THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE J. SREENIVAS RAO CRIMINAL APPEAL No.429 OF 2017

JUDGMENT:

This Criminal Appeal has been filed by the State, aggrieved by the judgment passed by the learned Assistant Sessions Judge, Mahabubnagar, in S.C.No.313 of 2013, dated 07.08.2015, whereunder respondent No.1/accused No.1 was acquitted for the offences punishable under Sections 417, 420 and 376 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short ‘IPC’) and respondent Nos.2 to 6/accused Nos.2 to 6 were acquitted for the offences punishable under Sections 417, 420 and 376 r/w 109 of the IPC.

2. The case of prosecution in brief is that the complainant and the accused belong to Shakapur village and reside in the same locality. The first accused frequently visited the complainant’s house and developed intimacy with her. For about one year prior to the filing of the report, he had sexual intercourse with her by inducing her with false assurances of marriage, resulting in her pregnancy. When she insisted on marriage, he refused. Meanwhile, accused Nos. 2 to 6, the family members of the first accused, began searching for other marriage alliances for him. When the complainant approached the village elders, the accused ref