BHIKHARI RAI Vs. THE STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant has been convicted under Section 376 I.P.C. and sentenced to R.I. for five years by a judgment dated 24.7.1999 and 28.7.1999 passed by the 3rd Additional Sessions Judge, Muzaffarpur in Sessions Trial No. 419 of 1989. The case of the prosecutrix according to her fard beyan given on 6.9.1986 is that about 20 days back at about 5 P.M. while she had gone to answer the call of nature, the Appellant came near her and after tying her mouth with a towel took her to a nearby place and forcibly raped her. She started bleeding on account of such an act and also suffered pain. After the act, the Appellant ran away from there. On her way to her home she met her mother whom she told him about the occurrence and thereafter to the rest of her family members, such as, sister -in -law, aunt and others. The reason for delayed reporting was that a Panchayati was held on account of which people had restrained them from going to the Police Station.

(2.) DURING trial the prosecution examined thirteen witnesses in all. Out of whom, P.W. 4 Maya Das and P.W. 5 Mohan Thakur have been declared hostile, whereas P.W. 2 Harendra Paswan, P.W. 10 Digambar Prasad, P.W. 12 Arun Choudhary and P.W. 13 Ranjeet Kumar Gupta are formal police witnesses and proved the seizure list, fard beyan/First Information Report and such documents. P.W. 11 is Dr. Madhuri Shrivastava, who examined the prosecutrix. P.W. 1 Malti Devi is the mother of the Informant, whereas P.W. 3 is the prosecutrix herself. P.W. 6 Banshi Mahto is a hearsay witness. P.W. 7 Gayatri Devi is the sister -in -law of the prosecutrix, P.W. 8 Sudist Paswan is her father and P.W. 9 Ramprit Paswan is her uncle.

(3.) P .W. 2 Harendra Paswan has proved the seizure of the blood stained Saree of the prosecutrix and the production list of the same.