The conviction of the accused for house-trespass and causing hurt was upheld due to substantial eyewitness testimony and corroborating medical evidence, despite minor inconsistencies.

JUDGMENT :

Narendra Kumar Vyas, J.

1. The appellants by way of this appeal have challenged the judgment dated 22.03.2005 passed by the Sessions Judge, Korba (CG) in Sessions Trial No. 28/2004 whereby and whereunder, appellants have been convicted and sentenced as under :-

2. Briefly stated, the case of the prosecution is that the victim, Rukmani Bai, is the niece of Rajkumar as well as that of the accused persons Antaram and Prahlad. Rukmani Bai had come to her mother Sukvara Bai at the house of Rajkumar in village Mudali, and she used to do household work at Rajkumar’s house. In the night of 26.05.2004, Rukmani Bai was sleeping in the courtyard of Rajkumar’s house, while her mother Sukhvara Bai and her aunt Pancho Bai were sleeping inside the house. At that time, Rajkumar and his wife were away from the house. At about 2:00 a.m., the accused persons trespassed into the courtyard by scaling the wall and caught hold of Rukmani Bai. They assaulted her by kicking her on the abdomen, and accused Antaram assaulted her with tip of a stick. The other accused persons caught hold her hands, due to which Rukmani Bai could not escape. On hearing her cries, Sukhvara Bai and Pancho Bai raised an alarm to call for help. Thereupon, the accused persons fled away from the spot. At the relevant time, Rukmani Bai was pregnant. Due to the assault on her abdomen, she started experiencing severe pain and on medical examination it was found that the child died in womb due to assault. Rukmani Bai lodged a report regarding the incident at Police Outpost Hardi Bazar, where FIR No. 0/2004 was registered. Subsequently, a formal FIR bearing Crime No. 272/2004 was registered at Police Station Kusmunda.

3. After completion of usual investigation, a charge-sheet was filed under Sections 458, 316,323, 304 of the IPC against the accused persons before the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Katghora. Learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Katghora vide its order dated 27.08.2004 committed trial to the learned Sessions Judge, Korba which was registered as Sessions Trial No. 28/2004. The accused denied the charges leveled against them under Sections 458, 316, 323 and 304 of the IPC and faced trial.

4. To bring home the charges against appellants, the prosecution examined as many as 9 witnesses namely PW/1 the victim Rukhmani, PW/2 Sukvara Bai, PW/3 Pancho Bai, PW/4 Raj Kumar, PW/5 Dr. N.N. Kanwar, PW/6 Shrawan Kumar, PW/7 D.r Veena Agrawal, PW/8 Dr. P.S. Kanwar, PW/9 Yadumani Sidar, SI and exhibited documents Ex.P/1 Intimation under 174 Cr.P.C., Ex.P/2 Intimation under 175 Cr.P.C., Ex.P/3 Naksa Panchanama, Ex.P/4 Deadbody Supurdnama, Ex.P/5 Medical Examination Report, Ex.P/6 Seizure Memo, Ex.P/7 to P/11 Arrest Panchnama, Ex.P/12 medical examination report, Ex.P13A- application for postmortem, Ex.P/13 Postmortem Report, Ex.P/14 application for Medical Examination, Ex.P/15 Spot Map, Ex.P/16 application to SDM, Ex.P/17 application for medical report. The accused were examined under Section 313 of the Cr.P.C. and exhibited documents Ex.D/1 FIR, Ex.D./2 Police Statement of the victim, Ex.D/3 Police Statement of the Sukvara, Ex.D/4 Police Statement of Pancho Bai, Police Statement of Rajkumar.

5. Upon appreciati