The main legal point established in the judgment is the interpretation of signs and gestures of a dumb witness and the relevance of Section 119 of the Evidence Act in such cases.

1. This Criminal Revision Petition has been preferred by the accused challenging the concurrent findings of the two Courts below convicting him for an offence under Section 376 I.P.C. and sentencing him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/- and in default, to undergo imprisonment for six months.

2. It is the case of the prosecution that the victim in this case one 'x' (P.W.2) is deaf and dumb and she is the daughter of Sarasu (P.W.1). P.W.2 has three brothers and two sisters and they were all living with their mother P.W.1. On 26.03.2003, P.W.1, P.W.2 and Prema(P.W.9), elder sister of P.W.2 and daughter of P.W.1) called on Sakunthala (P.W.8) in the adjoining village, Vanduvancheri, as she was physically indisposed. Sakunthala (P.W.8) is a cousin sister of Sarasu (P.W.1). They were all sitting in the house of Sakunthala and were chatting, and at around 12.00 noon P.W.2 wanted to attend nature's call and she conveyed this by signs. So, Sakunathala asked her to go to the fields in the rear side of the house and they continued with their conversations. When P.W.2 did not return, even after a long time, P.W.1 became a little anxious and went behind in search of P.W.2. She heard some strange noises from the house of one Nagaraj and banged the door of the house. The door flung open and she found her daughter P.W.2 lying on the floor with her dress lifted above and the accused was over her. On seeing P.W.1, the accused fled. P.W.1 started raising a hue and cry which attracted the attention of the neighbours and on hearing her shouts P.W.8 and P.W.9 also came towards Nagaraj's house and they saw the accused running away. When they went into Nagaraj's house, P.W.2 was on the floor scantily clad with her garments lifted above and she was found dishevelled. It was obvious to them that the accused had sexually exploited the mute girl. When P.W.1 wanted to lodge a complaint, her cousin P.W.8 told her that they should inform the village headman and convene a panchayat in the village. Accordingly, the village headman was informed and he advised P.W.1 to bring the headman of her village also for the panchayat in the evening. At the request of P.W.1, Sakarai @ Arulanandam (P.W.12) the village headman and other elders from P.W.1's village came to P.W.8's village for the panchayat. During the panchayat, when P.W.2 was questioned, she pointed out to the accused as a person who had ravished her. The accused denied his involvement and the village elders advised P.W.1 to proceed legally against the accused. The panchayat got over in the mid-night of 26.03.2003. On 27.03.2003, P.W.1 and P.W.2 accompanied by other family members went to the police station and lodged a complaint, (Ex.P1) based on which a case in the Kumbakonam All Women Police Station Crime No.3 of 2003 for an offence under Section 376 I.P.C. was registered by Amsavalli (P.W.13), Sub Inspector of Police, on 27.03.2003 at 21.30 hours. She prepared the printed F.I.R. (Ex.P10) which was received by the jurisdictional Magistrate at 04.15 p.m. on 28.03.2003. P.W.13 examined P.W.1 and recorded her statement. She took possession of the garments namely nighty (M.O.1), inner-petticoat (M.O.2), interior petticoat (M.O.3) and panties (M.O.4) that were worn by P.W.2 at the time of incident. The material objects were taken possession under Form 95 (Ex.P2) for the purpose of sending the same for scientific examination through Court. P.W.13 went to the place of occurrence on 28.03.2003 and prepared a rough sketch (Ex.P11) and an observation mahazar (Ex.P9) in the presence of witnesses. On 29.03.2003, the Investigating Officer (P.W.13) requisitioned the service of one Bhuvaneswari (P.W.7) who had undergone special training for teaching deaf and dumb children and who was working in Vallalar Elementary School as a teacher, for the purpose of assisting her in the enquiry of P.W.2. With her assistance the statement of P.W.2 appears to have been recorded.