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2026 Supreme(Online)(MP) 36835
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH AT JABALPUR
A. Muhamed Mustaque, CJ, Bhaskar Raj Pradhan, J
Chewang Sherpa – Appellant
Versus
State Of Sikkim – Respondent
CRL. A. No. 19 of 2023
Important Points
Subject
Criminal Law - Sexual Offences against Children / Abetment of Suicide
Act Referred
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012: S.3, S.4, S.2(1)(d), S.7, S.8, S.42
Indian Penal Code, 1860: S.375, S.376, S.306, S.339, S.341, S.354, S.354A, S.354D, S.458, S.71
Indian Evidence Act, 1872: S.35, S.32
Headnote
(B) Evidence Act, 1872 - Section 32 - Dying declaration - Suicide note written by victim prior to death forms a reliable dying declaration - Corroborated by medical evidence and testimonies of witnesses.
(C) Evidence Act, 1872 - Section 35 - Birth certificate - Presumption of correctness - Birth certificate issued by competent authority carries presumption of correctness regarding the age of the child.
Facts of the case:
A 17-year-old girl committed suicide by hanging on 20.08.2021 shortly after school. Investigation revealed the victim was sexually assaulted by the appellant near a jungle area while returning home. A suicide note left by the victim identified the appellant as the perpetrator. The trial court convicted the appellant for sexual assault, abetment of suicide, wrongful restraint, and sexual harassment.
Findings of Court:
The Court held the prosecution proved the chain of circumstances and the victim's age. The suicide note was found to be the victim's writing and acted as a dying declaration. The appellant's guilt was established beyond reasonable doubt.
Issues: Determine if the victim was a child, if the suicide note was authentic, and if the evidence was sufficient to convict for sexual assault and abetment of suicide.
Ratio Decidendi: The court maintained that the suicide note served as a credible dying declaration (S. 32 Evidence Act) and that the corroborating circumstantial evidence created an unbroken chain pointing exclusively to the appellant's guilt. The birth certificate provided conclusive evidence of the victim's minority status under the POCSO Act.
Result: Appeal partly allowed; conviction upheld but sentence for sexual harassment modified.
For the Appellants/Petitioners: Thupden Youngda (Legal Aid Counsel)
For the Respondents: S.K. Chettri (Additional Public Prosecutor), Sujan Sunwar (Assistant Public Prosecutor)
“Feeling like a drop in the ocean
That don’t nobody notice
May be it is all just in your head
Feeling like you’re trapped in your own skin
And now your body’s frozen
Broken down, you’ve got nothing left
When you’re high on emotion
And you’re losing your focus
And you feel too exhausted to pray
Don’t get lost in the moment
Or give up when you are closest
All you need is somebody to say
It’s okay not to be okay
It’s okay not to be okay
When you’re down and you feel ashamed
It’s okay not to be okay”
Demi Lovato and Marshmello 2020
Bhaskar Raj Pradhan, J.
Prologue
It must have been particularly a rainy week towards the middle of monsoons of August 2021 in Sikkim. On 20.08.2021, just like any other day, the victim left for school to submit her papers. There was lockdown during that time. The students had been asked to submit their papers that day. She was just 16 and ready to move out into the real world from the protected environment of her home and school. She met her father at home, some friends on her way to school, submitted her papers and returned home some time during noon. She then engaged her father into watching a Nepali movie on her phone, went back to her room and committed suicide by hanging herself on a beam of the ceiling with her own school sweater. What led the young 16 years old school going victim to commit suicide was the question tasked to be answered through the investigation.
The facts disclosed by investigation and trial.
After the victim returned home, her father (PW-1) oblivious of what was going on in his daughter’s mind on that particular day, went to the kitchen, made her some tea and took it to her room. He found her writing in a notebook. At around 3 p.m., the same day, when he was in the kitchen, the victim gave him her phone and asked him to watch a Nepali movie which she had selected for him. He watched it for 15 minutes. The battery ran dead. He took the phone and went to the victim’s room to find his daughter hanging from her school sweater tied to the beam of the ceiling. He caught hold of her body, shook her trying to wake her up, opened the school sweater, took her down and laid her on the table.
The Panchayat (PW-3) was informed. He then informed the Sxxx Police Station.
Investigation of unnatural death case
The first Investigating Officer (PW-2) after the registration of Sxxx PS UD Case No.07 of 2021 dated 20.08.2021 under section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C.) found the body of the victim in a supine position on the table when he visited the place of occurrence. He also saw the school sweater (M.O-IV) tied to the ceiling beam and hanging loose. He took photographs of the place of occurrence (exhibit-4 collectively) and the rough sketch map (exhibit-P45). He then conducted the inquest over the dead body in the presence of witnesses and noted oblique and non-continuous ligature marks on the neck, abrasion measuring about 2.5 cm approximately on the left buttock in the inquest report (exhibit-5). He also inspected the room of the deceased and found the notebook (M.O-II) with the red ink gel pen (M.O-VI) in which was scribed the suicide note (M.O-IIA). He seized the notebook and the pen and prepared the seizure memo (exhibit-6). He removed the school sweater from the ceiling and seized the same vide seizure memo (exhibit-7). He also found the school uniform of the victim kept on the sofa which was seized vide seizure memo (exhibit-17). Amongst them, the white school shirt, the black leggings and the navy blue school frock had muddy stains as noted by the Investigating Officer (PW-2) in the seizure memo (exhibit-17) dated 20.08.2021.
Autopsy
The victim’s dead body was thereafter, forwarded to STNM hospital for autopsy. Dr. O.T. Lepcha (PW-9) - the Chief Medico Legal Consultant, conducted the autopsy over the body of the victim on 23.08.2021. He recorded the history of victim having been found hanging in her room with the help of school uniform.
He noted that wearing appare
