High Court
Case Details
Crl.A. 280/2005 BEFORE THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE B.K. SHARMA JUDGEMENT AND ORDER (ORAL) Sharma, J This appeal is directed against the judgement of conviction dated 30.11. 2005 passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Kamrup, Guwahati in Sessions Case No. 114(K)/2003, convicting the accused appellant under Section 376 IPC and sentenc ing him to undergo RI for six years and also to pay a fine of Rs. 2,000/- and in default, RI for another one year.
Legal Reasoning
2. The brief story of the case is that Palasbari PS Case No. 115/2000 was r egistered under Section 448/376/511 IPC on the basis of the FIR dated 13.9.2000 (Ext-1) lodged by one Shri Ganesh Kalita (PW-3). He is the brother of the allege d victim girl. As per the FIR (Ext.1), on 13.9.2000, at about 10 a.m., the accus ed appellant taking advantage of absence of anybody in the house of the victim g irl, entered therein illegally and by closing the doors and gagging the mouth of the victim, tried to commit rape on her. The victim girl having raised hue and cry, he fled away through the kitchen door. The Police carried out investigation and on completion of the same, subm 3. itted charge sheet against the accused appellant under Section 376 IPC. In the m ean time, the victim girl made her statement under Section 164 Cr.P.C. (Ext.2), stating therein that the accused-appellant had committed rape on her taking adva ntage of the absence of anybody in the house at that point of time. Charge havin g been framed under Section 376 IPC, the Trial Court proceeded with the matter. During trial, the prosecution examined 12 witnesses and the defence none. Howeve r, statement of the accused-appellant was recorded under Section 313 Cr.P.C. Th e learned trial Court posing the following question and upon evaluation of evide nce on record having convicted the accused appellant as aforesaid, he has filed the instant appeal. (cid:28)Whether the accused on 13.9.2000 at 10 A.M. did commit rape on Smti. Dulumoni K alita, the sister of the informant Ganesh Kalita? (cid:29)
Legal Reasoning
4. It will be pertinent to mention here that pursuant to the aforesaid judg ement of conviction dated 30.11.2005, although the accused-appellant was taken i nto custoy but by order dated 22.2.2006, he was allowed to go on bail in conside ration of his application under Section 389(2) of Cr.PC. Mr. A.K. Bhuyan, learne d counsel for the accused-appellant has submitted that the version of the victim girl is highly improbable and thus no reliance can be placed on the said versio n, so as to convict the accused-appellant under Section 376 IPC. Referring to th e evidence on record, he submits that the alleged victim girl having stated diff erent stories at different point of time, her version under 164 Cr.P.C statement and so also in the statement during trial, cannot be relied upon. In this conne ction, he has referred to the testimony of the other witnesses in which there is reference to his attempt to commit rape on the victim girl. 5. Heard Mr. A.K. Bhuyan, leaned counsel for the appellant. Also heard Mr. Z. Kamar, learned PP, Assam. I have also very carefully considered the submissi on made by the learned counsel for the parties and have also gone through the en tire materials on records.