In an appeal by the State for enhancement of sentence for rape, the High Court upheld the conviction but held the existing sentence adequate, dismissing the appeal. The court noted the victim was under 16, making consent irrelevant.
The appeal for enhancement of sentence is dismissed.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.17 OF 2008
The State of Maharashtra. ..Appellant.
Versus
Pravin Ashok Rakh. ..Respondent.
..
Smt.V.R.Bhosale, APP, for the Appellant-State.
Mr.Vikas Shivalkar, Adv. for the Respondent.
CORAM : F.I. REBELLO AND
SMT.V.K.TAHILRAMANI,JJ.
DATED : APRIL 02, 2008.
P.C.:-
1. Heard the learned APP for appellant-State and
the learned Advocate for respondent-accused. By
consent of parties, appeal is taken up for final
hearing and disposal.
2. By judgment and order dated 29th September, 2007
passed in Sessions Case No.256 of 2006, the learned
Ad-hoc District Judge-2 & Additional Sessions Judge,
Pune convicted the respondent-accused of the offence
under Section 376 of Indian Penal Code and sentenced
him to imprisonment to the extent of period of
imprisonment already undergone by him and to pay fine
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of Rs.5000/- in default SI for five months. Being
aggrieved by the inadequacy of the sentence imposed
on the respondent-accused, the appellant-State has
preferred this Appeal.
3. We have perused the impugned judgment and order
as well as the evidence produced by the learned APP.
The prosecutrix was below 16 years of age. The
evidence on record shows that on 27.9.2005 the victim
girl left her home to go to school. However, instead
of going to school she went with the accused and from
there they went to Chinchwad and from there to
Lonavala. At Lonavala they stayed at village Aundhe
in a rented room as husband and wife for a period of
about five months and during this period they both
have indulged in sexual intercourse. During that
period, both of them worked on a construction site.
In the meantime, father of the victim girl on finding
her missing and being told that she was last seen in
the company of respondent-accused, lodged a complaint
against the respondent-accused. After residing at
Aundhe, Lonavala for a period of five months, both
the victim girl as well as the respondent-accused
telephoned their respective brothers. From the
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telephone calls, the victim girl and the
respondent-accused came to be traced and they were
caught by the police and brought to Pune.
4. There is nothing in the evidence of the victim
girl to infer that any inducement was given by
respondent-accused or any misrepresentation was made
by respondent-accused which caused her to accompany
him. The victim girl has not stated that there was
any forcible sexual intercourse at any point of time.
The evidence on record shows that whatever has
happened has happened with the full knowledge and
consent of the victim girl. Even during the period
that she was residing at Aundhe, Lonavala the victim
girl has not made any complaint against the
respondent-accused to anyone, nor has she tried to
run away or make any complaint to the police or made
any attempt to seek help from anyone. At no time she
has put up any struggle or raised an alarm. However,
as the victim girl was below 16 years of age her
consent would be immaterial. From the evidence of
the victim girl it is clear that she knew the nature
and consequences of her act. The victim girl had the
capacity to know the full import of what she was
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doing. Looking to the evidence on record, the
learned Sessions Judge has rightly convicted the
respondent-accused of the offence under Section 376
of IPC. However, looking to the facts and
circumstances of this case, we are of the opinion
that the sentence imposed on the respondent-accused
by the learned Sessions Judge is adequate and the
same need not be enhanced. Hence, Appeal for
enhancement of sentence is dismissed.
(F.I.REBELLO,J.)
(SMT.V.K.TAHILRAMANI,J.)
2 issues framed by the court
Whether the sentence imposed by the Sessions Judge for rape under Section 376 IPC requires enhancement on appeal.
Whether the consent of a victim below 16 years is a valid defence against the charge of rape.
1 provisions across 1 enactments
State of Maharashtra
Pravin Ashok Rakh
F.I. Rebello
V.K. Tahilramani
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court