LILLU ALIAS RAJESH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This criminal appeal has been preferred against the impugned judgment and order dated 20.9.2010 passed by the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh in Criminal Appeal No. 243-DB of 2002, by way of which the High Court has affirmed the judgment and order dated 4.3.2002 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Jind in Sessions Case No. 37 of 2001, by way of which the appellant no. 1 has been convicted under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as 'IPC') and awarded the sentence of seven years rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 5,000/- and in default of making payment, to further undergo imprisonment for two years.

(2.) Mr. J.P. Singh, learned counsel for the appellant, submitted that the prosecution has failed to prove the date of birth of the prosecutrix and that she was about 17-18 years of age on the date of incident.

(3.) On the other hand, the State of Haryana, as usual, remained unrepresented as the government counsel duly appointed by the State considered it their privilege not to appear in court and become the burden on public exchequer. So, the court has to examine the case more consciously going through the record and examine the correctness of the findings recorded by the courts below.