Important Point
Where conviction was recorded on plea of guilt and there was no material to suggest that plea was voluntary and intelligent and accused was not represented by any advocate, it could not be sustained.

ORDER

B.K. Sharma, J. — This revision petition has been registered on the basis of the petition filed by the accused who is in jail after his conviction in Kolasib P.S. Case No. 171/ 2002 under Section 376(f) of the Indian Pe­nal Code which culminated to G.R. Case No. 271/2002. Upon such conviction he was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for 6 (six) years and presently, he is in District Jail, Kolasib.

2. On the basis of the application sent by the petitioner from Jail, this Court has registered the instant case and requested Mr. S.N. Meitei, learned counsel to repre­sent the accused as Amicus Curiae.

3. I have heard Mr. S. N. Meitei, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner as well as Mr. Aldrin Lallawmzuala, learned Asstt. Govt. Advocate for the State of Mizoram.

4. The prosecution story of the case in brief, is that, on 29-9-2002 one Lalchhanhimi submitted an FIR to the Officer-in-charge, Kolasib Police Station to the effect that on 24-9-2002 at about 2.00 to 3.00 p.m. her daughter Lalnghatzovi alias Zopuii of 12 years of age was raped by the accused who incidentally is the step-father of the victim girl. On the basis of the F.I.R., Kolasib P.S. Case No. 171/02 dated 29-9-2002 was registered under Section 376(f), IPC

5. The police carried out the investigation and both the accused and the victim girl were medically examined. The police case culminated to G.R. Case No. 271/02. The prosecution examined 3 witnesses who are the mother of the victim girl, victim girl her­self and the doctor who had examined the victim girl and the accused. Both the mother and the victim girl during their deposition stated that the accused committed the crime on the victim girl. The doctor who was ex­amined as a prosecution witness, however, in his deposition stated that on medical ex­amination of the victim girl and the accused he did not find any injury on the private parts. No seminal stain was noted. Accord­ing to his statement the victim girl was found to be suffering from some form of venereal disease. Regarding medical examination of the accused the doctor in his deposition stated that there was no stain, seminal or otherwise, on his body or clothes. His body showed no marks of violence.

6. The accused allegedly made a confes­sional statement on 4-10-2002. The records of the case reveal that upon his arrest the police produced him before the learned Mag­istrate on 4-10-2002 praying for his custody for a period of 14 days and also to record his confessional statement. It is on that ba­sis the learned Magistrate recorded the al­leged confessional statement on the same very date then and there. The records fur­ther reveal that the accused whenever was produced before the learned Magistrate was never represented by any lawyer. In due course the case was committed to the Dis­trict Magistrate who received the ease records on 10-12-2002. Thereafter, as per the records, the accused was produced before the trial Court from time to time and on each and every occasion he was remanded to judicial custody but on all the days he was not represented by any lawyer. On 5-5-3003 he was again remanded to judicial cus­tody till 19-5-2003 without specifying any­thing that 19-5-2003 would be the date for consideration of charge.

7. On 19-5-2003 the accused was produced before the Court and on the same date the charge was framed under Section 376(f), IPC and allegedly the same was explained to the accused. Thereafter, on the ground of the accused having pleaded guilty, he was con­victed and sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for six years. The accused is now in jail custody. On 6-6-2003 the accused made an application to this Court through the Superintendent of Prison, District Jail, Kolasib, Mizoram, on the subject of bail pe­tition in connection with the aforesaid case. In the petition the accused has taken the following grounds:—

“1. Charge-sheet was served to me to enlarge legal counsel and I have no defence counsel in the in