RAMESHWAR Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant Rameshwar alias Cheinu was charged for having committed offences punishable under Sections 363,366 and 376 of the Indian Penal Code for having taken away Gurcharan Kaur alias Sunita aged 15/16 years from the lawful custody of her parents and, thereafter, having raped her. The investigation was set in motion on the basis of the First Information Report lodged by her father Joginder Singh on April 4, 1986 and as a consequence of the investigation, the accused and the prosecutrix were apprehended on April 8, 1986 and the accused taken into custody. The prosecutrix was, thereafter produced before PW.1 - Dr. Neelam Goel, who opined in her report Ex. PA/1 that the hymen indicated two tears. The accused was produced before PW-2 Dr. H.S. Nagpal, who observed that he was physically capable of committing sexual intercourse.

(2.) The prosecution in support of its case relied primarily on the evidence of PW-6 Joginder Singh - First Informant, PW-7, Gurpal Kaur the younger sister of the prosecutrix and PW-8 Gurcharan Kaur the prosecutrix herself and PW-9 Assistant Sub Inspector Jawala Singh, the Investigating Officer.

(3.) The accused in his statement recorded under Section 3 13 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, denied all the allegations made against him and pleaded false implication. The trial Court on consideration of the evidence came to the conclusion that Ex. PF/l the birth entry dated December 14, 1971 pertained to the birth of the prosecutrix, which made her less than 16 years of age on the relevant date; that the evidence of the three witnesses that is Joginder Singh - PW-6, Gurpal Kaur- PW.7 and the Prosecutrix Gurcharan Kaur herself - PW.8 read with medical evidence conclusively prove the factum of rape and the other alleged offences. Having held as above, it came to the conclusion that the accused was liable to suffer imprisonment as under: