SOPAN DHONDIBA CHAVAN Vs. THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant herein stands convicted for the offence punishable under Section 376 of IPC and is sentenced to suffer R.I. for three years and to pay fine of Rs. 2,000/ - in default S.I. for six months, he is also convicted for the offence punishable under Section 506(1) of IPC and is sentenced to suffer R.I. for one year and to pay fine of Rs. 1,000/ - in default S.I. for three months in Sessions Case No. 38 of 1990 by Addl. Sessions Judge, Baramati vide judgment and order dated 26th May, 1993. Hence, this appeal.

(2.) SUCH of the facts necessary for the decision of this appeal are as follows : -

(3.) PW -8 is the prosecutrix. She has deposed before the Court that on the day of incident, her husband had been to Malegaon to repair the agricultural implements. He had left the house at 8 p.m. Thereafter, she had left the house at about 11.00 a.m. along with her friends and had been to the field for collecting firewood. She had carried with her an axe to cut the firewood and also a rope to tie the same into a bundle. According to her, the accused -appellant is residing in close proximity of her house at Malegaon Colony. She has deposed before the Court that when she was returning after collecting the firewood, the accused -appellant had come from opposite side on his bicycle. He stopped bicycle near her and told her that they had eaten many things when the wife of the brother of her husband had died in the canal water. He then became aggressive. He pushed the firewood from her head. He had then taken charge of her, dragged her in the sugarcane crop by the side of the road and had ravished her after denuding her of her clothes. She had dropped the bundle of firewood by the side of the road near the field of the Trust and returned home. At about 3 p.m., she found her husband at home and disclosed to him about the incident and then they lodged the report.