Judgment

VENKATARAMIAH, J. :- This appeal by special leave is filed against the judgment dated Sept. 17, 1974 passed in Criminal Appeal No. 579 of 1969 on the file of the High Court of Patna confirming the conviction of the appellant of the offence punishable under Section 376 of the Penal Code and the sentence of rigorous imprisonment for five years imposed on him on Dec. 20, 1969 in Sessions Trial No. 107 of 1968 on the file of the Assistant Sessions Judge at Purnea in the State of Bihar.

2. The appellant was committed to face the trial for an offence punishable under Section 376 of the Penal Code by the order of the Munsiff-Magistrate, Ist Class, Purnea on the basis of a complaint filed by the complainant Barki Devi (P. W. 3) before the Sub-Divisional Officer, Sadar, Purnea on Aug. 9, 1968 who took cognizance of the offence and transferred the case to the file of the aforesaid Magistrate.

3. The allegations made in the complaint are briefly these : That on August 7, 1968 at about 5.00 P. M. the complainant, who was a married woman of about 25 years, was engaged in the work of uprooting of the paddy seedlings on her field situated on the southern side of her house in Dhumra Badh sit