order to bring home the charges, the prosecution has examined as many as 17 witnesses, namely, Rajesh Patel (PW-1), Jawahar Patel (PW-2), Sheikh Sharif (PW-3), Virendra (PW-4), Gulab Bai (PW-5), Raghav Prasad Patel (PW-6), Kantabai (PW-7), Suniyabai (PW-8), Pramod Kumar (PW-9), Durgabai (PW-10), Radhabai (PW-11), Dr. S.K. Shukla (PW-12), Dr. Mukesh Agrawal (PW-13), Dr. Alok Kumar Verma (PW-14), Ramnaresh Tripathi (PW-15), M.P. Pauranik (PW-16) and Sushil Kumar Tiwari (PW-17) and placed Ex.P/1 to P/17, the documents on record.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://mphc.gov.in/storage/upload/jabalpur/MPHCJB/2016/CRA/1738/CRA_1738_2016_FinalOrder_23-04-2026_digi.pdf)

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.