UMASHANKAR CHAUHAN Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This criminal appeal filed by the appellant/accused herein under Sec. 374 (2) of Cr.P.C. is directed against the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dtd. 14/6/2013 passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Raigarh, District Raigarh, Chhattisgarh in Sessions Trial No. 32/2013, whereby the appellant has been convicted and sentenced as under:-

(2.) The case of the prosecution, in nutshell, is that on 14/11/2012 at about 5:00 pm, Dolnarayan Patel (PW-1) lodged the FIR to the effect that he is resident of Village Rani Sagar and he was informed by his nephew Kaushal Prasad Patel on 14/11/2012 at about 12:00 noon to the effect that his daughter aged about 14 years, had gone to attend the call of nature at about 11:00 am, she was carrying a steel container filled with water however she did not come back to the house. Further case of the prosecution is that Dolnarayan Patel (PW-1) tried to search for his daughter and asked the present appellant, who refused to tell her whereabouts. Thereafter, the steel container and the slippers of the deceased were found in the paddy field and in the same field, the dead-body of the deceased was also found. One scarf was found over the neck of the deceased and her inner-wears were below the waist and there was bleeding in her private part. It is further case of the prosecution that some unknown person has committed rape and murder of the deceased. Consequently, Crime No. 498 of 2012 for offence punishable under Sec. 302 and 376 of the IPC vide Ex.P/1 was registered against the unknown person. Thereafter, merg intimation was recorded vide Ex.P/2 and a copy of the FIR was sent to the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Raigarh vide Ex.P/13. Notice was issued to the witnesses and inquest was conducted vide Ex.P/8. The dead- body was sent for postmortem vide Ex.P/14. Site plan was prepared vide Ex.P/4. A steel container and a blue-sky coloured ladies slippers were seized vide Ex.P/10 from the spot. The postmortem was conducted by Dr. V.S. Rathiya (PW-7) and his report is Ex.P/23. The under garments of the deceased were seized. The doctor preserved the vaginal swab. The appellant was taken into custody and on the basis of his memorandum statement (Ex.P/11), his underwear was seized vide Ex.P/12. The underwear of the appellant, the inner-wear of the deceased and vaginal slide were sent for FSL. In the FSL report, human semen was found over underwear of the appellant, underwear of the deceased and vaginal slide prepared by the doctor vide Ex.P/24. The appellant was arrested on 16/11/2012. He was examined by Dr. Rajesh Kumar Singh (PW-9) and vide Ex.P/17-A, he found swelling over the left cheek, abrasion over the left side of neck and swelling over the right heel of the appellant. The doctor opined that the appellant was capable of performing sexual intercourse. After completion of the investigation, the police filed charge-sheet for the offence punishable under Ss. 376 and 302 of the IPC. Learned trial Court framed charges for the offence punishable under Ss. 376 and 302 of the IPC against the appellant. The appellant/accused abjured the guilt and took the plea that he has not committed the offence and he has falsely been implicated in the case.

(3.) The prosecution, in order to prove its case, examined as many as 9 witnesses and exhibited 24 documents. The appellant has relied upon evidence of two witnesses which are Ex.D/1 and Ex.D/2. The statement of the appellant/accused under Sec. 313 of Cr.P.C. was recorded where he took the plea of false implication.