ASHOK PANDURANG BHATKAR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant-original accused in this case stands convicted for an offence under section 417 of the Indian Penal Code and has been sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for six months and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/- in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for three months. Originally, there was additional charge under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code, but the learned Sessions Judge, Ratnagiri, has acquitted the appellant of that offence.

(2.) THIS is virtually a sad case of a young village boy and girl, both of whom were employed at the relevant time and who apparently came to know each other because they were distantly related. The admitted position is that the appellant and the complainant Savita were very much in love with each other. The incident in question had taken place at the beginning of the year 1983. It appears that in order to get over the parental resistance to a possible alliance that the two of them mutually agreed to a rather devious plan which was to the effect that the girl should get pregnant so that her parents would, as of necessity, get her immediately married to the appellant. It appears that in furtherance of this understanding the appellant used to take the girl Savita to the secluded place and that he used to have sexual intercourse with her at an unused cattle-shed on a number of occasions. Ultimately when the girl realised that she was, in fact, pregnant, she went to the house of the appellant - accused because he was not responding to her letters and messages. It is her case that when she informed him prior to this visit about her pregnancy that instead of acting as per the original plan and informing the respective parents that the appellant Ashok is alleged to have become scarce and Savita was under the impression that she would be put into serious difficulty. She alleges that when she went to the house of the appellant-accused and informed him about her condition, he denied his responsibility for her pregnancy; that he is alleged to have also assaulted her and that his parents sided with him. Thereupon out of desperation Savita went to a creek and attempted to commit suicide. It appears that she was rescued from the water and taken to the General Hospital at Ratnagiri, after which the Police not only charge-sheeted her for attempting to commit suicide but they also recorded her complaint against the appellant-accused on the basis of which the appellant-accused came to be charge-sheeted subsequently. In the meanwhile, a miscarriage had occurred as a result of which the pregnancy came to an end.

(3.) AT the trial, Savita gave evidence and she has very clearly said in the course of her evidence that she and the appellant-accused were both very much in love with each other. She has tried to say that she agreed to the act of sexual intercourse only because of the assurance from the appellant-accused that he would marry her and that it is on this basis that the learned Sessions Judge has framed the charge for an offence under section 417 of the Indian Penal Code. Certain witnesses have been examined, such as the friend of Savita, Usha Shivram Bhatkar (P. W. 3), and a few others for the purpose of establishing that the appellant-accused and Savita were friendly for a longtime. There is no dispute with regard to this part of the prosecution evidence.