BALWANT SINGH SAUDAGAR SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two appeals by special leave - one filed by Balwant Singh, Gurdish Singh and Nirmal Singh and the other by Saudagar Singh - are directed against the judgment of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana affirming with slight modification the order of convictions and sentences passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Ludhiana. The learned Additional Sessions Judge convicted the appellants under S. 366. I.P.C. and sentenced each of them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for four years and to pay a fine of Rs. 100/-. The appellants were also convicted under S. 376, I.P.C. and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 5 years and to pay a fine of Rs. 2,000/- each. The High Court while affirming the said convictions and sentences directed that the sentences of imprisonment would run concurrently.

(2.) The prosecution case, in brief, is that on May 10, 1976 at 11.00 a.m., while Kumari Rajwant Kaur, aged about 19/20 years and a student of B.A. Part-II of Gobind National College, Narangwal, was going to the college to collect her certificate of passing the Pre-University Examination the Appellants, who are known to her and one Atma Singh (since acquitted), forcibly took her in a car to the canal bank and there in a grove of eucalyptus trees raped her one after another. When Atma Singh was committing rape on her, she lost consciousness.

(3.) The further case of the prosecution was that when Kumari Rajwant Kaur did not return home until 5.00 p.m., her father, Dalip Singh (P.W. 3), got anxious and started searching for her. About an hour after sunset in course of his search, Dalip Singh found his daughter, Rajwant Kaur, lying in an unconscious state under a banyan tree near the canal bridge. Nobody was near her at that time. Dalip, Singh, his son and his wife brought her home. In spite of medical treatment, she did not regain consciousness till one hour before dawn next day. After regaining consciousness, she narrated to her father the entire incident.