DALJIT SINGH AND ORS. Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal is directed against judgment dated 5.6.2006 of the Additional Sessions Judge, Gurdaspur (hereinafter described as 'the trial Court') whereby the appellants have been convicted and sentenced in the following manner:

(2.) Appellants - Harpreet Siongh and Jagdip Singh (i) for offence punishable under Sec. 376 of the I.P.C. (ii) for offence punishable under Sec. 366 of the I.P.C. (iii) for offence punishable under Sec. 342 of the I.P.C. (iv) for offence punishable under Sec. 506 of the I.P.C. to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of ten years and to pay a fine of Rs.500/ -each and in default of payment of fine, each of them to further undergo rigorous imprisonment of one month. to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of three years and to pay a fine of Rs.500/ -each and in default of payment of fine, each of them to further undergo rigorous imprisonment of one month to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of three months each. to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of three months each. All the sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

(3.) The allegations against the appellants flow from a complaint which is on record as Exhibit -PA. It reveals that on 13.8.2000 at about 5.30 P.M., appellant No. 3 -Jagdip Singh along with Jaspal Kaur daughter of Daljit Singh (appellant No. 1) came to the house of the prosecutrix and persuaded her to reach at the bus stop of Dhaliwal, a town near Amritsar, at 6.30 P.M. so that some compromise could be effected in a criminal case got registered by appellant -Daljit Singh vide F.I.R.No. 91 dated 26.5.2000 under Ss. 420/34 of the I.P.C. against her and others. When she went along with her husband and daughter at the stated place, the appellants and Jaspal Kaur came in a jeep and goaded the prosecutrix to come with them to complete the process of compromise. Her husband and daughter were asked to sit at the bus stop. She thereafter boarded the jeep alone and accompanied the appellants, who drove her around for some time till darkness descended and then took her to a room which was secluded and there, Daljit Singh (appellant No. 1), armed with a 12 bore gun and appellant -Jagdip Singh, armed with a sword, threatened the prosecutrix with their respective arms, beat her up mercilessly by giving fist and kick blows in the abdomen and forcibly committed sexual inter -course upon her one by one, while the others kept the threat of death alive. Subsequent to the incident, the prosecutrix is said to have come back to her husband, who was waiting at the bus stop and narrated the story in the presence of his friend, namely, Darshan Singh.