JUDGMENT

Prithviraj K. Chavan, J. - By this appeal, the appellant-original Accused no.1 Mohammed Ashfaq Dawood Shaikh @ Baba has challenged the judgment and order of conviction dated 21st March, 2014 and sentence rendered by the Sessions Judge, Greater Mumbai in Sessions Case No. 914 of 2013 by which he along with other three accused viz. Accused no.2 Mohd. Kasim Mohd. Hasim Shaikh @ Bangali, Accused no.3 Mohd. Salim Mohd. Abdul Kaddus Ansari, Accused no.4 Vijay Mohan Jadhav @ Nanu have been convicted. Accused nos. 2 to 4 have not challenged the judgment and order of conviction.

2. The appellant original Accused no.1 Mohd. Ashfaq Dawood Shaikh alias Baba and other accused have been convicted by the learned Sessions Judge for having committed offences punishable under Sections 376(D) read with 120-B, 377 r/w 120-B, 354(B) r/w 120-B, 323 r/w 120-B and 506(II) r/w 120-B and 120-B of the INDIAN PENAL CODE .

3. Though distinct sentences have been awarded under each head, they have been sentenced to suffer Rigorous Imprisonment for life, which shall mean imprisonment of remainder of their natural life with fine of Rs.10,000/- each, in default further R.I. for one year each. The substantive sentences of imprisonment are directed to run concurrently.

4. It is the pathetic plight of the prosecutrix who, in her teens, had been subjected to gang rape, unnatural sex after wrongfully restraining and confining her in an abandoned and dilapidated premises of Shakti Mills by the appellant and rest of the accused on the fateful evening of 31.07.2013.

5. The prosecution case, as emerged from the record, can be stated as follows :-

6. The prosecutrix was a telephone operator, working with "Parivaratan Sandesh Foundation" at Bhandup. PW-19 Krishna was her boyfriend. On 31.07.2013, they decided to visit Mahalaxmi Temple. They boarded a local train from Bhandup and alighted at Mahalaxmi Railway Station at about 7.30 p.m. They started walking towards Mahalaxmi temple. On the way, the prosecutrix stumbled upon a stone resulting into an injury to her left foot. Her left foot again entangled with creepers, which aggravated the pain and, therefore, they decided to return home instead of going to the temple. They were appraised of the shortest route by the passers-by to the Mahalaxmi Railway Station which was, unfortunately through the abandoned and dilapidated premises of Shakti Mills.

7. Due to her injured foot, she was unable to walk speedily and, therefore, the distance between passers-by ahead of them increased. The prosecutrix and PW-19 Krishna were walking slowly. Since the prosecutrix was experiencing unbearable pain in her foot, they decided to take a short break and sat upon a cement platform. At that point of time, two persons came over there and started assaulting both of them. They were later identified as Accused no.2 Mohd. Kasim Mohd. Hasim Shaikh @ Bangali and Accused no.3 Mohd. Salim Mohd. Abdul Kaddus Ansari. They accosted the prosecutrix and PW-19 Krishna and started assaulting them. When PW- 19 Krishna resisted their act, they tried to tie his both hands with her odhani. While strongly resisting the assailants, PW-19 Krishna pushed one of them aside, however, third person appeared at the scene suddenly and thereafter the first person started dragging the prosecutrix inside the shrubs. The second and third person thereafter succeeded in tying both hands of PW-19 Krishna behind with the said odhani. At that time, fourth person also reached at the spot and he too started assaulting the prosecutrix. When prosecutrix raised a hue and cry, the fourth person had gagged her by inserting his handker