In State of Rajasthan v. Rajaram, it has been held in paragraph 16 as follows: A reference may be made to a later decision in Sharad Birdhichand Sarda v. State of Maharashtra. There, while dealing with circumstantial evidence, it was held that the onus was on the prosecution to prove that the chain of evidence was complete and that any infirmity or lacuna in the prosecution could not be cured by a false defense or plea. The condition precedent, as mentioned in court, before a conviction based on circumstantial evidence can be made, must be fully established. They are:

• The circumstances from which a conclusion of guilt is to be drawn should be fully established. The circumstances must be established and not merely suggested.
• The facts so established should be consistent only with the hypothesis of the guilt of the accused, meaning they should not be explainable on any other hypothesis except that the accused is guilty.
• The circumstances should be of a conclusive nature and tendency.
• They should exclude every possible hypothesis except the one to be proved.
• There must be a chain of evidence so complete as to leave no reasonable ground for a conclusion consistent with the innocence of the accused and must show that, in all human probability, the act must have been done by the accused.

The provision applies when the death of a woman is caused by burns or bodily injury, or occurs otherwise than under natural circumstances, within seven years of her marriage, and it is shown that soon before her death, she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or any relative of her husband. To attract the application of Section 304B of the IPC, the essential ingredients are as follows:

• The death of the woman should be caused by burns or bodily injury or occur otherwise than under natural circumstances.
• The death should have occurred within seven years of marriage.
• She must have been subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or any relative of her husband.
• Such cruelty or harassment should be for or in connection with a demand for dowry.
• Such cruelty or harassment must be shown to have been meted out to the woman soon before her death.

Written By: S Kundu & Associates
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