IMPORTANT POINT
Appeal against acquittal.
Appreciation of evidence.

JUDGMENT

Dipak Misra, J.-From the days of yore, every civilised society has developed various kinds of marriages to save the man from the tyranny of sex, for human nature in certain circumstances has the enormous potentiality of exhibiting intrigue, intricacy and complexity, in a way, a labyrinth. Instances do take place where a man becomes a slave to this tyrant and exposes unbridled appetite and lowers himself to an unimaginable extent for gratification of his carnal desire. The case at hand graphically exposes the inferior endowments of nature in the appellant who failed to husband his passion and made an attempt to commit rape on a nine year old girl and the tears of the child failed to have any impact on his emotion and even an iota of compassion did not surface as if it had been atrophied and eventually he pressed her neck which caused instant death of the nervous young girl.

2. Presently, we shall proceed with the narration. The facts as unfolded by the prosecution, in brief, are that on 24.06.1994, Vineshwari along with her brother, Dharam Veer, aged about five years, was having a bath in the water that had accumulated in front of the house of the informant, Pitambar, their father, due to a crack in the nearby canal. Kali Charan and Ganeshi, PW 2, were grazing their cattle in the field situate at a short distance. The accused-appellant, a resident of the village, cajoled Vineshwari to accompany him to the nearby field belonging to one Layak Singh. The younger brother, Dharam Veer, innocently followed them. At that juncture, the appellant took off her undergarment and with the intention to have intercourse flung her on the ground. The young girl cried aloud and her brother, the five year old child, raised an alarm. Kali Charan and Ganeshi who had seen the accused taking the girl followed by the brother to the field of Layak Singh rushed to the place and shouted for Pitambar, PW-1. Hearing the shout, Pitambar with his elder son Harpal rushed to the spot and witnessed that the accused was pressing the neck of Vineshwari. By the time they could reach the spot, the accused made an effort to run away but he was apprehended. However, unfortunately by that time, the girl had already breathed her last. Leaving the accused in the custody of the villagers, Pitambar went to the police station and lodged an FIR.

3. After the criminal law was set in motion, the accused was arrested and the investigating officer, Balvir Singh, PW 7, reached the spot and carried out the investigation. The dead body of the deceased was sent for post mortem. The Investigating Officer seized the garment of the deceased, the clothes of the accused and certain other articles and prepared the seizure memo. After recording the statements of the witnesses under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and completing further investigation, the prosecution submitted the chargesheet under Sections 302 and 376 read with 511 of the Indian Penal Code (for short “the IPC”) before the competent court which in turn committed the matter to the Court of Session wherein it was registered as S.T. No. 1098 of 94.

4. The plea of the defence was one of denial and false implication.

5. The accused chose not to adduce any evidence.

6. In order to prove its case, the prosecution examined eight witnesses, namely, Pitamber @ Pita, PW-1 (father of the deceased), Ganeshi, PW-2, Dharam Veer, PW-3, Dr. S.K. Sharma, PW-4, Head Constable Mahfooj Khan, PW- 5, Dr. S.R.P. Mishra, PW-6, Balvir Singh, S.I., PW-7 and Constable Vinod Kumar, PW-8.

7. Pitamber @ Pita PW-1 stated on oath that the accused influenced his daughter Vineshwari, who was taking bath in the canal water to accompany him to the nearby field. He has further stated that the accused attempted to commit rape on his daughter and ultimately strangulated her throat that caused her death. Ganeshi, PW-2 deposed that he along with Kali Charan was there. On hearing the cry of the girl, he and Kali Charan went to the fiel