The main legal point established is the conclusive nature of evidence in establishing the guilt of the accused, particularly in cases of sexual assault and brutality.

JUDGMENT

Sandeep Mehta, J. - The appellant herein has been convicted and sentenced as below by the learned Sessions Judge, Dungarpur vide the judgment dated 28.9.2012 passed in Sessions Case No.10/2012:

2. Brief facts relevant and essential for disposal of the appeal are noted hereinbelow.

3. Dhula (P.W.4) lodged a written report (Ex.P5) to the S.H.O. P.S. Dovda, District Dungarpur on 26.10.2011 at about 11 A.M. at the Govt. Hospital, Dungarpur alleging therein that on the previous day, at about 3 P.M. in the afternoon, his daughter aged 4 years, and his niece Mst.P aged 9 years (hereinafter referred to as 'the victim') were returning home after having bath in the river. Vikka S/o Dhanna Ahari Meena resident of their village, stopped the girls on the way and pushed the elder child on the ground and forced himself upon her with the intention of subjecting her to rape. His daughter came running and shouting and told him that Vikka had forced himself on to the victim. Upon this, the informant and Kamla (mother of the victim) ran towards the place of incident. On seeing them, Vikka ran away. The victim was lying unconscious on the ground. She had a large number of injuries on her face, back etc. Her ghaghri (skirt) was hanging on the babool tree. In her unconscious condition, she was taken to the Govt. Hospital Dungarpur for treatment in a private vehicle. On the basis of this report, an F.I.R. No.189/2011 (Ex.P/14) came to be registered at the Police Station Dovda for the offences under Sections 341 and 376 I.P.C. Considering the precarious condition of the victim, she was referred to the Maharana Bhupal Hospital, Udaipur for treatment, where she passed away on 29.10.2011 while undergoing treatment. The dead body was subjected to post mortem at the hands of a Medical Board constituted at the M.B.H. Udaipur, which issued the post-mortem report (Ex.P8) noticing the presence of as many as 13 injuries on the body of the victim. Her labia majora was swollen. The hymen was ruptured. The edges were torn. A laceration was noticed on the vagina and the orifice was also torn. Numerous head injuries were noticed underneath which, the blood was collected. The cause of death was opined to be coma due to the head injury. The Board also opined that the victim had been subjected to sexual assault. The head injuries noticed on the body of the girl were opined to be sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death. The accused was arrested. He portrayed himself to be a juvenile and thus, he was initially presented before the Juvenile Justice Board concerned. However, the Investigating Officer collected the school certificate (Ex.P17) from the Govt. Upper Primary School Sablana, Panchayat Samiti Dungarpur where, the accused was initially admitted, as per which, the date of birth of the accused, while being admitted in the school, was recorded as 5.8.1993. In context to this school entry, the accused was found to be a major. The Investigating Officer carried out the usual steps of investigation and proceeded to file a charge-sheet against the accused for the offences under Sections 341, 376 and 302 I.P.C.

4. As the offences under Sections 376 and 302 I.P.C. were exclusively triable by the Sessions Court, the case was committed to the court of the Sessions Judge, Dungarpur for trial, who framed charges against the accused in the above terms. The accused pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. The prosecution examined as many as 14 witnesses and got exhibited 18 documents to prove its case. Upon being ques