ASHWANI KUMAR Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal has been preferred against the judgment dated 04.12.2003, vide which the accused-appellant Ashwani Kumar alias Achhi was held guilty and convicted for the offences punishable under Sections 354/452 of Indian Penal Code (in short 'IPC') and the order of sentence of the even dated, vide which he has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of two years for the offence punishable under Section 354 IPC. He was further sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of two years and to pay a fine of Rs.500/-, in default of payment of fine to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one month, for the offence punishable under Section 452 IPC.

(2.) In nutshell, the facts of the prosecution case are that on 30.06.2002, the husband of the prosecutrix had gone out of station for some domestic work and she along with her children was sleeping on the roof of the house. Her youngest son was lying with her, whereas, her other three children were lying on the separate cots. At about 11:00 P.M., accused-appellant Ashwani Kumar alias Achhi came to their roof after scaling the common wall and started fondling her breasts. She protested. The accused-appellant broke open the string of her salwar and attempted to forcibly commit rape upon her. She raised alarm. Her brother-in-law Vinod Kumar was attracted to the spot. In the meanwhile, the accusedappellant fled away from the spot after jumping over the wall. The accused-appellant while fleeing away, threatened the prosecutrix with dire consequences if she reported the matter. On 01.07.2002, on return of the husband of the prosecutrix, she narrated the facts to him and the matter was reported to the police vide statement of the prosecutrix Ex.PA. On the basis of which, formal FIR Ex. PW4/B was registered and the investigation was started. Accused-appellant was arrested on 01.07.2002. The Investigating Officer inspected the spot and prepared the site plan of the place of occurrence Ex. PW4/C. The statement of the prosecutrix was also got recorded under Section 164 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (in short 'Cr.P.C.') and on completion of the formalities of the investigation, the report under Section 173 Cr.P.C. was presented for the offence punishable under Sections 376, 511, 456, 354, 506 IPC.

(3.) The accused-appellant was charge-sheeted for the offences punishable under Sections 376 read with Section 511 IPC, 354 and 452 IPC, to which the accused-appellant pleaded not gulty and claimed trial.