SUKUMAR GOUDA Vs. STATE OF ODISHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Today is Raksha Bandhan, 2023 which is a special day to celebrate the bond between the siblings to express love and gratitude for each other. Brothers pledge to protect their sisters, love and cherish them, and shower them with presents while sisters tie 'Rakhi' on their brothers' wrists, place tilak on their foreheads, and pray for their prosperity and long lives. It is said that 'brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet." A brother for a sister is a protector, confidant and a lifelong friend. They share a unique bond that nothing can replace. A sister is a treasure beyond measure for the brother whereas a brother is a hero in disguise and a role model for the sister. Can anyone forget that beautiful song from Hindi film 'Chhoti Bahen' (1959) in the voice of Nightingale of India Late Lata Mangeshkar 'Bhaiya Mere Rakhi Ke Bandhan Ko Nibhana, Bhaiya Mere Choti Bahen Ko Na Bhulana".

(2.) It is both shocking as well as ironical to hear this case and render the judgment on 'Raksha Bandhan' day, on which day a brother takes the solemn pledge not only to protect his sister but also to nurture her till his last breath. Here is a case where the accusation has been levelled against an elder brother to have committed rape on her own sister when she was hardly fourteen years of age and to have made her pregnant for which she delivered a girl child at Swadhar Home, Malkangiri.

(3.) The appellant Sukumar Gouda faced the trial in the Court of learned Addl. Sessions Judge -cum- Special Judge, Malkangiri in T.R. Case No.15 of 2019 for commission of offences punishable under Sec. 376(3)/376(2)(n) of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter 'I.P.C.') on the accusation that in between 1/5/2018 to 10/5/2019 at village Raghuramguda, he committed rape on the minor victim girl, who was under sixteen years of age repeatedly, for the offence under Sec. 506 of the I.P.C. on the accusation that he committed criminal intimidation by threatening the minor victim girl to do away her life and also for the offence under Sec. 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (hereinafter 'POCSO Act') on the accusation that he committed aggravated penetrative sexual assault on the victim girl.