SUNIL KUMAR Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal questions the correctness of the judgment of conviction passed against the Appellant by the learned 2nd Additional Sessions Judge, Hilsa on 12.7.2005 in S.T. No. 102 of 1991 by which the solitary Appellant was found guilty of committing offences under Sections 376/511 and 307 IPC and Section 27 Arms Act while the Appellant was acquitted of the charge under Section 452 IPC. After hearing the Appellant on sentence on 16.7.2005, the learned trial judge directed the Appellant to suffer rigorous imprisonment for ten years under Section 307 IPC and five years under Sections 376/511 IPC. As regards the conviction of the Appellant under Section 27 Arms Act, the Appellant was directed to suffer rigorous imprisonment for one year only.

(2.) The prosecution case is contained in the Fardbeyan of P.W. 1 Damyanati Devi recorded on 28.8.1990 at 3 P.M. by S.I. Rajdeo Prasad at village Dariyapur. It was stated that the informant was residing at the house of her maternal grand mother Janki Devi since last ten years with a view to taking care of her. It was alleged that at about 12 A.M. someone entered inside the house in the night intervening 27th and 28th August, 1990 and attempted to catch hold of the informant, as a result of which she jumped out of the bed and started raising a halla. She was assaulted by slaps on her ear and face and was asked to keep silent. The lady stated that from the voice of the man as also in the light, which was emanating from a Dhibri (earthen lamp) burning there, she could identify the present Appellant. The informant got out of the clutches of the Appellant and ran into her Angan and started shouting that the Appellant had come to commit theft inside the house. It is alleged that the Appellant also came running inside the Angan and put the lady forcibly on the ground and attempted to sexually assault her. The lady continued fighting with the Appellant and also continued raising halla. However, in that process, the Appellant bit two ? three times at the scapular part of her body. It was stated that being attracted on the shouts of the lady, people started coming from the neighbourhood and in that process Smt. Urmila Devi (P.W.2) who was the daughter-in-law of the Mukhia Kesho Prasad came there along with her daughter Smt. Sumitra Devi (P.W.3) with a lantern to whom the informant stated about the acts of the Appellant, who had, by that time, ran away from there.

(3.) The prosecution case further was that while the informant was narrating the incident to others, the Appellant re-appeared with a pistol and abusively asked the informant (P.W. 1) as to why she was naming him and fired a shot at the informant but, incidentally, that hit P.W. 2 Urmila Devi who fell injured. At that particular moment, Kishori Pandey (P.W. 4) and others had assembled there and saw the occurrence. P.W. 2 Urmila Devi was taken to hospital for treatment.