JUDGMENT

NATARAJAN, J.:— After hearing learned counsel for the parties, we grant special leave confined to the question of sentence only.

2. The appellants have been convicted under section 376 IPC and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and also to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- in default to undergo RI for two years. The four appellants who were arrayed as A2, A3, A4 and Al will hereafter be referred to in the order of their array before the Sessions Judge.

3. The four appellants and one Umesh Mahto (accused No. 5) besides 11 others who were acquitted were charged under Sections 380 and 376 read with Section 149 IPC for having entered the house of the victims and committing rape on them and thereafter removing cash and valuables from the house on the night of 16/17 of March, 1984. The prosecution case was that while accused Nos. 6 to 16 stood outside the house, accused Nos. 1 to 5 entered the house through the roof after dismantling a portion of it and thereafter accused Nos. 1 to 4 committed rape on the victims while accused No. 5 stood guard over them with a gun in his hands in order to overawe them and make them submit to the rape committed on them without protest. Accused Nos. 1 to 4 are said to have committed rape first on PW 1 Jaiboon Nisa, an unmarried girl aged about 15 or 16 years and thereafter accused No. 1 caught hold of PW 2 Roshanara to commit rape on her but on her entreating him that she may be spared as she was pregnant she was released and thereafter accused Nos. 1 to 4 committed rape on PW 6 Sakina Khatoon, a sister-in-law of PW 2 Roshanara. Then accused Nos. 1 and 4 are said to have committed rape on Maimum Nisa, another sister-in-law of PW 2 Roshanara. Thereafter accused Nos. 1 to 5 are said to have opened the boxes kept in the house and removed cash and articles and left the place.

4. After the culprits had left the house the victims went to the house of one Latif Mian and spent the rest of the night there and in the morning they went to the Police Station and PW 1 Jaiboon Nisa lodged the First Information Report.

5. The investigation in the case was conducted by Sub Inspector Late Mahdev Prasad and after his death by PW 9 Sub Inspector Govind Prasad.

6. The victims were sent to the hospital and were examined by PW 7 Dr. Abha Singh. Though the doctor could not find visible symptoms of sexual assault on the married women Sakina Khatoon and Maimum Nisa, she found telltale marks and injuries on the unmarried girl PW 1 Jaiboon Nisa to show that she had been subjected to rape.

7. The Sessions Judge acquitted accused Nos. 6 to 16 of both the charges and accused Nos. 1 to 5 of the charge under Section 380 IPC. He, however, found accused Nos. 1 to 4 directly guilty under Section 376 IPC and accused No. 5 Umesh Mahto also constructively guilty under Section 376 IPC by invoking Explanation I to Clause (g) of Sub-Section (2) of Section 376 IPC and sentenced all the 5 accused to undergo imprisonment for life and also to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- each in default to undergo RI for 2 years.

8. In the appeals preferred by the five convicted accused, the High Court confirmed the convictions and sentences of accused Nos. 1 to 4 and in the case of accused No. 5, while confirming his conviction under Section 376 IPC, the High Court reduced the sentence to RI for 2 years. It is in such circumstances accused Nos. 1 to 4 have approached this Court with the special leave petition.

9. Mr. A. K. Sen, learned Senior advocate appearing for the appellants, sought leave to canvass the conviction of the appellants on its merits and contended that the case has been foisted on the appellants due to communal feelings, that there has been inordinate delay in lodging the First Information Report and that the prosecution case that the appellants had committed rape in succession on a plurality of victims is a biological impossibility and hence the prosecution case is wholly unworthy of acceptance. We found no merit in those contentions because ev