GULAB MEHTA Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard learned counsel for the appellants and the A.P.P. appearing on behalf of the State.

(2.) This appeal is directed against the judgment of conviction dated 7.12.1999 and order of sentence dated 9.12.1999, passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Supaul in Sessions Trial No. 90 of 1998 by which the appellants have been held guilty under ion 366 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo R.I. for 7 years.

(3.) The prosecution case is based on a written report of Gurakh Mehta who is the father of the victim girl Ranju Devi. He had narrated that on 7.9.1997 his daughter insisted that they should go for Puja at Singheshwar Asthan. They took a bus to go for Puja. The informant noticed that Kamleshwari Sah and Bhola Sah had also boarded the bus. After performing Puja they were waiting for the bus, when the two appellants approached the informant and gave him Rs. 5/- and asked him to go and have lunch. Thereafter they took away the victim girl. When the informant returned he found that his daughter was missing. He tried to look for her in the temple and around the area where he had left his daughter but could not find her. Thereafter he also tried to contact his family members etc. to find out the whereabouts of his daughter. The informant also visited the home of the appellants but could not get information about her from there.