2026:CGHC:9023-DB Digitally NAFR VISHAKHA signed by BEOHAR VISHAKHA BEOHAR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR ACQA No. 103 of 2015

1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Aged About 18 Years Through The Station House Officer, Odgi, District Surajpur, Chhattisgarh., Chhattisgarh --- Appellant versus

1 - Omprakash Maar S/o Dubraj Maar Aged About 20 Years R/o Village Sendur, Outpost Vijay Nagar, Police Station Balrampur, District Balrampur-Ramanujganj Chhattisgarh., Chhattisgarh --- Respondent CRA No. 158 of 2015

1 - Shivdhari Yadav S/o Bachhalal Yadav Aged About 40 Years R/o Village- Parsiya, P.S. Odgi, Distt.- Surajpur, C.G., Chhattisgarh ---Appellant Versus

1 - State Of Chhattisgarh S/o Through The Station House Officer, Police Station Odgi, Distt.- Surajpur, Civil And Revenue District-

Surajpur, C.G., Chhattisgarh --- Respondent For State :- Mr. Dharmesh Shrivastava, Dy. A.G.

For Respondent in :- Mrs. Parwati Suryawanshi, Advocate in ACQA No.103/2015 on behalf of Mr. Bhupendra Singh, Advocate For Appellant in :- Mrs. Seema Mishra, Advocate on CRA No.158/2015 behalf of Mrs. Uttara Shrivastava, Advocate Division Bench : Hon'ble Shri Sanjay S. Agrawal and Hon'ble Shri Amitendra Kishore Prasad, JJ.

Judgment on Board

20.02.2026 Per Amitendra Kishore Prasad, J.

1.Since both the above-captioned appeals arise out of the common judgment dated 23.01.2015 passed by the learned First Additional Sessions Judge, Surajpur, District Surajpur, C.G. in Sessions Trial No.74/2014, they are being decided by this common judgment.

2.ACQA No.103/2015 has been preferred by the State challenging the acquittal of accused- Omprakash for the offences punishable under Section 376 of Indian Penal Code (in short, ‘IPC’) and Section 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (in short, ‘the Act, 2012).

3.Criminal Appeal No.158/2015 has been preferred by accused- Shivdhari Yadav assailing his conviction under Sections 363 and 366-A of IPC and the sentence of simple imprisonment for two years on each count with a fine of Rs.100/- each, and in default of payment of fine, to undergo additional imprisonment for seven days for each offence, with a direction that both the sentences shall run concurrently.

4. Case of the prosecution, in brief, is that prosecutrix lodged a First Information Report at Police Station Odgi stating that she is a resident of Village Parsiya and a student of Class XII. She alleged that on 16.04.2014, after being scolded by her mother, she left her house and went to the house of accused- Shivdhari Yadav. It is further the case of the prosecution that thereafter accused- Shivdhari Yadav took her to the house of co-accused Omprakash, where she was kept in his room during the night. According to the prosecution, co-accused- Omprakash assured the prosecutrix that he would marry her and, on the pretext of marriage, allegedly established physical relations with her during the night. It is further alleged that in the early morning hours, she was driven away from the house of co-accused- Omprakash, whereafter she went to the house of her friend Devmaniya in Village Baijnathpur and subsequently returned to her house at Village Parsiya. Owing to fear and hesitation, she did not disclose the incident immediately to anyone and only on 21.04.2014 narrated the incident to her parents, pursuant to which, the report was lodged at Police Station Odgi. On the basis of the aforesaid information furnished by the prosecutrix, FIR (Ex.P-1) was registered on 21.04.2014 at Police Station Odgi against the accused persons for the offences punishable under Sections 363, 366 and 376 of IPC and Section 4 of the Act, 2012, and the investigation was set into motion.

5.During the course of investigation, the Investigating Officer prepared the spot map of the place of occurrence (Ex.P-2) and seized the necessary articles related to the incident. The statements of the prosecutrix and other witnesses were recorded under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The prose