ORDER :

This Criminal Revision Case, under Sections 397 and 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short, ‘the Cr.P.C’), is filed by the petitioner, who was the appellant (A-1) in Criminal Appeal No.37 of 2002, on the file of the Court of VI Additional District and Sessions Judge (Fast Track Court), Narsapur (for short, ‘the learned Additional Sessions Judge’), challenging the judgment therein, dated 16.11.2004, where under the learned Additional Sessions Judge, dismissed the Criminal Appeal, confirming the conviction and sentence of the appellant under Section 451 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short, ‘the IPC’) and modified the conviction and sentence from Section 376 R/w.511 IPC to that of Section 354 IPC and sentenced the appellant to suffer Rigorous Imprisonment for two years for the offence under Section 354 IPC besides maintaining the fine imposed by the Assistant Sessions Judge, Narsapur (for short, ‘the learned Assistant Sessions Judge’) in S.C. No.109 of 20003, dated 14.02.2002.

2. The parties to this Criminal Revision Case will hereinafter be referred to as arrayed before the trial Court, for the sake of convenience.

3. Sessions Case No.109 of 2000 arose out of the committal order in PRC No.12 of 1999 on the file of the Court of Judicial First Class Magistrate, Palakol. The case of the prosecution, in brief, according to the charge sheet filed pertaining to Crime No.3 of 1999 of Poduru Police Station is that A-1 is the son of A-2 and resident of Pappugunta, H/o.Jagannadhapuram of Poduru Mandal and they belonged to Scheduled Caste. One Kolli Karuna Devi @ Karuna Kumari was the daughter of Narasimha Murthy, aged 19 years and belonged to Scheduled Caste (Mala) (the deceased) and she was resident of Pappugunta, H/o.Jagannadhapuram of Poduru Mandal. She used to reside in her own house along with LW.2 – Jillella Bhudevi (grandmother). Parents of the deceased were at Kuwait. She studied up to Intermediate. LW.2 is maternal grandmother of the deceased. LW.3 – Kolli Maraiah and LW.4 – Kolli Kanthamma are the grandparents of the deceased (father’s parents). LW.5 – Koyya Emeliamma is the maternal aunt of the deceased. Rapaka Mary, Chadalavada Vimala, Kodamanchili Srirama Murthy, Muppidi Venkanna and Kondeti Adinarayana are the independent witnesses.

On 29.01.1999 at 03:00 p.m. Kolli Karuna Devi @ Karuna Kumari (hereinafter referred to as the ‘deceased’) was alone present in the house. Taking advantage of it, A-1 trespassed into the house situated at Pappugunta, H/o.Jagannadhapuram of Poduru Mandal and made an attempt to commit rape on her forcibly gagging her mouth. Then, she raised the cries for help. On hearing the cries of the victim, the above persons rushed to the house of the victim. They identified the accused (A-1) committing the offence. On seeing them, A-1 absconded. During the absence of the grandmother of the victim, the offence took place. The above named persons along with the victim proceeded to the house of A-2 and reported the offence before A-2 against A-1. A-2 abused the victim in filthy language, insulted her chastity in the public place. The victim felt insulted, left the place, reached the house and consumed pesticide poison at about 04:30 p.m. on that day. While she was vomiting, LWs.6 to 11 saw it and took her to a private nursing home at Martair and Penugonda to save her. But, she lost her breath. The dead body of the deceased was shifted to the house premises of LW.2. LW.2 came to know about the facts of occurrence.

LW-1 – D. Ravi, VAO, visited the scene of offence and found the dead body of the deceased. Hence, he prepared a report and presented it to SI of Police, Poduru Police Station. On the strength of his report, SI of Police registered a case in Crime No.3 of 1999 under Section 174 Cr.P.C. on 29.01.1999 at 10:30 p.m. and investigated into.

On 30.01.1999, inquest was held over the dead body of the deceased in the presence of LW.1 – VAO and LW.14 – Sannamanda Rajarao and LW.13 – Kondeti