STATE OF H.P. Vs. VIKAS KUMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal is directed against the judgment dtd. 6/7/2013, passed by learned Special Judge, Sirmaur District at Nahan (learned Trial Court), vide which the respondents (accused before the learned Trial Court) were acquitted of the charged offences. (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 appeal are that the police presented a challan against the accused for the commission of offences punishable under Ss. 366, 376, 506, 342, 120B of the Indian Penal Code (in short 'IPC') and Sec. 3(1) (xii) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (in short SC and ST Act). It was asserted that the victim (name being withheld to protect her identity) was aged 181/2 years. She had gone to get her photograph clicked on 21/10/2012, where the accused Leela Devi met her. She asked the victim to accompany her. The victim agreed. Roshan Lal accused met them in a car. Two boys were also present in the car out of whom, one was driving the car. Roshan Lal was addressing him as Ashwani. One boy, who was being called Vicky, was present in the rear seat. Leela Devi asked the victim to sit in the car and said that she was to be married to Vicky. The victim protested but she was forcibly dragged into the car and taken to Nahan. Leela Devi got down at Nahan and Roshan Lal got down at Kala Amb. Vicky took her to a room and Ashwani left with his vehicle. Vicky acted indecently with the victim and when she enquired as to why he was doing so, he replied that he had paid Rs.2,000.00 to Leela and he was to pay more money to her. The accused-Vicky raped her. When the victim threatened to shout, the accused threatened to kill her. The victim was dropped by Ashwani on 23/10/2012. The victim stayed with her aunt and went to her home on 24/10/2012, where she narrated the incident to her mother. The matter was reported to the Police by means of an application (Ext. PW1/A). FIR (Ext. PW24/A) was registered on the basis of the application. ASI-Gurmail (PW24) conducted the investigation. He filed an application (Ext. PW22/A) for conducting the medical examination of the victim. The victim was examined and her MLC (Ext. PW22/B) was obtained. An application (Ext. PW5/A) was filed by the Police to obtain the Birth Certificate of the victim. Heera Nand Jha (PW5) issued the birth certificate (Ext. PW5/B). The police seized the same vide memo (Ext.PW5/C). Accused Roshan Lal was arrested and he produced four currency notes of Rs.500.00, which were seized vide memo (Ext. PW6/A). Accused Vicky alias Vikas was arrested on 28/10/2012. An application (Ext. PW24/B) was filed for conducting his medical examination. MLC (Ext. PW24/C) was issued. Vikas produced the bill (Ext. PW6/B) which was seized vide memo (Ext. PW6/C). Accused Vikas and the victim demarcated the place of the incident. Memo (Ext. PW1/B) and site plan (Ext. PW24/D) were prepared. Photographs (Ext. P8 to P11) were taken. The proceedings were videographed and the recording was transferred to the CD (Ext. P12). Bed Sheet (Ext. P1) was seized from the room of the resort vide memo (Ext .PW1/C). The Police also seized a copy of the visitor register (Ext. P7). Ashwani Kumar produced the vehicle along with the documents, which were seized vide memo (Ext. PW12/A). Amarjeet Kaur (PW13), Sarpanch, produced the birth certificate of the accused (Ext. PW13/A). Daya Ram (PW18) produced the birth certificate of the victim (Ext. PW18/A) and her Pariwar Register (Ext. PW18/B), which were seized vide memo (Ext. PW18/C). Ratu Ram-Patwari (PW20) issued the caste certificate (Ext. PW17/A) of the victim and her pedigree table (Ext. PW17/B), which were seized vide memo (Ext. PW17/C). He also issued the caste certificate of the victim (Ext. PW20/A), accused-Leela Devi (Ext. PW20/B) and accused-Roshan Lal (Ext. P20/C). The case property was sent to SFSL, Junga for analysis and the report (Ext. PW22/C) was issued showing that human blood was detected on the vaginal swabs, vaginal smear slides and pyjama of the victim. Human semen was detected on the underwear, penile washing, penile swabs of accused Vikas and bedsheet. The hair found in the bed sheet was identified as a mixture of human head and human body hair. The statements of the remaining witnesses were recorded as per their version. Dy.S.P. Partap Singh (PW25) conducted further investigation. He prepared the challan and presented the same before the learned Trial Court after the completion of the investigation.

(3.) The accused-Vikas was charged with the commission of offences punishable under Ss. 120B, 366, 342, 376, 506 of IPC and Sec. 3 (1)(xii) of SC&ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Accused Leela Devi and Roshan Lal were charged with the commission of offences punishable under Ss. 366 and 120B of IPC. The accused pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.