DOLGOBINDA RATH Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal against the judgment of the learned Additional Assistant sessions Judge, Cuttack, dated 16-11-56 convicting the appellant under Sections 366 and 376, Indian Penal Code, and sentencing him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for five years on each count, the sentence to run concurrently.

(2.) THE prosecution case was that the appellant who is a co-villager of one Gokhei sahu, P. W. 8, was living at a short distance from his house. Admittedly, the accused was a bachelor and he was a solitary member of his house, his brother having remained elsewhere. The accused was the 'dharmaputra' of P. W. 8. Sometime before the occurrence, Achuta Rath, the uncle of the accused, and Suna dibya his father's sister, used to persuade Sashi Dei, P. W. 3, to marry the accused and to live happily in his house. The prosecution case, further, was that the accused himself used to persuade P. W. 3 and made certain presents of gold and silver ornaments and some Sarees to the girl. On 1-11-1955, P. W. 3 was going to a shop at about noon and while she was passing near the house of the accused, the accused called her and she went inside his house. Therein, the accused also persuaded her to marry him, but P. W. 3 expressed her unwillingness, when the accused pulled her inside his bed room and after shutting the front door, put her on his bed-stead, gagged her mouth and then forcibly co-habited with her in spite of some resistance offered by her. After the incident, the accused, it is alleged, gave a threat to the girl that he would kill her if she would speak about it to anybody. The next day, that is on 12-1-1955, at about two Ghadis before sunset, P. W. 3 was sitting on the verandah of the house of her adjacent neighbour, Mukta Dibya (P. W. 10 ). The accused came there and called her to his house to winnow some rice. Since the accused pressed her hard, P. W. 3 agreed and went inside the house of the accused. While she was winnowing rice P. W. 10 also came there to borrow some rice from the accused. It was dark by that time. P. W. 8, the father of the girl, (P. W. 3) finding her absent after night-fall went out in search of her and came inside the house of the accused and found his daughter, P. W. 3 there. To his query as to why she had not returned home, the accused said that Sashi would return with mukta after finishing the winnowing. Accordingly P. W. 8 came back home. Sometime after Mukta also went back, but sashi was further detained by the accused on the plea that she would kindle the woven and pound some condiments. As it was getting late, P. W. 8 again came there and scolded his daughter for not returning home till that hour. The accused, it is alleged, then stated that she would go after finishing some odd jobs. P. W. 8, however, sat near the front-door of the house of the accused. In the meantime sashi was sent by the accused to the house of Suna Dibya, his father's sister, on some plea without the knowledge of P. W. 8. P. W. 3 was kept detained inside the house of Suna Dibya. P. W. 8 was subsequently informed by the accused that sashi had gone home already, and so P. W. 8 came back home; but finding his daughter still absent, he again went out and made searches for the girl without any result. It is alleged by the prosecution that on the next day, P. W. 8 came to know that his daughter was staying in the house of the accused, and he alone with his wife and some neighbours went there to get back Sashi, but she refused to come back. When P. W. 8 and his wife tried to drag out Sashi, the accused snubbed them by pushing them aside and also by asserting that he would marry the girl and would not allow her to leave his house. Thereafter, P. W. 8 and others were compelled to leave the place. The accused kept Sashi in his house till Monday next and during this period he used to cohabit with her. On Monday the accused leaving the key of his house with sashi went away to Jajpur and in the meantime P. W. 8 having fallen ill there was some delay in lodging the first information, which in fact, was lodged on 18-11955. The Senior Sub-inspector of the Jajpur Police Station after recording the first information report, proceeded to the spot and found the girl residing alone in the house of the accused. The girl at first refused to come away from the house of the accused, but on some threat given by the police officer, she at last came out. The ornaments and the other things presented to the girl by the accused were seized by the police from inside a suitcase in the exclusive use of Sasni Dei and lying in her father's house. She was later examined by the lady assistant surgeon of Jajpur after which the accused was charge-sheeted and ultimately was committed to the court of sessions where he stood his trial.

(3.) THE defence of the accused was a complete denial of the offence. He also denied having made the presents to Sashi and also pleaded ignorance of the fact that Sashi was rescued from his house by the Police. His whole case was that there being enmity with the villagers, this false case was started against him.