JITENDRA @ JEETU Vs. STATE OF M P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This death reference and connected appeal arise out of the judgment of conviction passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Indore holding respondents guilty of the charges levelled against them in the trial. Following facts appear to be undisputed at this stage. The deceased, female child of about 3 to 4 years of age was sexually abused beyond words, and her dead body was found lying in a Nala near Shrinagar and Malviya Nagar Colonies of Indore City on the morning of 25th June, 2012. This child went missing from her house in MIG Colony, Indore since the 8.30 p.m. on 24-6-2012. Upon discovery of the dead body, Exh. P-6, Merg Intimation was recorded. Police prepared the site map (Exh. P-21), and Panchnama (Exh. P-17), and the corpse was sent to M.Y. Hospital for autopsy. Exh. P-5 is the short autopsy report dated 25-6-2012, which reads as under:--

(2.) It is also undisputed that the accused persons are unrelated, and staying in different colonies at Indore; Accused Babu @ Ketan is an auto rickshaw driver while the remaining two accused Jitendra and Sunny are labourers.

(3.) Prosecution case in brief is as under:--On 24-6-2012 at about 8.30 p.m., the victim aged about 4 years had come out of her house in MIG Colony, Indore to see a Barat (Marriage Procession); and she did not return back to the house; this led her father Arjun (P.W. 4) to get in touch on phone his cousin Ajay (P.W. 9); and they waited till morning thinking that the child had slept somewhere in the near neighbourhood; next day brought the bad news about a dead body of a female child being found in a Nala near the Shrinagar Colony already mentioned. On reaching the spot, body was identified by Ajay (P.W. 9) as that of the deceased in question; and thereafter, investigation was launched as mentioned in the admitted facts.