Dismissed¶¶46

Dinesh Kumar Gupta v. State Of Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh HC2 Jul 2025CRA/626/2016

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

High Court of Chhattisgarh at Bilaspur, CRA No. 626 of 2016, Dinesh Kumar Gupta v. State of Chhattisgarh, decided 03/07/2025 by Judge Bibhu Datta Guru. Conviction under Section 451 IPC and Section 354 IPC with Section 3(1)(xi) SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 upheld; night trespass and outrage of modesty of a Scheduled Tribe (Oraon) woman proved by victim's testimony (PW-3) and caste certificate (Article A-1); appeal dismissed; bail bonds cancelled, appellant ordered to surrender.

What did the court decide?

No relief to the appellant; appeal dismissed, bail bonds cancelled and appellant directed to surrender forthwith and/or be taken into custody to serve the remaining period of sentence. ¶¶46

Dinesh Kumar Gupta Vs State Of Chhattisgarh — Chhattisgarh HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

No relief to the appellant; appeal dismissed, bail bonds cancelled and appellant directed to surrender forthwith and/or be taken into custody to serve the remaining period of sentence.

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Issue for consideration

Whether the accused trespassed into the house of the victim at night with the intention of outraging her modesty? +1 more

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Court's answer

The finding that the accused trespassed into the victim's house at night (incident of 26.11.2008, about 7:00-8:00 pm, report lodged the very next day; no earlier dispute between victim and accused per PW-2 and PW-5) with the intention of outraging her modesty is affirmed as neither perverse nor contrary to the evidence on record.

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Ratio / Principle

The victim's Scheduled Tribe status is established (Article A-1 caste certificate issued by Additional Tehsildar, Bhatgaon recording her caste as Oraon, unchallenged by the accused), and the accused, a co-villager who used to visit her house, was well aware she belonged to the Scheduled Tribe and tried to outrage her modesty; the trial court's finding is affirmed as neither perverse nor contrary to the record.

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Key takeaways

On the entire evidence available on record, the learned trial court rightly passed the impugned judgment of conviction and sentence, which does not call for any interference by this Court.ratio¶¶45

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Criminal appeal under Section 374(2) Cr.P.C against conviction and sentence imposed by the Special Judge, SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Surajpur, under Section 451 IPC and under Section 354 IPC read with Section 3(1)(xi) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The victim (PW-3), a widow, testified that on 26.11.2008 at about 7:00-8:00 p.m. the appellant came to her house on a motorcycle, entered, molested her and fled when she raised alarm; the report was lodged the very next day, and PW-2 and PW-5 stated there was no earlier dispute between the victim and the accused. Her Scheduled Tribe status (caste recorded as Oraon) stood established by caste certificate Article A-1 issued by the Additional Tehsildar, Bhatgaon, which the accused did not challenge; being a co-villager who used to visit her house, he knew of her caste. Affirming both trial-court findings as neither perverse nor contrary to the evidence on record, the Court found no ground for interference, dismissed the appeal, cancelled the appellant's bail bonds and directed him to surrender to serve the remaining sentence.

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CRA No. 626 of 2016

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2025:CGHC:30365

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NAFR

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Digitally signed by JYOTI JYOTI SHARMA SHARMA Date: 2025.07.08 10:16:37 +0530

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HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR

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CRA No. 626 of 2016

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1 Dinesh Kumar Gupta S/o Sitaram Aged About 32 Years R/o Village Bundiya, Post And P.S. Bhatgaon, Revenue And Civil District Surguja, Now Revenue And Civil District Surajpur, Chhattisgarh., Chhattisgarh

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... Appellant(s)

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versus

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1 State Of Chhattisgarh Through Station House Office Anusuchit Janjati Kalyan Surajpur, Revenue And Civil District Surajpur, Chhattisgarh., Chhattisgarh

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Respondent(s)

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(Cause title is taken from Case Information System)

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For Appellant : Mr. Ayush Lall and Ms. Kiran Sahu, Advocate on behalf of Mr. Surfaraj Khan, Advocate For Respondents/State : Ms. Isha Jajodia, Panel Lawyer

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Hon’ble Shri Bibhu Datta Guru, Judge Order on Board

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03/07/2025

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This criminal appeal preferred under Section 374(2) of the Cr.P.C

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is against impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence

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CRA No. 626 of 2016

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dated 26.04.2016 passed in Special Sessions Trial No. 31/2013 by the learned Special Judge, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Surajpur whereby the appellant has been convicted and sentenced as under:-

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Conviction	Sentence
Under Section 451 of the	R.I. for 1 year and fine of
IPC	Rs. 500/-
U/s 354 of the IPC/ and U/s	R. I. for one year and to pay
3(1)(xi) of the Scheduled	a fine of Rs.500/-, in default
Castes and Scheduled	of payment of fine to further
Tribes (Prevention of	undergo RI for 3 months.
Atrocities)Act, 1989

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(All the sentences were directed to run concurrently)

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Case of the prosecution in brief is that on 26.11.2008, at about 7.00 P.M. at village- Bundiya (Chiknimuda), the present appellant trespass into the house of the prosecutrix, thereafter the appellant started cutting jokes relating to the prosecutrix and thereafter all of sudden the appellant had caught hold of the hand of the prosecutrix with intent to outrage the modesty of the prosecutrix.

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During investigation, Spot Map was prepared. The caste certificate of the victim was seized vide Article A-1 and the appellant was arrested. Subsequently, after completing the investigation, a charge-sheet was submitted before the Court. After framing the charges against the accused/appellant, the charges were read out and explained to the appellant, he denied committing the crime and demanded trial.

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In order to bring home the offence, the prosecution has examined

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CRA No. 626 of 2016

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06 witnesses in its support. Statement of the accused/appellant under Section 313 Cr.P.C was recorded, wherein he has pleaded his innocence and false implication in the matter.

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The trial Court after appreciating oral and documentary evidence available on record, by its judgment dated 08.10.2015 convicted and sentenced the appellant as mentioned in paragraph one of this judgment. Hence, this appeal.

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Learned counsel for the appellant submits that appellant has falsely been implicated in crime in question and he has been convicted by recording a finding which is perverse to the record. He would submit that there are material contradictions and omissions in the statement of witnesses. As such the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence is liable to be set aside.

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On the other hand, learned counsel for the State opposed the submission of the appellant and submits that the conviction of the appellant is well merited which does not call for any interference.

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I have heard learned counsel for the parties and considered their rival submissions made herein-above and also went through the record with utmost circumspection.

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The first question for consideration is whether the accused trespass into the house of the victim at night with the intention of outraging her modesty?

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The victim (PW-3) in her statement deposed that the incident is of 26.11.2008 at 7:00-8:00 p.m night. She stated that her husband

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CRA No. 626 of 2016

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had passed away. At the time of the incident, she was at home and both her children Suraj and Santra were sleeping. Subsequently, the appellant came to her house on a motorcycle; entered into her house and started molesting her. He also tried to do wrong things with her and further when she raised alarm, the accused fled from there.

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Considering the fact that the incident is of 26.11.2008 of about 7:00-8:00 pm and the report was lodged on the very next day and further considering the statements of Ramdayal (PW-2) and Vifal (PW5) that there was no earlier dispute between the victim and accused and further considering the statement of the victim, I hereby affirm the said finding recorded by the Trial Court which is neither perverse nor contrary to the evidence on record.

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The next question for consideration is whether the victim is a woman belonging to the Scheduled Tribe category and the accused knowingly attacked or used criminal force on her with the intent to dishonour or outrage her modesty ?

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During the seizure, Article A-1 caste certificate has been seized from the house of the victim, which has been issued by Additional Tehsildar, Bhatgaon and in the said certificate, the caste of the victim is mentioned as Oraon. The accused has not challenged or denied the above statements of the victim, which has also been relied upon by the Trial court while passing the judgment. The accused is a resident of the same village as the victim. It is also clear from the evidence that the accused used to visit the house

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CRA No. 626 of 2016

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of the victim. Thus, it is also clear that the accused was well aware of the fact that the victim belonged to the Scheduled Tribe and tried to outrage her modesty, therefore, I hereby affirm the said finding recorded by the Trial Court which is neither perverse nor contrary to the evidence on record.

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Considering the entire evidence available on record, I am of the opinion that the learned trial court has rightly passed the impugned judgment which does not call for any interference of this court.

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Accordingly, the CRA is dismissed.

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The appellant is reported to be on bail. His bail bonds are cancelled and he is directed to surrender forthwith and/or be taken into custody for serving out the remaining period of sentence.

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Registry is directed to send a certified copy of this judgment along with the original record of the case to the trial court concerned forthwith for necessary information and compliance and also send a copy of this judgment to the concerned Superintendent of Jail where the appellant is undergoing his jail sentence to serve the same on the appellant informing him that he is at liberty to assail the present judgment passed by this Court by preferring an appeal before the Hon’ble Supreme Court with the assistance of High Court Legal Services Committee or the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee.

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CRA No. 626 of 2016

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