MAHANT DIGAMBER TEJGIRI Vs. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Present Criminal Jail Appeal has been received from the Superintendent of District Jail, Haridwar. The present Appeal has been filed against the judgment dtd. 22/2/2016, passed by learned Sessions Judge, Pithoragarh in Sessions Trial No.21 of 2014, "State vs. Mahant Digamber Tejgiri alias Mauni Baba alias Tarsaim Singh", by which, the appellant has been convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of ten years along with a fine of Rs.10,000.00 under Sec. 376 (2) (n) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short, "IPC"); he has been convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of two years along with a fine of Rs.1,000.00 under Sec. 506 part II IPC; he has been convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months under Sec. 471 IPC read with Sec. 465 IPC, and, he has been further convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year along with a fine of Rs.10,000.00 under Sec. 66 C of the Information Technology Act, 2000. All the sentences have been directed to run concurrently.

(2.) Briefly stated the prosecution story as it emerges from the re-appreciation of the evidence on record is that, on 4/9/2013, the prosecutrix lodged an FIR (Ext. Ka. 4) through her written information (Ext. Ka. 1) that the appellant, a monk, was residing in Kaushalya Devi Temple, located at village Hudaiti. She had gone to the said temple one year ago to attend the religious function "Jagar". Appellant applied vibhuti on her and then committed rape with her. Appellant made her video during the said incident. After showing the said video and threatening her, he used to commit rape on her regularly.

(3.) The First Information Report was registered at 14:10 hrs. The statement of the prosecutrix was recorded under Sec. 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. She was medically examined. Two mobile phones were recovered from the possession of the appellant at the time of his arrest. The said two mobile phones were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Chandigarh. Upon conclusion of the investigation, the charge-sheet was filed.