IMPORTANT POINT
As of now, a person not attaining age of 18 years on the date of commission of the offence would be juvenile.

JUDGMENT

Aftab Alam, J. — Leave granted.

2. The appellant stands convicted under section 376 read with section 511 of the Penal Code and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for five years and a fine of Rs.2000/- with the direction that in default of payment of fine he would undergo rigorous imprisonment for a further period of two months.

3. According to the prosecution case, on February 2, 1998, at about 10.00 A.M., the prosecutrix had gone out to the fields for relieving herself. There she was accosted by the appellant. Seeing him take off his pants, the prosecutrix tried to run away but the appellant caught hold of her and pulled her down to the ground. The prosecutrix freed herself by biting on the appellant’s hand and ran towards her house. The appellant chased her and again caught hold of her. He pulled her down and grabbed her breasts and attempted to commit rape on her. She resisted him and in their struggle some mustard crops grown in the field were also damaged. On alarm raised by the prosecutrix, her mother and uncle came to the spot and on seeing them, the appellant ran away threatening the prosecutrix that he would kill her in case she went to the police.

4. In support of its case, the prosecution examined the mother of the prosecutrix as PW.1, the prosecutrix herself as PW.2 and two policemen connected with the investigation and a photographer who had taken pictures of the place of occurrence.

5. The Additional Sessions Judge, Narnaul, trying the offence, on a consideration of the evidence adduced before him, found and held that the charge against the appellant was fully proved and by judgment and order dated February 13/15, 1999, passed in Sessions Case No.39 of 6.10.1998, Sessions Trial No.1 of 1.2.1999 convicted and sentenced him, as noted above. Against the judgment and order passed by the trial court, the appellant preferred an appeal (Criminal Appeal No.174-SB of 1999) before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh. The High Court dismissed the appeal by judgment and order dated October 15, 2009, maintaining the conviction and sentence awarded to the appellant.

6. So far as the question of the appellant’s guilt is concerned, that seems to be amply established by the evidence adduced by the prosecution and there is no need to go into any further detail in that regard. What needs to be considered in this appeal is the appellant’s plea based on juvenility.

7. From the judgment of the High Court coming under appeal, it appears that the plea of the appellant’s juvenility was raised at an early stage of the proceedings and the Principal Magistrate, Juvenile Justice Court, Narnaul, by his order dated March 20, 1998 had found that the appellant was a juvenile. Against the order of the Principal Magistrate, the State went in appeal and the learned Sessions Judge, Narnaul, reversed the findings of the Principal Magistrate, Juvenile Justice Court, observing that the date of birth of the appellant as recorded in the Deaths and Births Register maintained by the Registrar was August 14, 1981 and reckoned on that basis, he was not a juvenile on February 2, 1998, the date of the occurrence. As a consequence, the appellant was tried not before a Juvenile Court, but before the Additional Sessions Judge, Narnaul.

8. The plea of juvenility was again raised in appeal, but the High Court rejected it referring to the finding of the Sessions Judge on the matter and observing as follows:-

“Learned counsel for the appellant argued that the appellant was a juvenile at the time of occurrence and should have been tried by the Principal Magistrate, Juvenile Justice Court, Narnaul. However, after going through the records of the case, I do not find any merit in this argument. In his order dated 20.3.1998, the Principal Magistrate, Juvenile Justice Court, Narnaul, had held that the appellant was a juvenile. Against the order dated 20.3.1998, the State had gone in appeal and the learned Sessions Judge Narnaul, reversed the findin