K.S.Garewal, J.

1. "Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high ..............." (opening verse of a school prayer composed by Rabindranath Tagore) This case tells the story of a small girl who may never be able to rid her mind of fear or hold her head high. On the night of February 27, 1995, Sheela (9) a student of Class I, was taken away by Narotam (25) from a cluster of huts in Dhaluwal, a village 4 kms from Pinjore. The child was taken to an abandoned hut in the dry bed of the river Ghaggar and where she was raped by Narotam. The accused was arrested and tried by learned Additional Sessions Judge, Ambala who vide judgment dated March 8/9, 1996 found him guilty and convicted him under Section 376 IPC. The accused was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs. 5,000/-, in default of payment of fine he was to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for 2 years.

2. Sheela lived with her parents Shish Pal (PW-4) and Sona Devi (PW-6) in a hut in Dhaluwal near Pinjore. The family originally belonged to Gaziabad (U.P.) and were labourers who had come in search of work to Pinjore, Sheela (PW-2) had been a student in the Government Primary Schoo