V PADMAVATHI Date: 2026.02.19

2026:CGHC:7525-DB NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR CRA No. 1518 of 2022 Nutan Rathiya S/o Lalit Rathiya, Aged About 18 Years R/o Village Baihamuda, Police Station And Tahsil Gharghoda,, District : Raigarh, Chhattisgarh --- Appellant(s)

versus State Of Chhattisgarh Through Police Station Gharghoda,, District : Raigarh, Chhattisgarh --- Respondent(s)

CRA No. 1545 of 2022 Sugan Sai Sai Rathiya S/o Bharat Rathiya Aged About 21 Years R/o Village -

Baihamuda, Tahsil And Police Station - Gharghoda, District - Raigarh, Chhattisgarh.

--- Appellant(s)

Versus The State Of Chhattisgarh Through Police Station - Ghargoda, District - Raigarh Chhattisgarh. --- Respondent(s)

CRA No. 1866 of 2022 Madhav Rathiya S/o Babulal Rathiya Aged About 21 Years R/o Village Baihamuda, P.S. And Tahsil Gharghoda, District Raigarh, (C.G.) --- Appellant(s)

Versus State Of Chhattisgarh Through Police Station Gharghoda, District Raigarh, (C.G.)

--- Respondent(s)

CRA No. 998 of 2023

1 - Gocharan Rathiya S/o Deshanter Rathiya Aged About 20 Years R/o. Village -

Baihamuda, Tehsil And Police Station - Gharghoda, District - Raigarh Chhattisgarh

2 - Sanjay Rathiya S/o Chintaram Rathiya Aged About 19 Years R/o Village -

Baihamuda, Tehsil And Police Station - Gharghoda Raigarh Chhattisgarh --- Appellant(s)

Versus The State Of Chhattisgarh Through - Police Station - Gharghoda, District Raigarh Chhattisgarh ---Respondent(s)

(Cause-title taken from Case Information System)

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For Respective Appellants : Shri BS Rajput, Shri Aman Kesharwabni, and Shri Ashutosh Mishra, Advocates For Respondent/State : Shri SS Baghel, GA --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hon'ble Shri Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice Hon'ble Shri Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal

Order on Board

Per Ravindra Kumar Agrawal, J.

11.02.2026 Heard BS Rajput, Shri Aman Kesharwabni, and Shri Ashutosh Mishra, learned counsel for the respective appellants. Also heard Shri SS Baghel, learned Government Advocate appearing for the respondent/State.

1. All these appeals are arising out of the same Session Trial, and a common judgment, therefore, they are being heard, and decided together.

2. In these cases there are five accused persons and all of them have been convicted by the learned trial court and they filed separate appeals. CRA-1518 of 2022 has been filed by the appellant- Nutan Rathiya, CRA- 1545 of 2022 has been filed by the appellant-Sugan Sai Rathiya, CRA-1866 of 2022 has been filed by the appellant-Madhav Rathiya, and CRA-998 of 2023 has been filed by the appellants- Gocharan Rathiya and Sanjay Rathiya. Hereafter, appellants are referred to as “Nutan, Sugan Sai, Madhav, Gocharan and Sanjay”.

3. Appellants have filed these appeals against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 08.08.2022 passed by the learned Additional Session Judge, Gharghoda, District-Raigarh, in Special Criminal Case (POCSO)-13 of 2019, whereby the appellants have been convicted and sentenced as under with default stipulation:

Appellant- Nutan in CRA-1518 of 2022 Appellant- Sugan Sai in CRA-1545 of 2022 Appellant- Madhav in CRA-1866 of 2022 Appellants- Gocharan and Sanjay in CRA-998 of 2023

4. Brief facts of the case are that, on 18.04.2019 the victim PW1 lodged a report to the Police Station-Gharghoda against the accused persons with the allegation that on 17.04.2019 at about 10.00 pm, all the accused persons broke open the door of her house, gagged her mouth and committed rape upon her one after one. Three accused persons- Gocharan, Sanjay and Sugan Sai committed rape upon her one after one. When they heard some noise of the motorcycle in the lane, they fled away from the back side. Thereafter, parents and sister of the victim came to the house, and she informed the incident to them. She filed a written complaint Ex.P1, based o