In a criminal appeal, the High Court considered a rape and kidnapping case. The State appealed an acquittal following inconsistencies in the prosecutrix's testimony and failure to prove her date of birth below 16 years. The High Court upheld the acquittal.
The appeal was dismissed; the order of acquittal was upheld; bail bonds were discharged.
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.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH SHIMLA
Cr. Appeal No. 301 of 1999 Date of Decision: 6.7.2010
State of H.P. …Appellant.
Versus. Biru Deen and another …Respondents.
Coram:
The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Deepak Gupta, Judge. The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sanjay Karol, Judge.
Whether approved for Reporting? No.
For the Appellant: Mr. Vivek Singh Thakur, Addl. Advocate General. For the Respondents: Mr. Virender Rathore, Advocate.
Per Deepak Gupta, J .(Oral).
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There she met both the accused. Accused Biru Deen accused is a local resident whereas accused Hussain had come from Punjab. Admittedly, they were both related to the prosecutrix. The prosecution story is that these two accused kidnapped the prosecutrix and took her to Hoshiarpur where she was raped by both of them. Thereafter, she was forcibly married to one Dilu Deen, brother of Biru Deen. In the meantime, Mam Hussain, father of the prosecutrix, lodged a complaint in the police post Nagrota Surian and on 12.3.1996 i.e. about six days after the kidnapping, the police officials handed over the prosecutrix to her parents. Since the police was not willing to take any action against the accused, the father was compelled to approach Major Vijay Singh Mankotia, the then Law Minister of the State of Himachal Pradesh and filed a written complaint with him. This complaint was marked to the Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, who in turn sent the same to the Superintendent of Police for further action. Thereafter, on the basis of this complaint Ext. PW-8/A, F.I.R. Ext.PW-8/B was registered. The prosecutrix was then got medically examined by PW-1 Dr. Sunita. The accused was arrested. Other investigation was completed and thereafter the accused was challaned for having committed the offences aforesaid. The accused
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have been acquitted giving rise to this appeal by the State.
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of radiological examination is not certain and can vary from two to three years on either side. The estimation of age on the basis of the skiagram will depend on many aspects. People from different communities, from different areas have different attributes. Similarly, the bony age of a person will also depend on the diet being consumed. If the diet is healthy and nutritious then a person’s bones will develop faster whereas if the diet is not so nutritious the growth of the bones can be retarded. Without examination of the experts these matters could not have to be gone into.
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Deen. Despite her protest, she was forcibly got married to Dilu Deen. She was then taken to the house of her maternal grand mother (Nani). She was kept locked there for four days and then the police came to the spot and handed over the prosecutrix to her mother.
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prosecutrix had raised an alarm and had wept and objected to being taken away, we find no reason why the taxi driver would not have reported the matter to the police or some other authority immediately. All these factors go to show that the prosecutrix voluntarily accompanied the accused.
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Genthu which fact has been stated for the first time in Court. In Court she stated that both the accused and Khakhu had asked her to sit in the taxi but this fact is also not mentioned in the original statement. In fact there is no mention of any taxi being hired or any amount being paid by her to hire the taxi. If we compare her statement in Court with the statement made before the police the two cannot co-exist together.
( Deepak Gupta ) Judge.
6th July, 2010 ( Sanjay Karol ) ™ Judge.
2 issues framed by the court
Whether the prosecution successfully proved that the prosecutrix was below 16 years of age at the time of the incident.
Whether the trial court was justified in acquitting the accused due to inconsistencies and contradictions in the prosecutrix's statement.
1 provisions across 1 enactments
State of H.P.
Biru Deen
Deepak Gupta
Sanjay Karol
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
