MST KAN KANWARI Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant Mst. Kan Kanwari along with Mangtu Gujar and two others, was tried in the court of the Additional Sessions Judge, Sikar. She was charged under Sections 363 and 365 I. P. C. , Mangtu was charged under Sections 363, 365 and 366 I. P, C. and the remaining two under Sections 365, 366 and 366, I. P. C, read with Section 109, I. P. C.

(2.) THE prosecution case was that a Sunar girl named Gita, about 11 or 12 years old, resident of the town Fatehpur, Sikar District, was living under the guardianship of her mother Mst. Sugni, her father having died. About a couple of days before the 3rd April 1955, hereinafter to be referred to as the date of occurrence, Hanuman Oswal, hereinafter to be referred to as Oswal, husband of the appellant Mst. Kan Kanwari, approached Mst. Sugni and asked her to supply one seer milk daily, i. e. , half a seer in the morning and a half a seer in the evening to him. She agreed, but said that she had no one to take the milk, to his house, upon which Oswal asked her to send milk through her daughter Gita. Milk was accordingly supplied as required and on the date of occurrence in the morning as usual Mst. Gita took milk to Oswal's house in a brass lota and gave it to the appellant. Oswal asked Gita to come to a room in the upper storey. There he asked her what the price of the milk was to which Gita replied that she did not know and that she would ask her mother about it. Then Oswal engaged her in some other conversation and asked her to look at the pictures hanging in the room and count them. In the meantime, the appellant came up with sweets and other edibles and asked Gita to take them. The girl at first declined but when pressed, she ate them. After taking them, she felt sleepy and slept till about 3-00 P. M. When she felt the necessity of easing herself, she asked the appellant that she wanted to go out to clear her bowls but the appellant said that she could ease herself in the room itself. Gita did not like to ease herself in the room and insisted upon going out but the appellant brought an earthen pot and persuaded the girl to use it for easing purposes, and Gita obeyed. Throughout the whole of the day, the girl remained in the upper room of the house of Oswal and all the time either Oswal or the appellant remained with her in the room, The girl asked the appellant to allow her to go to her house but he said that she went to her house, she would be beaten by her mother. In the night, when it was dark, Gita was given by the appellant a dhoti used by males and she was asked to to put it on. One Hanuman Brahmin gave her a shirt and after having Gita dressed in dhoti and shirt and tying a wrapper to her head like a handkerchief, she was taken by the accused Mangtu at about 11. 00 P. M. towards Ramgarh. Up to Ramgarh, she was taken sometimes on foot and sometimes by Mangtu in his arms whenever she felt tired. At Ramgarh, Mangtu hired a vegetable seller's camel and took Gita to Churu, At Chum the girl was made to stay at the house of a Daroogha and from there at about 4 P. M. on the 4th April, 1955, the girl was taken to Hissar where they reached in the morning of the 5th of April 1955, From Hissar they went in a bus to Mohammedpur where Mangtu's daughter was married and Gita was made to stay at Mangtu's daughter's house for the day. Then Mangtu brought Gita back to Churu where Oswal met them and after staying in the night at Churu, Mangtu and Oswal along with Gita started for Hissar by 4 P. M. train. At Hissar, Gita was taken to the house of a Gujar woman named Jhinkuri. There, the party stayed throughout the day and then in the evening Mangtu, Oswal and Mogaram and Bansi along with Mst. Jhinkuri took her to Abdullapur and from there they brought her to village Budia. The party stayed at village Budia for 6 or 7 days in a house rented from a Mahajan. Then, one evening when it was dark, she was taken in a bullock-cart to Kanalri in the district of Ambala. Then she was married to one Mamraj Gujar of village Alipur. Mst, Jhinkuri posed as Gita's mother, Mangtu as her father, Oswal as her maternal uncle and Mogaram and Bansi as the. sister's husband of Mangtu at the time of the marriage. A sum of Rs. 2,500/-was realized from Mam Raj for the marriage which was celebrated through one Pandit Jagdish (P. W. 9) of Kanalri. The girl was threatened not to disclose her identity and tell people that she was Gujar by caste and that Mangtu and Mst. Jhinkuri were her parents end Oswal, Bansi and Mogaram were also her relations,

(3.) AFTER the disappearance of the girl, at first her mother and her cousin Girdhari made a vigorous search for her. The appellant and Oswal were asked as to where the girl had gone to from their house and reply was given that she had left their house soon after supplying milk with the empty lota. After some search, a report was lodged at the police Station Fatepur by Girdhari, the cousin of the girl, on the 9th April 1955. This report is Ex. P/1 on the record. Thereafter, Girdhari somehow got information that Oswal and a Brahmin named Hanuman might have been responsible for the disappearance of the girl. On this, Girdhari searched for Oswal and Hanurhan Brahmin but though Hanuman Brahmin was found in Fatepur, Oswal was not found. Enquiry was made at his house from His wife and Girdhari was told that Oswal had gone to Churu to see his mother. This aroused the suspicion of Girdhari and he remained on the look out if any letter addressed to Oswal's house could be intercepted. On the 26th April 1955 it was found out that an envelope addressed to Oswal's house had been delivered to the postman concerned and Girdhari assuring the postman that he would deliver the letter at Oswal's house, took it from him. When the letter was opened, complicity of Oswal was further strengthened in the disappearance of Gita and it was also found out that the letter was sent by Oswal. A ten-rupee note was also found inside the envelope. A report (Ex. P/2) was lodged at Fatepur Police Station and the letter with the envelope and the note of Rs. 10/-were handed over at the Police Station along with the report.