BABUBHAI UDESINH PARMAR Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant herein, who was original accused in Sessions Case No. 300/2000, came to be convicted for the offences punishable under Sections 376, 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code [for short 'IPC'] by the Ld. Joint Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court, Anand, by judgment and order dated 15/1/2003 was awarded sentence of rigorous imprisonment [RI] for life and fine of Rs. 5,000/ -, in default of payment of fine, imprisonment for one year for the offence punishable under Section 376 of the IPC, RI for life and fine of Rs. 5,000/ -, in default of payment of fine, imprisonment for one year for the offence punishable under Section 302 of the IPC and RI for three years and fine of Rs. 1,000/ -, and in default of payment of fine, SI for one month for the offence punishable under Section 201 of the IPC, preferred this appeal in this Court.

(2.) THE prosecution case, in nutshell, is that the accused came to be arrested in connection with Vidhyanagar Police Station C.R. No. I -48/1998 for the offences punishable under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC and when he was on police remand on 24/8/2000, he disclosed that in the year 1996 and on or near the festival of Janmashtami, he had kidnapped one girl Sunita aged about 8 to 9 years and had taken to the outskirts of Karamsad on his bicycle in one field and in one room, which was in the said field, he had raped Sunita and thereafter, he had strangulated Sunita by throttling and had killed her and at about 12 -00 O'clock in the midnight, he had removed dead -body of Sunita from said room and the dead -body was thrown in a gutter by him. The accused was thereafter taken to the Ld. Judicial Magistrate First Class, Anand, for recording his confessional statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure [for short 'Cr. P.C']. The Ld. Magistrate recorded the confessional statement of the accused. PSI R.G. Patel, Vidhyanagar Police Station lodged FIR before the Circle PSI, Vidhyanagar regarding the incident, which came to be registered. During the course of police investigation, the accused, in presence of panchas, had shown the place where the incident had taken place as well as the place where the dead -body was thrown. Skull and skeleton consisting of bones came to be found from the place shown by the accused. The same were forwarded to FSL for appropriate examination and opinion. After collecting required material for the purpose of lodgement of charge -sheet, charge -sheet came to be filed in the Court of Ld. Judicial Magistrate First Class, Anand. Since the offence was exclusively triable by the Court of Sessions, the Ld. Magistrate committed the case to the Court of Sessions at Anand, which came to be registered as Sessions Case No. 300/2000.

(3.) THE Ld. Trial Judge framed charge against the accused at exh. 3 for the offences punishable under Sections 302, 376 and 201 of the IPC, to which the accused did not plead guilty and claimed to be tried. Thereafter, the prosecution adduced its oral and documentary evidence. After the conclusion of the evidence adduced by the prosecution, the Ld. Trial Judge recorded further statement of the accused under Section 313 of the Cr. P.C and the accused denied, generally all the allegations levelled against him by the prosecution and stated that he was falsely implicated in this case. However, he expressed his desire for being examined as witness in this case. Therefore, before the trial Court, the evidence of the accused himself is at exh. 62. After considering the evidence on record and the submissions made on behalf of both the sides, the Ld. Trial Judge recorded the conviction of the accused for the offences punishable under Sections 302, 376 and 201 of the IPC and awarded the sentence as hereinbefore referred to in this judgment.