The High Court
Case Details
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK CRA No.217 of 2001 In the matter of an Appeal under Section 374 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and from the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 29th August, 2001 passed by the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate-Cum-Assistant Sessions Judge, Deogarh in Sessions Trial No.129/17 of 2001. Gunu Sabar ---- -versus- …. Appellant State of Orissa …. Respondent Appeared in this case by Hybrid Arrangement (Virtual/Physical Mode): For Appellant - M/s.P.C. Mishra, T.Barik & D. Samantaray (Advocates)
Legal Reasoning
For Respondent - Mr.P.K. Mohanty, Additional Standing Counsel CORAM: MR. JUSTICE D.DASH Date of Hearing : 07.05.2024 : Date of Judgment : 20.05.2024 D.Dash,J. The Appellant, by filing this Appeal, has called in question the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 29th August, 2001 passed by the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate- Cum-Assistant Sessions Judge, Deogarh in Sessions Trial CRA No.217 of 2001 Page 1 of 7 No.129/17 of 2001 arising out of G.R. Case No.611 of 2011 corresponding to Deogarh P.S. Case No.283 of 2000. The Appellant (accused) thereunder has been convicted for committing the offence under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short, ‘the IPC’). Accordingly, he has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven (7) years and pay fine of Rs.1000/- (Rupees One Thousand) in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six (6) months for commission of the said offence. 2. PROSECUTION CASE:- On 17.12.2000 night, the victim (P.W.3) aged about 15 years when had been to the backyard of their house for urinating, the Appellant (accused) came there and having pressed her mouth by means of a shawl, lifted her to a little distance and by making her lie on the ground and removing her undergarments, had sexually assaulted her. The victim, with much difficulty when could raise shout, the accused, leaving the victim (P.W.3) there, fled away from the spot. It is stated that hearing the shout of the victim (P.W.3), her mother (P.W.4), her elder sister and neighbour reached at the spot. The victim (P.W.3) then reported about the said incident of rape upon her by the accused to her mother (P.W.4) and sister. The father of the victim (P.W.6) and other villagers, having come to know about the incident, all of them CRA No.217 of 2001 Page 2 of 7 went to the house of the accused and reported about the offensive acts committed by the accused to his elder brother and mother. After some time, the accused came to the house of the victim (P.W.3) and scolded her using obscene words. So, the villagers caught hold of the accused and tied him by a rope to check his high handedness. It was around 4.00 a.m, the mother and brother of the accused came and took him away. A meeting, being held in the village, the accused confessed his guilt. The brother of the accused promised that the victim would be properly compensated for that. The victim, after the incident, fell ill and after her recovery, she lodged the FIR (Ext.3) with the Sub- Inspector (S.I.) of Police, Deogarh Police Station. The above report, being treated as FIR (Ext.3), the case was registered and the investigation commenced. 3. The Investigating Officer (I.O.-P.W.8), in course of the investigation, examined the victim (P.W.3) and other witnesses, visited the spot and prepared the spot map. He (P.W.8) sent the victim (P.W.3) for medical examination and seized the under garment (chadi) of the victim under seizure list (Ext.4). He also arrested the accused and sent him for his medical check-up. On completion of the investigation, he (P.W.8) submitted the Final CRA No.217 of 2001 Page 3 of 7 Form placing this accused to face the Trial for commission of the offence under section 376 of the IPC. 4. Learned Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate, on receipt of the Final Form, took cognizance of the said offence and after observing the formalities committed the case to the Court of Sessions for Trial. That is how the Trial commenced by framing the charge for the aforesaid offence against this accused. 5. The prosecution, in support of its case, has examined in total eight (8) witnesses during Trial. Out of them, the informant, who is the victim, has been examined as P.W.3. P.W.4 is the mother and P.W.6 is the father of the victim. P.W.1 is the Doctor, who has examined the victim (P.W.3) and P.W.2 is the Doctor, who has examined the accused. The I.O, at the end, has come to the witness box as P.W.8. 6. Besides leading the evidence by examining the above witnesses, the prosecution has also proved several documents which have been admitted in evidence and marked Exts.1 to 6. Out of those, the important are, the FIR (Ext.3), the medical examination report of the victim (Ext.1) and Ext.2 is the medical examination report of the accused. CRA No.217 of 2001 Page 4 of 7 7. The accused has taken the plea of complete denial and false implication. He, however, has not tendered any evidence in support of such plea. 8. The star witness for the prosecution is P.W.3, who is none other than the victim and the important document admitted in evidence from the side of the prosecution are the FIR (Ext.3) and the medical examination report of the victim (Ext.1). 9. Heard learned counsel for the Appellant and learned Additional Standing Counsel for the Respondent-State. 10. Keeping in view the submissions made, I have carefully read the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence. I have also perused the depositions of the witnesses (P.Ws.1 to 8) and the documents admitted in evidence (Exts.1 to 6). 11. It being the settled position of law that in a case of sexual assault, the conviction can be based solely upon the evidence of the victim provided the same does not suffer from any such inherited improbability; in that event the Court would require corroboration from other sources before placing reliance. Bearing that in mind, the evidence of the victim (P.W.3), being gone through, it is seen that she has stated in clear terms that during that night, when she had been to urinate to the backyard of her CRA No.217 of 2001 Page 5 of 7 house, she was ravished by the accused. She has stated all those details as to how the accused came and played what role therein from the beginning till the end. She has further stated that when she (P.W.3) could manage to shout, the accused fled away and hearing her shout, her mother (P.W.4) and sister arrived. She states to have immediately narrated the incident to her mother and sister. The mother, having been examined from the side of the prosecution as P.W.4, has corroborated as regards the narration by P.W.3. The other witnesses such as P.Ws.5, 6 & 7 have provided further corroboration to the evidence of the victim (P.W.3). The evidence of P.W.3, being read in its entirety, no such inherited improbability is noticed therein. The medical evidence of the Doctor (P.W.1) also provides corroboration to the evidence of the victim (P.W.3) when it has been stated by the Doctor (P.W.1) that he had noticed several external injuries on different parts of the body of the victim (P.W.3). The age of the victim (P.W.3) has been proved to be within 14 to 16 years. With all these evidence on record, this Court is of the considered view that the Trial Court did commit no error in holding the accused guilty of commission of the offence under section 376 of the IPC. CRA No.217 of 2001 Page 6 of 7 12. In the result, the Appeal is dismissed. The judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 29th August, 2001 passed by the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate-Cum-Assistant Sessions Judge, Deogarh in Sessions Trial No.129/17 of 2001, are hereby confirmed. (D. Dash), Judge. Basu Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: BASUDEV NAYAK Reason: Authentication Location: HIGH COURT OF ORISSA : CUTTACK Date: 21-May-2024 19:05:32 CRA No.217 of 2001 Page 7 of 7