Wife set ablaze: HC asks court to see if murder charge is made out

Kolkata: In a case where the kin of the victim alleged her niece was set ablaze by her husband resulting in her death due to burn injuries, the Calcutta High Court (HC), in its judgement, directed the trial court to consider whether charge under Section 302 of the IPC (murder) is made out during trial and take necessary steps in the event relevant evidence surfaces during trial.

The Bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh was hearing a matter wherein the petitioner (uncle to the victim) sought for quashing the order of the trial court which turned down the prayer for further investigation.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the victim died by burn injuries and when she was ablaze, her husband, the accused/opposite party, made a video call to the victim’s cousin and showed her the said scene instead of coming to her rescue.

The cousin sent a car to take the victim to the hospital. The incident occurred on November 24, 2023 and the victim succumbed to her injuries on December 5, 2023.

The petitioner had requested the investigating officer to add the murder charge to the penal sections on which investigation was proceeding but to no effect. Initially, the case was registered under Section 304B IPC (dowry death) but this was later rejected by the court reasoning that incident occurred after seven years of marriage. The probe was transferred to CID which also submitted chargesheet under various IPC sections and Dowry Prohibition Act. The petitioner then sought for further probe.

The state’s counsel submitted that the attending doctor indicated the victim was “alert, conscious and cooperative” when brought to the hospital by her husband and stated before the doctor that she set herself ablaze due to marital discord and her husband helped douse the fire.

The counsel of the husband submitted that reliance was placed on statements of the doctor, driver and the cousin and no material for murder charge transpired against him during the probe.

The court observed some discrepancies in evidence collected during the probe, including statements of witnesses as well as the alleged version of the victim before the doctor.

Observing that the probe is still continuing, HC directed the trial court to consider whether murder charge is made out.

With the petitioner submitting that several prosecution witnesses were not examined, HC said the trial court shall be at liberty to summon them if their evidence is required for arriving at a just decision.