2026:CGHC:21622-DB NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR CRA No. 1373 of 2025 Pravin Sahu S/o Shri Rajesh Sahu, Aged About 31 Years R/o Village Dulna, P.S. Gobra Nawapara District Raipur Chhattisgarh At Present Yash Vihar Colony, Moti Nagar, Raipur District Raipur Chhattisgarh ----Appellant(s)

versus State Of Chhattisgarh Through Station House Officer, Police Station Digitally signed by Tiikarapara, Disrict Raipur Chhattisgarh JYOTI JHA Date:

2026.05.12 10:54:45 +0530 ---- Respondent(s)

(Cause title taken from CIS)

For Appellant : Mr. Awadh Tripathi, Advocate For Respondent/State : Mr. Ashish Shukla, Addl. A.G.

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

Order on Board

Per Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice

08/05/2026

1. The criminal appeal arises out of the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 04.07.2025 passed by the Special Judge under SC & ST (P.A.) Act, Raipur, District Raipur in Special Criminal Case No.05/2024, whereby the appellant has been convicted and sentenced in the following manner :

Sl. No. Conviction Sentence

1. Under Section 376(2) RI for 10 years and fine of (n) of the Indian Panel Rs.2000/-, in default of payment Code of fine to further undergo RI for

2 months.

2. Under Section 3(2)(v) Imprisonment for life and fine of of the Scheduled Rs.2000/-, in default of payment Castes and Scheduled of fine to further undergo RI for Tribes (Prevention of 2 months.

Atrocities) Act, 1989

2. The prosecution story, in brief, is that on 01.11.2023, the prosecutrix appeared before Police Station Tikrapara, Raipur and submitted a written complaint stating that she was working at City Honda, where she came into contact with the accused Pravin Sahu. Since both of them worked at the same place, they used to talk in connection with work. Gradually, the behaviour of the accused changed and he started harassing the prosecutrix by expressing that he loved her. Initially, the prosecutrix refused and ignored him, but when he did not stop, she informed the wife of the accused about his conduct and requested her to control him, so that in the event of any untoward incident in future, her name should not be involved. Despite this, the conduct of the accused did not change and he repeatedly told the prosecutrix that he could not live without her and would die otherwise. The prosecutrix continued to refuse him for nearly one year, yet the accused did not mend his behaviour. The accused further told the prosecutrix that his relationship with his wife was not cordial, that his wife did not provide him food and used to make him sleep outside the house during the night. The accused continuously professed his love for the prosecutrix and used to stand for hours near the place where she lived. Even then, the prosecutrix did not believe him and clearly told him that whatever issues existed between him and his wife were their personal matters. Thereafter, the accused forcibly applied vermilion (sindoor) in the parting of the prosecutrix’s hair and assured her that he would marry her and publicly accept her as his wife. On the basis of such false promise and assurance, the accused for the first time established forcible physical relations with the prosecutrix on 02.04.2023 at about 2:30 PM at her rented house situated at Lalpur, where she was residing. As a consequence thereof, the prosecutrix became pregnant. During this period, the accused continuously assured her that he was going to divorce his wife and, under that pretext, continued to establish physical relations with her. When the prosecutrix informed the accused about her pregnancy, the accused brought certain medicines from a medical store and gave them to her, stating that they were medicines for headache. Later, the prosecutrix came to know that the accused had in fact administered abortion pills to her. After the abortion, the health of the prosecutrix deteriorated, but the accused abandoned her in that condition and left for Pune, returning onl