PERMENT MARNGAR Vs. STATE OF MEGHALAYA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appeal is directed against a judgment of November 19, 2020 and the consequent order pronounced on November 24, 2020 whereunder the appellant herein has been sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment with a fine of Rs.20,000.00 upon his conviction for an offence punishable under Sec. 376 of the Penal Code, 1860. The fine has been directed to be paid to the victim upon realisation. In default of payment of the fine, the appellant has been directed to a further two months' rigorous imprisonment. The appellant has also been convicted under Sec. 506, Part II of the Penal Code and sentenced to seven years imprisonment with the prison sentences running concurrently.

(2.) The first information report came to be lodged on July 15, 2010 at the Nongstoin Police Station where an uncle of the survivor, said to have been 14 years old at the time of the incident, complained that his niece had been raped by the appellant herein on July 9, 2010. For good measure, the complainant indicated that the delay in lodging the FIR was because he was away and it was only upon the complainant's return on July 14, 2010 that the complainant learnt of the incident.

(3.) The investigating agency immediately obtained a statement of the survivor and had her medically examined. In course of the medical examination, it was discovered that the hymen of the girl was ruptured and she complained of pain and tenderness near the vagina. The doctor who conducted the examination was of the opinion that there was evidence of recent sexual intercourse, though he added a caveat that a final word in such regard could be said only upon receiving the forensic science laboratory report.