RAM DAS Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant was convicted by the First Class Magistrate, Hoogly for an offence under section 354, I.P.C. and sentenced to two years' rigorous imprisonment. On appeal the Sessions Judge, Hoogly, confirmed both the conviction and the sentence, and a revision petition preferred to the High Court was rejected. This matter now comes before us on special leave under Article 136.

(2.) The facts which are not in dispute may first be stated.

(3.) The charge against the appellant was that he assaulted P.W. 6, Parul Bhattacharya, with intent to outrage her modesty. That she was assaulted by the appellant is established beyond all doubt. P.W. 6 deposed; "The accused kicked me. I got injuries on my arm, hand and back." This is corroborated by the evidence of P. Ws. 1 and 5. P.W. 2 is the doctor who examined her shortly after the incident, and he stated that he found scratches above the wrist in the right forearm and contusion below the shoulder in the right arm. Indeed, counsel for the appellant did not seriously challenge the correctness of the finding of the courts below that the appellant did assault P.W. 6. He only threw out a suggestion that P.W. 6 might have intervened on the side of P. Ws. 1 and 5 when they were engaged in a scuffle with the appellant and chance blows might have descended on her. This is a wholly gratuitous suggestion, and is opposed to the evidence on the side of the prosecution, and must accordingly be rejected. The finding of the Courts below that the appellant assaulted P.W. 6 must therefore be accepted.