LexDAMMU SREENU versus STATE OF A.P.
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I [2009] 9 S.C.R. 858 :. .. A DAMMU SREENU v. STATE OF A.P. (Criminal Appeal No.681 of 2003) B MAY 28, 2009 [DR. MUKUNDAKAM SHARMA AND DR. B.S. CHAUHAN, JJ.] PENAL CODE, 1860: c Section 306 - Abetment to commit suicide - Wife of deceased had illicit relationship with accused No. 1 - Deceased felt humiliated and insulted - Charge sheet against the wife and her paramour - Convicted and sentenced to five D years rigorous imprisonment - On appeal, sentence reduced to three years simple imprisonment - In revision wife's sentence reduced to one year which she had already undergone - On appeal by the other accused, Held: There is definitely a proximity and nexus between the conduct and E behaviour of accused with the suicide committed by the deceased - Also there is clear and unambiguous findings of fact of three courts that the appellant is guilty of offence under s. 306 /PC - Such findings do not call for any interference - Order of High Court convicting and sentencing the accused 'f ;;i F upheld - Accused to surrender to serve out the remaining period of the sentence. CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal No. 681 of 2003. G From the Judgment & Order dated 05.02.2003 of the High ..._ Court of Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad, in Criminal Revision -· Case No. 862 of 2000. A.T. Rao and A. Subba Rao for the Appellants. · H 858 ,,( DAMMU SREENU v. STATE OF A.P. 859 .. D. Ramakrishna Reddy and D. Bharathi Reddy for the A Respondents. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by DR. MUKUNDAKAM SHARMA, J. 1. The appellant B herein filed the present appeal seeking for his acquittal from the order of conviction under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as 'the IPC') whereby he was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years. 2. The appellant herein allegedly had illicit relationship with c the wife of the deceased Sitra Nagarjuna Rao. The wife of the < ' deceased was also made a co-accused in the same offence under Section 306 IPC and she was convicted for the aforesaid offence and was sentenced initially to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of three years which, however, later D on was altered to one year of rigorous imprisonment by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh. The said sentence of one year _has been served out by Accused No. 2, the wife of the deceased Sitra Nagarjuna Rao. 3. The prosecution has alleged in its case that the present E appellant had developed an illicit intimacy with Accused No. 2, who was the wife of the deceased Sitra Nagarjuna Rao. On the ~ 'y night of 31.12.1995, accused No. 2, the wife of the deceased went out of her house and returned to her matrimonial home - only on the next day. The deceased, Sitra Nagarjuna Rao was F ' unhappy with the aforesaid conduct and so, naturally , questioned her about her behaviour because of which there was a quarrel between the two. Being disturbed and perturbed on account of the behaviour of his wife (Accused No. 2), the ,deceased, Sitra Nagarjuna Rao called the father of Accused G .. No. 2 and asked him to take her away so as to give her proper ~~ counseling. Accordingly, she was taken away by her father. On the same day the present appellant (Accused No. 1) came to the house of the deceased and when he was questioned by the inmates of the house of the deceased, he stated that he H 860 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2009] 9 S.C.R. ;. A had illicit relations with the wife of the deceased and that he would keep coming to the house of the deceased so long she does not object to the same. When he was told that Accused No. 2 had gone with her father, Accused No. 1 went to the house of the brother of Accused No. 2 and took her away despite the B protest of PW-5, brother of AccusEd No. 2, in whose house his father kept her. The appellant took tier away and brought her back to the house of her brother only after 4 days and to her parents' house on 06.01.1996. c 4. Having come to know about the aforesaid incident, the deceased felt humiliated and insulted. He committed suicide by hanging himself in the intervening night of 7th and 8th January, 1996. It is.also to be noted, at this stage, that prior to ,, . his suicide, the deceased, Sitra Nagarjuna Rao expressed t ~ before his brother that it would be better to die as he felt very D much insulted and humiliated. The deceased having committed suicide, his brother gave a report
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