SHABIR RASHID Vs. STATE,

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal, from jail, is directed, against an order of the learned Additional Sessions Judge, convicting and sentencing the appellant, under Sections 366 and 376, Indian Penal Code. The prosecution case against the appellant was as under :

(2.) SHANTI P.W. 2 was living with her parents, Rajbir Singh P.W. 5 and Smt. Padma P.W. 6, in the village Silampur, Delhi. The appellant, a boy of 16 or 17 years, was a neighbour of Shanti in that village. On the 27th December, 1967, at about 10 or 11 a.m., Shanti and his younger brother Thakar Das P.W. 7, aged about 9 years, had gone to Shahdara to purchase vegetables. The appellant had met them on the way. He had told Shanti that she should accompany him to Chandani Chowk and that he would get Chappala and good clothes and good food for her : Shanti had agreed to go with the appellant. The appellant had taken Shanti and her brother Thakar Das to Qutab Minar and had then taken them to the Zoo. He did not purchase any clothes for Shanti who reminded him of his promise to get new clothes for her. The appellant had replied that he had no money. Shanti had protested that the appellant had brought her deceitfully and that her mother would be angry. The appellant had then taken Shanti and Thakar Das to Jamuna Bazar and leaving them in a hotel had gone to borrow money from some person. The appellant had come back with Rs. 12. He had then taken Shanti and Thakar Das to the Railway Station, Delhi, and had taken them to Khurja by train. Shanti had begun to weep at Khurja. The appellant had brought her and Thakar Das back to Delhi on the next morning. At Delhi Railway Station, the appellant had brought cooper wires and had sold the same at Jama Masjid for Rs. 19. The appellant had then asked Thakar Das to go back to his parents and had given him Re. 1. The appellant had taken Shanti to Sarai Khalil, Qatab Road. At the Sarai, the appellant had taken a Jhaunpri and he and Shanti had remained at the Sarai upto the 10th January 1968 on which date the appellant was apprehended by the police. The appellant had, while residing in the Sarai, committed sexual intercourse with Shanti against her will.

(3.) WHILE on his way to his house in Silampur, Thakar Das had met his father Rajbir Singh P.W. 5, who was searching for Shanti. Thakar Das had informed his father that the appellant had taken away Shanti. Rajbir Singh P.W. 5 had lodged the F.I.R., Exhibit P.W. 5/A at the Police Station, Shahdara, at about 11 p.m. on the 30th December, 1987. He had stated, in that report, that his daughter Shanti aged 13 years and his son Thakar Das aged 10 years, had on the 27th December 1967, been sent to purchase vegetables, but had net returned, that on the 29th December, 1967, when he was searching for the children his son had met him in Jamuna Bazar and had informed him that the appellant had taken him and Shanti to Khurja and had then brought them back to Delhi, the following day. It was, further, stated in the report, that the appellant hail asked Thakar Das to go home after giving him Re. 1/.