MOHAMMAD USMAN @ OSIA Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The solitary appellant was charged with committing offence under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code upon P.W. 4 at 12 in the night of 30th of September, 1988 and was tried by the learned 3rd Additional Sessions Judge, Bhagalpur, in Sessions Case No. 858 of 1990/Trial No. 57 of 1999. By judgment dated 09.07.1999, the learned trial Judge convicted the appellant of committing the offence and after hearing him on sentence on 21.07.1999 directed him to suffer rigorous imprisonment for seven years as also to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000/-, else, to suffer rigorous imprisonment for a further period of six months. The appellant has preferred the present appeal to question the propriety of his conviction and the appropriateness of the sentence passed upon him.

(2.) Prosecutrix, P.W. 4, was sleeping in her house in the night of the 30th of September, 1988. She was all alone her husband having gone to sleep at the 'Biri godown. It was stated by her that at about 12 in the night, the lady woke up feeling that someone was catching hold of both of her hands. She enquired as to who he was upon which the appellant gave his name and commanded the lady to keep lying down, else she would be shot dead. While so commanding, the appellant is alleged to have pulled out a pistol by his right hand and to have put it on the chest of the lady who kept silent out of fear. The appellant thereafter gagged the lady by means of his 'Gamchha' and caught the breasts of the lady first. The lady struggled to get out of the clutches of the appellant, when the appellant again placed his pistol on her chest and threatened to kill her. The lady kept lying silently and the appellant after removing her clothes committed rape upon her. While leaving the scene of occurrence, the appellant is said again to have told the lady that if she dared reporting the matter to the police, he would kill her. After removing the 'Tati' (it is some sort of gate created in rural areas of bamboo and thatch to close the door) went out of the house.

(3.) The prosecutrix remained silent for remaining part of the night and could narrate the above facts to her husband Md. Mansoor Alam (P.W. 2) only when he had come back to his house in the morning and after consulting many persons of the village, she went to the police station for lodging the report.