DALWADI GOVINDBHAI AMARSHIBHAI Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal is filed under Section 374(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 ("the Code" for short) against the judgment dated May 19, 2000 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Surendranagar, in Sessions Case No.22 of 1993, by which the appellant is convicted of the offence under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code ("the IPC" for short), and sentenced to suffer R.I. for eight years and a fine of Rs.10,000=00, in default, S.I. for one year.

(2.) In view of the decision in the case of State of Punjab v. Ram Dev, 2003 A.I.R. SCW 6947, we do not propose to mention the name of the victim.

(3.) The parents of the victim reside at village Sayla. The name of her father is Dhanjibhai whereas name of her mother is Gauriben. She is married to Pravinbhai Bhopabhai of Wadhvan town. The incident in question had taken place on August 21, 1992. Fourteen days prior to the date of incident, the victim had come to her parental house to stay there. On the date of incident, her husband had come to village Sayla to take her with him at her matrimonial home. In the morning of date of incident, the victim had served tea etc. to her husband. Her husband had expressed his desire to visit Mela which was held in the village, but the victim had told her husband that her mother and sister had gone to field to pick up Guvar and that after picking up Guvar, she would come back and would go with him to visit Mela. At about 8.00 a.m., she had proceeded to go to Wadi of her father. When she had reached near trees in the sim of village, the appellant had accosted her and asked her why she was going to Wadi all alone. In order to dissuade the appellant from following her, the victim had told the appellant that she was being followed by her mother and father, and had started walking fast. However, the appellant had continued to chase her and caught hold of her near the bushes of babul trees. As the victim had tried to free herself from the clutches of the appellant, she had received nail injuries on her cheek and neck. The appellant had dragged the victim to a ditch and after throwing her in the ditch, had mounted on her. The victim had entreated the appellant to let her go, but after lifting the petticoat of the victim, the appellant had unchained his pant and committed rape on her. The victim had shouted for help and, therefore, the appellant had gagged her mouth with her Odhani (upper garment worn by girls). After committing the rape on the victim, the appellant had threatened her that if the incident was narrated by her to anyone, she would be cursed by female ghost of Anada Waghari. The victim was weeping uncontrollably and had gone to Wadi where her mother and sister were picking up Guvar. After reaching Wadi, the victim had narrated the incident to her mother and sister. Therefore, leaving the work of picking Guvar unfinished, the victim was brought home by her mother and sister. The father of the victim was not available in the house as he had gone to visit another village. On his return to the house, the victim had narrated the incident to him. The victim in the company of her father had gone to Sayla Police Station for lodging the complaint where she had lodged the complaint. The complaint was reduced in writing by Police Sub Inspector, Mr.P.B.Mer. The Police Officer had taken the victim to Sayla Government Dispensary for medical examination and drawn panchnama of place of incident, which was pointed out by the victim. He had also attached clothes worn by the victim at the time of the incident. The appellant was arrested on August 22, 1992 and he was also taken to Limdi Dispensary for medical examination. The clothes put on by the appellant were also taken into custody. The clothes and other articles were sent to Forensic Science Laboratory for analysis. On the completion of investigation, the appellant was chargesheeted of the offence punishable under Section 376 of the IPC in the Court of learned Judicial Magistrate, Sayla. As the offence punishable under Section 376 of the IPC is exclusively triable by a Court of Sessions, the case was committed to the Sessions Court, Surendranagar, for trial where it was numbered as Sessions Case No.22 of 1993.