2025 Supreme(SC) 1814

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
B.V. Nagarathna, K. V. Viswanathan, JJ.
Shivkumar @ Baleshwar Yadav – Appellant
Versus
The State of Chhattisgarh – Respondent
Criminal Appeal No. 4502 of 2025 (@ Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 14625 of 2024)
Decided On : 14-10-2025

IMPORTANT POINTS
(1) Kidnapping and rape of girl child – Merely because a witness is declared hostile does not make him unreliable – Small or insignificant omissions cannot be the basis for treating witnesses hostile.
(2) Acquaintance of accused with family of victim is enough to presume that accused was aware of caste and identity of victim.

Headnote:

Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 – Section 4 – Indian Penal Code, 1860 – Sections 363, 366, 506 and 376 – Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 – Section 3(2)(v) – Kidnapping and rape of girl child – Life imprisonment – Merely because a witness is declared hostile does not make him unreliable – Small or insignificant omissions cannot be the basis for treating witnesses hostile – Evidence of father, evidence of teacher and school admission register, inspire confidence in Court to hold that victim as on date of incident, was a minor – Victim belongs to scheduled caste and produced caste certificate – Consistent statements of prosecution witnesses collectively demonstrate that accused had prior familiarity with family and knowledge of their caste, which satisfies requirement under Section 3(2)(v) of SC/ST Act – Nothing has been brought on record to rebut the presumption and as such, Section 3(2)(v) of SC/ST Act is clearly attracted – Accused was well acquainted with victim and her family prior to incident and was fully aware of their caste status – Acquaintance of accused with family of victim is enough to presume that accused was aware of caste and identity of victim – No good reason to interfere with concurrent judgments convicting accused and sentencing him for various offences. (Paras 9, 12, 18, 21, 24 and 26)

Facts of the case:

Present appeal calls in question correctness of judgment dated 16.06.2023 passed by High Court of Chhattisgarh at Bilaspur in Criminal Appeal No. 9/2020. By said judgment, High Court confirmed conviction and sentence imposed on appellant by Special Judge (SC/ST Act), Surajpur, District Surajpur, Chhattisgarh in Sessions Case No. 33/2018. Trial Court, by its judgment dated 22.10.2019, convicted appellant for offences punishable under Sections 363, 366, 506 and 376 of Indian Penal Code, 1860, Section 4 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and Section 3(2)(v) of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and sentenced him.

Findings of Court:

Victim was kidnapped (Section 363 IPC), for the purpose of illicit intercourse (Section 366 IPC), was subjected to forcible intercourse (Section 376 of IPC and Section 4 of the POCSO), criminal intimidation (Section 506 IPC) and all this with the knowledge that the victim was a member of the Scheduled Caste (Section 3(2)(v), of the SC/ST Act).

Result : Appeal dismissed.