JUDGMENT

DEEPAK VERMA, J. — 1. Leave granted.

2.In all, eight accused were charged and prosecuted for commission of alleged offences under Section 366 and 376 (2) (g) of the Indian INDIAN PENAL CODE (hereinafter shall be referred as ‘I.P.C.’) for abducting prosecutrix and then committing rape on her. Trial Court after appreciation of evidence on record found all the eight accused guilty for commission of offence punishable under Section 366 and in addition to it, found present Appellant (accused) Krishan Kumar Malik, Vijay Dua, Krishan Takkar and Krishan @ Kaka, guilty Crl. A. @S.L.P. (Crl.) No.8021 of 2009 for commission of offences under Section 376 (2) (g) of the IPC. The said four accused were awarded a sentence of ten years R.I. and a fine of Rs. 2000/- each and in default of payment of such fine to undergo further R.I. for a period of one year. These four convicts were sentenced further to undergo R.I. for a period of five years for the offence punishable under Section 366 of the I.P.C and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- each and in default of payment of fine to further undergo R.I. for six months. Two other accused were convicted solely under Section 366 of the IPC, and being ladies, leniency was shown and they were awarded a sentence of three years R.I. and a fine of Rs. 1000/- each, in default whereof, to undergo R.I. for six months each. The remaining two accused, Sandeep and Dheeraj were convicted under Section 366 of the IPC as well and the Trial Court sentenced them each to 5 years R.I., and a fine of Rs. 1000/- in default of payment of which a further period of 6 months R.I. Crl. A. @S.L.P. (Crl.) No.8021 of 2009 would come into effect.

3.Feeling aggrieved by the judgment and order of conviction recorded by Additional Sessions Judge, Kurukshetra in Sessions Case No.52 of 1994 decided on 24.04.1996, Criminal Appeal No. 324-SB of 1996 (filed by two female accused) and Criminal Appeal No. 338-SB of 1996 was filed by remaining six convicted accused in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh. Since both the appeals arose out of the same judgment, they were heard analogously and were disposed off by a common impugned judgment on 27.03.2009.

4.Learned Single Judge after going through the records and appreciating the evidence available, partly allowed Criminal Appeal 338-SB of 1996, qua Vijay Dua and Krishan Kumar Takkar, and acquitted them of all the charges levelled against them. They were accordingly directed to be set at liberty. Thus out of the initial eight, only the remaining six accused were found to have committed offences under Section 366 Crl. A. @S.L.P. (Crl.) No.8021 of 2009 and, in addition, the Appellant and Krishan @ Kaka were also found to have committed offences under Section 376 (2) (g) of the IPC, by the High Court.

5.The present appeal has been filed by Krishan Kumar Malik only, one of the accused. We were given to understand that on account of paucity of funds and various other reasons, other convicted accused have not preferred any appeal. However on enquiries being made from the office, it came to our notice that both the Special Leave Petition as well as the Review Petition filed by one of the two female accused Hardevi were dismissed by this Court. Thus, in the present appeal, we are only required to consider whether there existed sufficient, cogent, valid, reliable and trustworthy evidence to hold the Appellant guilty of the aforesaid offences. To come to the said conclusion, it is necessary to deal with the bare facts of the prosecution.

6.Thumbnail sketch of instant case is as follows:

Prosecutrix, PW-9, was a resident of Saraswati Road, Pehowa and was said to be aged about 17 years at the time of the commission of the said offence by the accused. She had passed her 10th class. Her father had expired few years prior to the date of the incident. Prosecutrix has two younger sisters by the names, Sangeeta and Ritu. Ritu was said to be aged 8 years at the time of the incident. She alongwith h