ROOP SINGH Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by way of special leave under Article 136 of the Constitution against the judgment dated 13.12.2004 of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Gwalior Bench.

(2.) The facts very briefly are that a First Information Report (for short 'FIR') was lodged by the complainant in Police Station, Civil Lines, Morena, on 01.03.2000 at 7.50 p.m. In the evening. In her verbal statement which was registered as FIR, the complainant stated that on the previous night while she was sleeping in her house in village Tighrapura in a room at about 2 a.m., the Appellant, who was her neighbour, entered into her house and forcibly committed intercourse with her when her sister-in-law Guddi Bai sleeping in a nearby cot woke up after listening to weeping of the complainant and then the Appellant ran away. The complainant further stated that her husband Rajesh had been to the well to give water to the field and when he came in the morning she told him about the incident and he went to Khadiahar to call her father-in-law Ram Bhajan but he did not meet him and then the complainant has come with her husband to lodge the FIR. Pursuant to the FIR, an x-ray was conducted on the complainant. The complainant was also medically examined. Investigation was conducted and the statements of witnesses were recorded by the police and charge-sheet was filed against the Appellant Under Section 450, Indian Penal Code, (house trespass in order to commit an offence) and Section 376, Indian Penal Code, (rape).

(3.) At the trial of Sessions Case No. 129 of 2000, the FIR was marked as Ex.P-6. Dr. Yogender Singh, who carried out the x-ray examination, was examined as PW-1 and the x-ray report was marked as Ex.P-1. Dr. Smt. Chandra Jatav, who conducted the medical examination on the complainant, was examined as PW-2 and her examination report was marked as Ex.P-5. The Petticoat of the complainant along with the slide of her vaginal liquid were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Gwalior, and the FSL report was marked as Ex.P-7. Guddi Bai, the sister-in-law of the complainant, was examined as PW-4 and the complainant was examined as PW-5. On the basis of the ocular evidence of PW-4 and PW-5 and the medical evidence and FSL report, the learned Sessions Judge, Morena, convicted the Appellant by judgment dated 31.07.2002 and sentenced him to three years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 250/- for the offence Under Section 450, Indian Penal Code and also sentenced him to seven years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 500/- for the offence Under Section 376(1) Indian Penal Code. Aggrieved, the Appellant filed Criminal Appeal No. 452 of 2002 before the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Gwalior Bench, but by the impugned judgment the High Court maintained the conviction and sentences Under Sections 376 and 450, Indian Penal Code, and dismissed the appeal.