O R D E R

Respondent had faced trial for offences punishable under Sections 363, 366, 376 & 506 of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, in case F.I.R. No.194/2016, dated 22.07.2016, registered at Police Station Mandi, District Mandi (H.P.).

2. Learned trial Court, vide order dated 28.12.2021, ordered the acquittal of the respondent qua the charges framed against him. Hence, the present application for leave to appeal by the appellant-State.

3. Learned Additional Advocate General has submitted that prosecution had been successful in proving its case. The prosecutrix/victim had duly supported the prosecution case during the trial.

4. We have carefully gone through the record of the case produced by the learned Additional Advocate General.

5. Prosecution story, in brief, is that on 21.07.2016, at about 02.00 p.m., the victim had come to the Jail Road to purchase some articles. While the victim was returning to her quarter, respondent came in his vehicle and forcibly made the victim sit in the vehicle and drove the vehicle towards Sundernagar. On the way, the victim requested the respondent to stop the vehicle as she wanted to go home, but the respondent did not pay any heed to her requests. When the victim tried to contact her family from her mobile phone, the same was snatched by the respondent. Thereafter, the victim as well as the respondent went to a bar and they purchased a bottle of liquor. The respondent then brought the victim to his house. Nobody was present in the house of the respondent. Respondent forced the victim to drink liquor and he himself also took liquor. Thereafter, the respondent forcibly committed the offence of rape with the victim. While the respondent was sleeping, victim fled away from the spot and made a call to her friends, namely, Rahul and Shubham Prashar and asked them to help her. However, her friends did not come to her help. At about 04.00 a.m., the victim reached the house of Shubham Prashar and stayed there till the morning. Thereafter, victim contacted her parents and she was brought to Mandi, where her statement was recorded by the Police. On the statement of the victim, formal F.I.R. was registered.

6. After completion of the investigation and necessary formalities, Challan was presented against the respondent.

The star witness of the prosecution in the present case is the victim herself, who had appeared in the witness-box as PW-1. The victim, while appearing in the witness-box, has mainly deposed as per the contents of the F.I.R. However, in her cross-examination, she deposed that she knew the accused for about one and a half year prior to the incident. They had common friends. She also admitted that Sundernagar Bus Stand was a busy place and several persons were present there but she had not told anybody at Sundernagar Bus Stand that she had been forcibly brought by the respondent nor she had requested anyone to come to her rescue. She also admitted that the house of the accused adjoins the houses of his relatives and they had a common courtyard. She also admitted that while the respondent was in Jail, she had visited him on two occasions and had talked to him. She had also communicated with the respondent through video calls. She had talked to the respondent as he had promised to perform marriage with her and she had told him that, if that be so, he should come to her house and talk to her parents. She admitted that a day before also she had talked to the respondent through video call. She admitted that about two months prior to the incident, her mother had filed a complaint to the police, although, she had left the house after informing her mother. Her mother suspected that she was being misguided by some of her female friend. In the said complaint, she had told the police that she had left the house after telling her mother and accordingly the complaint was dropped.

7. It is the prosecution story that victim had made a cal