STATE OF M P Vs. MOLAI RAMGAREEB KOL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS judgment shall also dispose of Cr. Reference No. 4/97 and Cr. Appeal No. 525/97.

(2.) THE references have been made in judgment dated 18-2-1997 passed by IV Additional Sessions Judge, Rewa in S. T. No. 130/96. The two accused Santosh and Molai have been found guilty of committing offences of gang rape punishable under Section 376 (2) (g), Indian Penal Code and for committing murder of the victim Ku. Naveen daughter of R. S. Somvanshi an Assistant Jailor, in Qr. No. 2 in the colony of Central Jail, Rewa on , 20-2-1996. Both have been sentenced to death for the offence of murder under Section 302, Indian Penal Code and have been sentenced to life imprisonment and fine of Rs. 500/- each for the offence under Section 376 (2) (g), Indian Penal Code. In default of payment of fine they are to further undergo R. I. for 2 months each. They have been further found guilty of offence under Section 201, Indian Penal Code and sentenced to R. I. for 3 years each and fine of Rs. 200/- each and in default of fine further R. I. for 2 months each. Cr. A. 525/97 has been filed by one of the accused Molai. The other accused has not filed any appeal against the judgment and sentence.

(3.) THE prosecution case, in brief, is that accused Molai was employed as a guard in Central Jail, Rewa at the time of this incident while accused Santosh was a convict in S. T. No. 97/87 for offences under Sections 376, 366 and 363, Indian Penal Code and was undergoing the sentences in Central Jail, Rewa for those offences for 7 years, 4 years and 3 years R. I. respectively. R. S. Somvanshi (P. W. 6), father of Ku. Naveen, was residing with his family in Qr. No. 2 of the Central Jail Colony. A few days before the incident, his wife with some children, had gone out of station. Shri Somvanshi, along with his daughters Ku. Naveen, aged 16 years and Ku. Pratibha (PW 3) aged 12 years, was residing in the quarter. In the adjoining Qr. No. 3 another Assistant Jailor R. K. Mishra along with his wife and daughter Ku. Ruchi Mishra (PW1) aged 14 years were residing. On the opposite adjoining Qr. No. 1 some guards were residing. Ku. Naveen was student of X class. The two accused used to come to the house of Shri Somvanshi for doing domestic work. Pratibha had gone to her school at 7 a. m. on the date of incident. The two accused came to the house as usual for domestic work after Pratibha had gone to school. Somvanshi was in the house and about 9 a. m. he went to his duty leaving behind Ku. Naveen in the house and both the accused were working in the house. In the neighbourhood R. K. Mishra had also gone to duty and in his house his wife Shobha and daughter Ruchi were present. PW. 4 Shailendra s/o another Assistant Jailor Shyamsingh and Krishnakumar son of Pathak, another Assistant Jailor, were playing cricket in front of their quarters. At about 10 a. m. Smt. Shobha and Ku. Ruchi heard some shrieks from the quarter of Somvanshi. They also heard dogs bark. Even Shailendra and Krishnakumar heard the shrieks. The boys went to the quarter of Somvanshi but could not notice anything special. At about 11 a. m. Ruchi Mishra went to return a cassette to Ku. Naveen. She called Ku. Naveen but got no reply. She noticed that both the accused were standing outside the quarter of Somvanshi. They told Ruchi that Naveen was not in the quarter, she had gone with some girl friend. At that time the ball of Shailendra got rolled towards quarter of Somvanshi. Both the boys went towards that quarter to look for their ball. They noticed both the accused standing infront of the quarter. A short time thereafter Ku. Ruchi again came and noticed accused Santosh taking cycle of Ku. Naveen towards the back of the quarter. At about 12 noon, Ku. Pratibha, sister of Naveen, came to her house and found both the accused in the house but she could not find Naveen in the house. She asked both the accused about Naveen. They told her that Naveen had gone on her cycle to the house of some girl friend. Pratibha noticed that the room in which she had kept her clothes had been locked. She wanted to take bath but could not. Thereafter Santosh went to the jail. At about 12. 30 Molai told Pratibha that two Samosas had been kept for her and that Naveen had called for Samosas. Pratibha took one Samosa and cooked the meals. At about 1 p. m. Molai also left the house. At 1. 30 p. m. Somvanshi returned home. Pratibha told him that the accused persons had told her that Naveen had gone to her girl friend on her cycle. Shri Somvanshi went away to his duty at 3 p. m. and returned home at 6 p. m. Still Naveen had not returned home. By that time both the accused had come back for domestic work. They told Somvanshi that Naveen had gone to her girl friend. Somvanshi got worried and he and his neighbours searched for Naveen but could not find her. Even Molai joined them in the search. Santosh went to his barrack. The next morning Somvanshi went to the back of the quarter to milk the cow. He noticed that the cover of the septic tank had become slightly displaced. He became suspicious and got the cover removed and peeped in. He noticed the blue colour frock of Naveen floating in the septic tank. Somvanshi went to the police station and lodged report Ex. P-l. The police came to the spot and got out the body of Ku. Naveen from the septic tank. A cloth was tied up around her neck. There was a cut wound on her abdomen arid her intestines had come out. It appears that she had been murdered and the body had been thrown in the septic tank. Blood stained earth was noticed near the tank. The autopsy on the body disclosed that the girl had been raped before death and then she had been strangulated and stabbed in the stomach and thus murdered. The doctor prepared slides from the vaginal discharge for chemical examination. Her clothes were sealed and seized.