NANDYALA VENKATARAMANA versus STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

Citation: [2010] 14 S.C.R. 643 · Decided: 26-10-2010 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: H.S. BEDI · Disposal: Dismissed

Judgment (excerpt)

(2010] 14 (ADDL.) S.C.R. 643 
NANDYALA VENKATARAMANA 
v. 
STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH 
(Criminal Appeal No. 1 of ,2006) 
OCTOBER 26, 2010 
. ~: 
r 
[HARJIT SINGH B.EDI AND CHANDRAMAULI KR. 
PRASAD, J'J.] 
A 
B 
Penal Code, 1860: 
. ·,\ \. ·. r 
c 
ss. 304-8 and 498-A- Dowry de.ath- Suicide by a woman 
in her matrimonial home within one year of her marriage -
Conviction of husband of deceased and his father - Affirmed 
by High Court - Appeal by husband - HELD: In addition to 
the evidence of prosecution witnesses with regard to repeated 0 
demands for dowry and harassment to the deceased, there 
are three letters (including the one addressed to the Collector) 
written by the deceased shortly before her death which sp~ak • 
of the harassment that she was undergoing - She has stated 
that she had been harassed and demands for dowry had been E 
made right from the beginning of the marriage - These letters 
clearly inculpate the husband in the incident - Evidence. 
Evidence: 
Oral evidence - Discrepancies ·in - HELD: In a case . F 
where a large number of witnesses appear for the prosecution, 
some discrepancies are bound to occur- In the instant case, 
several prosecution witnesses were completely independent 
and the Court finds no reason to disbelieve their testimonies 
- In any case, corroboration (if any required), can be found G 
in Exts. P-2 to P-4, which, as per the evidence of the hand;. 
writing expert, were in the handwriting of the deceased- Penal 
Code, 1860 - ss. 304-B and 498-A. 
643 
I 
, . H : 
I . . 
· l. 
644 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2010] 14 (ADDL.) S.C.R. 
A 
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal 
No. 1 of 2006. 
From the Judgment & Order dated 23.03.2004 of the High 
Court of Judicature, Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad in Criminal 
8 
Appeal No. 1712 of 1997. 
T. Anamika, D. RamaKrishna Reddy (for Asha Gopalan 
Nair) for the Appellant. 
I. Venkatanarayana, Ramesh Allanki (for.O. Mahesh Babu) 
c for the Respondent. 
D 
The order of the Court was delivered by 
HARJIT SINGH BEOI, J. 1. This appeal, by way of 
special leave, arises out of the following facts : 
The deceased, Bhavani by name, was married to 
Nandyala Venkatarama·na-Appellant on 27th April, 1992 and 
at the time of marriage, the appellant had been given a dowry 
of Rupees one lakh in cash and other presents as well. On the 
E 
night of the marriage itself, the appellant demanded some 
additional costly items from his wife. After the marriage, the 
deceased resided with her husband and in-laws at Cuddapah 
but the four accused that is the appellant, his parents and 
brother continued to harass her for money and other goods. A 
F 
Panchayath was subsequently held in which the elders were 
involved and it was decided that the deceased and her 
husband would live separately and that the husband would seek 
a. transfer from Cuddapah. The in-laws, nevertheless, continued 
to harass the deceased and to interfere in their private life. It 
G appears, however, that despite the appellant and the deceased 
living in a separate house, the demands for·dowry continued 
unabated and this information was conveyed by the deceased 
to her mother, other relatives and her colleagues. About two 
days prior to the date of occurrence, the deceased visited her 
mother's home and told her as to the way she was b~ing 
H 
NANDYALA VENKATARAMANA v. STATE OF 
645 
ANDHRA PRADESH [HARJIT SINGH BEDI, J.} 
maltreated. On the 10th of April, 1993 at about 8:30a.m., the A 
deceased committed suicide by hanging herself in the main hall 
of the house of her mother leaving behind three dying 
declarations in the form of letters Exhibits P-2 to P-4. PW-1 
(the mother of the deceased) who had gone to the market 
returned and found her daughter hanging from the ceiling fan. s 
The body was taken down and was, thereafter, subjected to a 
post-mortem and it was reported that she had died of asphyxia 
due to hanging. During the course of the investigation, the letters 
Exhibits P-? to P-4 were referred to a hand-writing expert who 
opined that the English sentences in the letters were in the c 
handwriting of the deceased but he could not compare the 
Telugu sentences for want of admitted specimens. 
The husband A-1, his parents and brother were accordingly 
brought to trial for offences punishable under Sections 304-B 
and 498-A of the Indian Penal Code. The Trial Court on a 
D 
consideration of the evidence convicted the appellant and-his 
parents but as the mother had died dur

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