SUBRAMANIAM versus STATE OF TAMIL NADU & ANR.

Citation: [2009] 9 S.C.R. 725 · Decided: 13-05-2009 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: S.B. SINHA · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

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Judgment (excerpt)

[2009] 9 S.C.R. 725 
SUBRAMANIAM 
v. 
STATE OF TAMIL NADU & ANR. 
(Criminal Appeal No. 774 of 2006) 
MAY 13, 2009 
[$.8. SINHA AND CYRIAC JOSEPH, JJ.] 
Penal Code, 1860: 
A 
B 
ss. 302 and 498-A - A married woman found dead in her c 
matrimonial home - FIR against husl:u~nd for Qffence$ 
punishal:)le ulss 302, 498-A /PC ~md s.4 of [)owry PrqhJ!Jition 
Act - Acquittal by trial court - Cqnviction by High Court -
HELD: Circumstances brought on record by prosecution are 
not such which would lead to a definite conclusion that it was 
0 
t, 
only the accused who cummitted the offence - Failure to 
prove plea of alibi may not be sufficient to record a finding of 
guilt - High Court in an appeal against acquittal could not 
have interfered if two views were possible - Judgment of trial 
court cannot be said to be unreasonable or perverse -
E 
Judgment of High Court set aside - Circumstantial evidence 
- Appeal against acquittal . 
• 
"' 
1 
The accused-appellant was prosecuted for 
commission of offences punishable u/ss 498-A and 302 
IPC as also u/s 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. The 
F 
wife of the accused was found dead in her matrimonial 
home at 1.1,00 P.M. on 26.5.1999. On the request of the 
accused, PW-3 went to the house of his in-laws (PW-1 and 
PW-2) to inform them, and they reached the place of 
~ 
. i_ncident at about 9.00 A.M. in the following morning. On 
G 
' 
the basis of a written report alleging that the deceased 
was subjected to cruelty and/or harassment at the hands 
of her husband and in-laws, as sufficient dowry was not 
given in her marriage, an FIR was lodged at about 11.00 
725 
H 
726 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2009] 9 S.C.R. 
A A.M. The trial court acquitted the accused of all the 
~ 
charges. On appeal by the State, the High ~ourt 
maintaining the acquittal of the accused u/s 498-A IPC 
and s.4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, convicted and 
sentenced him u/s 302 IPC. 
B 
In the appeal filed by the accused, it was contended 
for the appellant that the death of his wife could not have 
been caused by smothering as was tried to be proved by 
+ 
the prosecution; that the circumstances relied upon by 
c High Court did not form a complete linkin the chain to 
arrive at the guilt of the appellant; and that the police 
having already reached the place of occurrence early in 
the morning as per evidence of PW-2 and PW-3, no 
reliance could be placed on the FIR which was lodged 
D 
by PW-1 at 11.00 A.M. in the police station. The 
respondent-State contended that the High Court rightly 
convicted the accused hc:ding that the deceased having 
) 
died on unnatural death and both the husband and the 
wife living together and were last seen together, it was 
for the accused to explain as to how his wife died, a.nd 
E that the plea of alibi taken by the accused was not proved. 
Allowing t"e appeal, the Court 
HELD: 1. Though the doctor (PW-10) who conducted 
f 
the autopsy, state in her report that the death was caused 
I 
~ 
F by asphyxia, may be due to smothering, but in her cross 
examination she admitted that no symptoms of asphyxia 
were found. Besides, no evidence of violence was found 
in the shape of external marks surrounding the mouth 
and nostrils or inside the mucosal surface, or on the 
G chest. The expert should have been forthright in her view 
in regard to the cause of death. A different canclusion 
I-
was required to be arrived at keeping in view the fact that 
'r 
a large number of symptoms, which ordinarily point out 
to the cause of death of asphyxia by smothering were 
H 
- . 
SUBRAMANIAM v. STATE OF TAMIL NADU & ANR. 727 
absent. In the circumstances, the Sessions Judge rightly A 
opined that death might not have been caused by 
asphyxia, [Para 6, 8 and 10] [734-F-G; 738-G; 739-G-H; 
740-A-B] 
Mohd. Zahid vs. State of T.N. 1999 SCC (Crl.) 1066, 
B 
relied on. 
<~ 
; 
State of Himachal Pradesh vs. Jeet Singh (1999) 4 SCC 
370, referred to. 
Modi's Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology, 23rd c 
Edition, referred to. 
2.1. So far as the circumstance that the deceased and 
the accused had been living together is concerned, 
indisputably, the entirety of the situation should be taken 
into consideration. Ordinarily, when husband and wife are 
D 
stated to have remaineJ within the four walls of a house 
and the death of wife by homicide takes place, it will be 
for the husband to explain the circumstances in which 
she might have died. However, although the same may 
be considered to be a str

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