(1.) The present appeals are directed against the judgment and order dtd. 25/4/2019, passed by learned Sessions Judge, Kinnaur, Sessions Division at Rampur Bushehr (learned Trial Court) vide which the appellants (accused before learned Trial Court) were convicted of the commission of offences punishable under Ss. 376 and 506 of IPC and they were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years and pay a fine of Rs.10,000.00 each and in default of payment of fine to further undergo simple imprisonment for one year for the commission of an offence punishable under Sec. 376 of IPC. They were also sentenced to undergo seven years of rigorous imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000.00 and in default of payment of the fine to further undergo simple imprisonment for one year for the commission of an offence punishable under Sec. 506 of IPC. It was ordered that both the substantive sentences of imprisonment would run concurrently. (Parties shall hereinafter be referred to in the same manner as they were arrayed before the learned Trial Court for convenience).
(2.) Briefly stated, the facts giving rise to the present appeals are that the police presented a challan before the learned Trial Court against the accused for the commission of offences punishable under Ss. 376 and 506 read with Sec. 34 of IPC. It was asserted that the victim (name being withheld to protect her identity) was aged 14 years and had passed 5th class. The accused-Shanta Kumar took her to the field on 7/6/2011 and raped her. He also threatened to kill her in case the incident was revealed to anyone. Ranjeet Singh had also taken her to his orchard some days before this incident and raped her. He had also threatened the informant and promised to marry her. The informant narrated the incident to her aunt, who revealed the incident to the victim's parents. The matter was reported to the police through an application (Ext. PW12/A). An entry in the daily diary (Ext. PW11/A) was registered in the police post. The complaint and entry in the daily diary were sent to the Police Station Bhawanagar, where FIR (Ext. PW17/A) was registered. Ashok Kumar (PW19) conducted the investigation. He went to the spot and prepared the site plan (Ext. PW19/A). He recorded the statements of the victim, her aunt and her mother. He arrested the accused-Ranjeet Singh on the same day and Shanta Kumar on 10/6/2011. Ranjeet Singh made a disclosure statement on 11/6/2011 that he could get the pyjama recovered which was worn by him on the date of the incident. The statement (Ext. PW3/A) was reduced into writing. The accused got his pyjama (Ext. P2) recovered from a room. The pyjama was put in a cloth parcel (Ext. P1). The parcel was sealed with three seal impressions of seal 'T". Seal Impression (Ext. PW19/B) was taken on a separate piece of cloth and the seal was handed over to Sanjay Kumar after the use. The pyjama was seized vide memo (Ext. PW3/B). A site plan of the place of recovery (Ext. PW19/C) was prepared. The photographs of the site (Ext. PA1 to PA14) and CD (Ext. PA15) were taken in possession.
(3.) Tejinder Singh (PW17) conducted further investigation. Shanta Kumar made a disclosure statement that he could get his trousers recovered, which were concealed by him in his house. Shanta Kumar led the police party to his house and got recovered trousers from his room. The trouser was put in a parcel and the parcel was sealed with three impressions of seal 'A". The seal impression (Ext. PW17/B) was taken on a separate piece of cloth. The site plan (Ext.PW17/C) was prepared. The trousers were seized vide memo (Ext. PW4/B). The copies of the family register of the victim (Ext. PW5/A and Ext. PW5/B) and her Birth Certificate (Ext. PW6/A) were taken in possession which show that the victim was born on 23/9/1996 and was minor on the date of the incident. The victim was medically examined by Dr. Anjana Verma (PW18) who found that the possibility of sexual intercourse with her could not be ruled out. She issued the MLC (Ext. PW18/A) and preserved the clothes and the samples of the victim. The victim was referred to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Shimla. Dr. Nishi Sood (PW15) examined the victim and found that she was carrying a pregnancy of 12 weeks and 5 days. Dr. Vikas Sharma (PW9) conducted the medical examination of Ranjeet Singh and found that there was nothing to suggest that Ranjeet Singh was incapable of performing a sexual act. He also found injury on the penis of the accused, which was three to seven days old. The samples were taken and MLC (Ext. PW9/A) was issued. Dr Devender Sharma (PW10) medically examined Shanta Kumar and found that there was nothing to suggest that Shanta Kumar was incapable of performing sexual intercourse. Shanta Kumar had also sustained injuries on his penis, which was three to seven days old. He issued the MLC (Ext. PW10/B). The case property was deposited with HC-Yogeshwar Singh (PW13), who deposited it in Malkhana and sent it to FSL Junga through Ashok Kumar (PW14) for analysis. Ashok Kumar deposited all the articles in a safe condition at FSL Junga and handed over the receipt to MHC-Yogeshwar on his return. The result of analysis (Ext. 'PX') was issued in which it was shown that semen was detected on the salwar of the victim and pants of accused Shanta Kumar. The samples of pubic hair of the victim and accused were identified as human pubic hair, which were different from each other. The samples were also subjected to DNA analysis and reports (Exts. PY and PZ) were issued showing that the DNA profile obtained from the salwar of the victim matched completely with the blood sample of Shanta Kumar. The DNA profile obtained from the blood sample of Ranjeet Singh matched the DNA profile obtained from the pyjama of Ranjeet Singh. The statements of witnesses were recorded as per their version and after the completion of the investigation, the challan was filed and presented before the Court of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kinnaur, who committed it for trial to the learned Sessions Judge (learned Trial Court).