IMPORTANT POINT
Rape of 8 years old girl child, life imprisonment is just punishment.

Judgment :-

Dipak Misra, J.

The wanton lust, vicious appetite, depravity of senses, mortgage of mind to the inferior endowments of nature, the servility to the loathsome beast of passion and absolutely unchained carnal desire have driven the appellant to commit a crime which can bring in a ‘tsunami’ of shock in the mind of the collective, send a chill in the spine of the society, destroy the civilized stems of the milieu and comatose the marrows of sensitive polity. It is brutal rape of an eight year old girl. The sensitive learned trial Judge, after recording conviction under Section 376(2)(f) of the Indian Penal Code (for short “IPC”), had taken note of the brutality meted out to the child and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.5000/- failing which to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months. The Division Bench of the Delhi High Court has equally reflected its anguish over the crime by describing it as “pervaded with brutality” and “trauma which the young child would face all her life” and has concurred with the sentence of imprisonment and the fine.

2. This Court, at the time of issuance of notice, had restricted it to the quantum of sentence. However, we shall dwell upon the merits of the case in brief.

3. The horrid episode as unfurled by prosecution is that on 29.10.2003, about 6.30 p.m., an eight year old child, daughter of one Binda Saha, was taken by the appellant to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital and from there, being referred, she was admitted in GTB Hospital, Shahdara, at 1.30 a.m. on 30.10.2003. The young girl, as recorded in MLC Ext.PW- 10/D, had stated that she had fallen down in the toilet about 2.00 p.m. on 29.10.2003 as a consequence of which she had sustained the injuries. The treating doctor, Dr. Anju Yadav, was not convinced with what was being narrated to her. As the factual narration would reflect, the duty constable informed the local police station, i.e., P.S. Kalyanpuri, about the admission of the young girl (hereinafter whom we shall refer to as ‘M’) and her condition, as recorded in the MLC. The child remained in the hospital for six days and thereafter she was discharged. The anxious mother, unable to digest the story that was told to her by the daughter, asked her to muster courage and tell the truth to her. The young ‘M’ gained confidence and, eventually, on 10.11.2003, broke down before her mother and told her how the appellant had brutally raped her and threatened her that if she disclosed the said fact to anyone, her life as well as the lives of her parents would be in danger. The disturbed father proceeded to the police station and informed what was told by his daughter and, accordingly, an FIR was registered. After the criminal law was set in motion, the investigating agency arrested the accused and, eventually, the accused-appellant was sent up for trial. The accused pleaded innocence and claimed to be tried.

4. The prosecution, in order to establish the charge levelled against the accused, examined 11 witnesses including the child ‘M’, her parents, the doctors and other formal witnesses. The accused in his statement under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure stated that on 28.10.2003, the parents of ‘M’ had gone to see her maternal uncle and, therefore, he had taken the prosecutrix ‘M’ to the hospital for medical aid, but as Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital refused on the ground that the prosecutrix should be taken to some big hospital, he took her to GTB Hospital for medical treatment. It was his further explanation that he took the girl to the hospital for saving her life and he was not aware that she had been raped. The allegation of threat was disputed by the accused. It is also his stand that initially the child had not named him being asked by the doctor and had stated that she had sustained the injuries by fall, and after the discharge of the child, he went to attend his work on 4.11.2003. Be it noted, the defence chose not to adduce an