Judgment

Pinaki Chandra Ghose, J.

1. In the present case, there is concurrent decision of acquittal of the accused by the Sessions Court as well as the High Court of Madhya Pradesh. The offence alleged to have been committed in this case is rape, punishable under Section 376 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 (“IPC”, for short).

2. The story of the prosecution is that the prosecutrix is a minor of unsound mind. On 09-11-1990 at around 8:30 a.m. when prosecutrix and her younger sister Nirmala (PW3) were going to their field with food for their father, the accused came and caught hold of the prosecutrix. He took her to some distance near a pond and committed rape on her. Prosecutrix's private parts had bled and the petticoat was blood-stained. On seeing this, PW3 Nirmala rushed to her father Gopal (PW4) and informed him of the incident. Then PW4 came to the prosecutrix who told him with the help of sign language (since she cannot speak properly) that the accused committed rape on her. He noticed that there were blood stains on her petticoat near the private parts. Thereafter, PW4 took the prosecutrix to police station and lodged an FIR at 11:30 a.m. on the same day. Medical examination of the p