POLEPAKA PRAVEEN Vs. THE STATE OF TELANGANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Both these cases, namely Criminal Appeal No.685 of 2019, filed by Polepaka Praveen @ Pawan, the accused, and reference proceedings in R.T. No. 1 of 2019 for confirmation of the death sentence, emanate from the same impugned judgment, namely judgment dtd. 8/8/2019, passed by the Special Judge for Trial of Cases under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act-cum-I Additional Sessions Judge at Wanaparthy, in Special Sessions Case No. 95 of 2019. By the said judgment, the learned trial court has convicted and sentenced the appellant as under:

(2.) All the substantive sentences were directed to run concurrently. Since both the criminal appeal and the referred trial arise out of the same judgment, they are being heard together, and are being decided by this common judgment. Briefly the facts of the case are that on 17/6/2019, K. Jangaiah (L.W. 3), his wife, K. Rachana (P.W. 2) along with their nine month old daughter (hereinafter referred to as 'deceased child') visited his in-laws place at Kumarpally, Hanamkonda. After dropping his wife and daughter off, in the morning of 18/6/2019, K. Jangaiah (L.W. 3) left for Hyderabad. On 18/6/2019, around 11:30 p.m., all the family members of K. Rachana (P.W. 2) including her father, J. Yadagiri (L.W. 4), and brothers, J. Bharath Kumar (P.W. 1), and J. Narsimha Raju @ Raju (L.W. 6), along with the deceased child, and the tenants of the family, namely E. Anusha (P.W. 8) and E. Mounika (L.W. 15), after closing the doors, went to the terrace of the house to sleep. Around 1:30 a.m., K. Rachana (P.W. 2) woke up, and found her daughter, who was sleeping by her side, missing. She not only woke up all her family members, but also woke up the tenants. The said tenants also found their mobile phones missing. Immediately, the maternal uncle of the deceased child, J. Bharath Kumar (P.W. 1) informed the Police Control Room about his missing niece. During the course of search, J. Bharath Kumar (P.W. 1) found one person carrying an infant, wrapped in a towel, on his shoulder, in the lane between Congress Bhavan and Budha Bhavan. When J. Bharath Kumar (P.W. 1) intercepted him, the person dropped the infant on the ground, and tried to escape. However, J. Bharath Kumar (P.W. 1) managed to catch hold of the person. On being questioned, the person revealed his name as Praveen. Furthermore, J. Bharath Kumar (P.W. 1) discovered that the baby dropped on the ground, by the accused, is none other than his niece. Meanwhile, his friends, and his brother Narsimha Raju (L.W. 6) came to the spot. They assaulted the accused. The police, who were searching for the baby, also reached the spot. They took the accused into their custody. On receipt of information over phone, Rachana (P.W. 2), mother of the deceased child, along with other family members, reached the spot. Noticing bleeding from the private parts of deceased child, immediately they took the deceased child to the Maxcare Hospital, Hanamkonda. Dr. O. Ravi Raj (P.W. 14), after examination, declared the child as "brought dead"?. He issued the wound certificate (Ex. P. 11).

(3.) The Police shifted the accused to Rohini Super Specialty Hospital, Hanamkonda, for treatment of his injuries sustained at the hands of J. Bharath Kumar (P.W. 1) and others. Dr. K. Sathish (P.W. 16) administered first aid treatment to the accused; he issued the wound certificate (Ex.P. 14). On 19/6/2019, on the basis of report (Ex. P. 1), given by J. Bharath Kumar (P.W. 1), the police registered a formal FIR, namely FIR No. 196 of 2019 for offences under Ss. 302, 449, 376A, 376AB, 363, 379 of IPC, and under Ss. 5(i) r/w Sec. 6 and 5(m) r/w Sec. 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 against the accused.