ONGDI SHERPA Vs. STATE OF SIKKIM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the judgment of Additional District and Sessions Judge convicting the appellant under section 376 read with section 511 I. P. C. and sentencing him to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for five years.

(2.) The charge against the appellant is that on 3. 12. 1983 he committed rape on Naina Kumari Biswakarma, a girl aged about 7 to 8 years. According to the prosecution the accused- Appellant was working as a labourer for carrying manure being engaged by the father of the victim-girl P. W. 15. At about 2. 30 P. M. P. W. 15 found the accused- Appellant resting in the field and he noticed that something was amiss with the accused. On enquiry the appellant told him that he has sustained some injuries. P. W. 15 then proceeded to the field and found that his daughter Naina Kumari P. W. 14 was crying in the field. He noticed profuse bleeding from her lower part of the body. On enquiry P. W. 14 did not tell anything to him. One Tika Ram P. W. 3 was working in a nearby field. P. W. 15 asked him as to what had happened to his daughter. P. W. 3 replied that she has been raped by the accused- Appellant. P. W. 3 Tika Ram was sent by P. W. 15 to report the matter at the nearby police outpost. Some police officials thereafter came to the spot and the victim along with the accused were taken to Sadar Police Station where the written complaint Extp. 36 was lodged by the father. Both the appellant and the victim-girl were sent to the hospital for medical examination. The Investigating Officer P. W. 17 after completion of investigation submitted charge sheet against the accused under section 376, I. P. C.

(3.) In order to prove the case the prosecution examined 17 witnesses. Out of these witnesses P. W. 14 is the victim-girl, P. W. 4 is the mother before whom the P. W. 14 narrated the incident immediately after the occurrence. P. W. 3 is an after-occurrence witness who noticed blood oozing out of the lower part and testified that P. W. 14 told him that she has been raped by the accused. P. W. 15 is the father of the victim-girl. Four doctors have been examined in this case. P. W. to is the Medical Officer who examined the accused, P. W. 11 is the radiologist who performed ossification test of the victim and has opined that she was 7 to 8 years of age (on 7. 12. 1983). P. W. 12 is a Medical Officer who examined the victim-girl and P. W. 13 a gynecologist who examined the victim girl on 3. 12. 1983 at about 630 P. M. and submitted his report Ext-P. 12. The other witnesses are witnesses to the seizure and police officers. The plea of the accused appellant is complete denial of the occurrence.