VINOD KUMAR Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By the present appeals the appellants challenge the impugned judgment dtd. 15/12/2018 whereby appellant Hanuman Mishra was convicted for offences punishable under Sec. 366 and 376 IPC whereas appellants Parveen Kumar and Vinod Kumar were convicted for offences punishable under Sec. 366 IPC read with 34 IPC and Sec. 376(2)(g) IPC. Vide the order on sentence dtd. 15/12/2018 appellant Hanuman Mishra was awarded imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs.1.00 lakh for offence punishable under Sec. 376 IPC and rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years and a fine of ^50,000/- in default whereof to undergo six months simple imprisonment for offence punishable under Sec. 376 IPC. Appellants Parveen Kumar and Vinod Kumar were awarded imprisonment for life for offence punishable under Sec. 376(2)(g) IPC and to pay a fine of ?1 lakh each and rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years and a fine of ?50,000/- in default whereof to undergo six months simple imprisonment for offence punishable under Sec. 366 read with 34 IPC.

(2.) Case of the prosecution is based on the testimony of PW-1 the prosecutrix who lodged the FIR exhibited vide Ex.PW-1/A on 9/4/2011 at 10.15 AM stating that she was residing in Uttar Pradesh. Her family had a house in Faridabad and she was studying in class 10th. Two months prior her father suffered an injury, since when she and her mother joined her father at Faridabad. She has an elder brother who got married 4 - 5 years ago to the daughter of Hanuman Mishra. Hanuman Mishra was presently residing at Rangpuri village in a rented accommodation and her brother's wife i.e. daughter of Hanuman Mishra was presently residing at the village. On 7/4/2011 Hanuman Mishra and his wife Lalita came to their house at Faridabad. On 8/4/2011 when Hanuman Mishra was going back, he said to her father that his company was giving gifts to the girls and the victim should accompany her as his daughter so that he could get a gift for her from his company. Since Lalita, the wife of Hanuman was unwell, she continued to stay with the victim's parents. After reaching Rangpuri, the victim came to know that Hanuman Mishra brought her on a false pretext to his house. He got her a suit and told her that if there is a phone call, she should tell that she has got the gift. She asked Hanuman Mishra to drop her at her residence, on which he stated that he was tired and will drop her next day. After dinner she fell asleep, when Hanuman Mishra came to her and started sexually harassing her. He put perfume on her and touched her. He took off her clothes and committed rape on her. When she protested, Hanuman Mishra stated that she should not tell these facts to anybody. At night she left the house secretly, as she was scared. While she was walking, she saw an Indica CAR. The boy who was driving the Indica CAR told his name as Bijender, S/o of Jagbir Singh, R/o village Barona, Thana Kharkoda, District Sonipath, Haryana. When he offered to help her, she got into his Indica car when two other boys also sat in the said car. Thereafter, driver Bijender started taking the car towards jungle at Dwarka and stopped over there. When she asked the driver, about the reason to stop the car, he started evading the answer. The two boys sitting at the back started misbehaving with her and when she objected, they assaulted her. One of the two boys got down and then the other boy forcibly raped her on the rear seat of the car. Thereafter, the other boy came and forcibly raped her as well. When the second boy was committing sexual assault on her, she complained of stomach ache and that she had to go for urination. On this pretext she got down from the car and started running. The driver followed her and caught hold of her because of which she fell down and suffered injuries on her knees. The driver also fell down and suffered injuries on the knees. Hearing the noise one car stopped and called the PCR van, when the PCR van took her and the driver to the Police Station. However, his two associates succeeded in running away. She could identify the two associates who were aged 20 - 25 years, well-built, height 5 feet 8 inches approximately on seeing them. She gave the number of the car as DL-1YB-4850.

(3.) During the course of investigation Hanuman Mishra and the two other boys, namely, Parveen Kumar and Vinod Kumar were arrested and after investigation charge-sheet was filed against them. During trial, prosecution examined 23 witnesses. Statements of the accused were recorded under Sec. 313 Cr.P.C., however they led no defence evidence. Besides the appellant Bijender Dahiya @ Bije, the driver who was arrested at the spot during the course of trial was released on interim bail who absconded and was declared a proclaimed offender and thus proceedings against him have been kept in abeyance. Hence, the present appeals by the three appellants challenging the impugned judgment of conviction and order on sentence.