RAJAK MOHAMMAD Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The accused appellant has been acquitted by the learned trial Court of the charges under Sections 363, 366 and 376 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ("IPC" for short). In appeal by the State the order of acquittal has been reversed and an order of conviction recorded by the High Court following which he has been sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for four (04) years, five (05) years and seven (07) years respectively for the offences under Sections 363, 366 and 376 IPC. All the sentences are directed to run concurrently. The accused appellant has been in custody for nearly three and half years.

(2.) The evidence of PW 6 - the prosecutrix with regard to the incident of abduction and commission of rape stands contradicted by her previous statement in writing recorded under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 ("Cr.P.C." for short) with which she was confronted (Exhibits PW18/F and PW18/G].

(3.) Apart from the above, from the evidence of Bimla Devi (P.W.7) it appears that the prosecutrix has remained with the accused appellant for about two days in Kullu in the house of P.W.7 and that there were about 60-70 houses in the village. The materials on record also indicate that the prosecutrix remained in the company of the accused appellant for about 12 days until she was recovered and that she had freely moved around with the accused appellant in the course of which movement she had come across many people at different points of time. Yet, she did not complain of any criminal act on the part of the accused appellant.