Research › Search › Judgment

Madhya Pradesh High Court · body

2014 DIGILAW 756 (MP)

Vijay Raikwar v. State of M. P.

2014-07-02

AJIT SINGH, N.K.GUPTA

body2014
Judgment: Ajit Singh, J. 1. The Additional Sessions Judge, Rehli, District Sagar, by his judgment dated 23.12.2013 passed in Sessions Trial No. 49/2013 has sentenced accused Vijay Raikwar to death for committing the murder of a minor girl, aged 71/2 years, after raping her. He has also convicted the accused for offences under sections 376(2)(f) and 201 of the Indian Penal Code as well as section 5(i), 5(m) and 5(r) read with section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and sentenced to life imprisonment and other terms of imprisonment with fine stipulations. All the sentences have been directed to run concurrently. The Additional Sessions Judge, having sentenced the accused with death penalty, has made a reference to the High Court. Being aggrieved with the conviction, the accused has also filed Criminal Appeal No. 198/2014. By this common judgment we are deciding the reference as well as criminal appeal. It is, however, to be noted that the learned Additional Sessions Judge by the same judgment acquitted co-accused Rajkumar Raikwar of the charges under sections 376(2)(f) and 201 of the Indian Penal Code for concealing the evidence. 2. The relevant facts are these. Victim of the incident was a minor daughter, aged 71/2 years, of Chutai Raikwar alias Chotelal Raikwar (P.W. 1) and Kamal Rani Raikwar (P.W. 3). They also have five more children including a daughter Bharti Raikwar (P.W. 4) aged four years. They resided in village Chhirari falling within the jurisdiction of Police Station Rehli, District Sagar. In the same village accused also started living since 2-3 years prior to the date of incident. He too has a younger sister Janki Raikwar (P.W. 9) almost of the same age as of victim. Janki and victim were, thus, friends and played together. 3. On the evening of 7.12.2012 Chutai returned home after work. He and Kamal Rani then went to market but when they came back to their house, they did not find the victim. At that point of time, mother Siya Rani (P.W. 2) of Chutai also came and inquired about the victim. Bharti disclosed that victim was playing in the house of accused. Therefore at about 8:00 p.m. Chutai, Kamal Rani and Siya Rani went towards the house of accused and on way met co-accused Rajkumar. At that point of time, mother Siya Rani (P.W. 2) of Chutai also came and inquired about the victim. Bharti disclosed that victim was playing in the house of accused. Therefore at about 8:00 p.m. Chutai, Kamal Rani and Siya Rani went towards the house of accused and on way met co-accused Rajkumar. On their asking Rajkumar informed that he had seen the accused in the accused's house lying under a cot kept in the verandah and that he was pressing something. But when Chutai, Kamal Rani and Siya Rani reached the house of accused, they neither found him nor the victim. They, however, found victim's blue frock (school uniform) on the cot and blood stains on the bed mattress. On further search they found naked dead body of victim lying by the side of road near an electric pole at a distance of 50-60 steps from the house of accused. The body had injuries all over the face, neck and also private parts from where bleeding was present. Seeing this, Chutai immediately went to village Sarpanch Chakresh Jain (P.W. 13) who in turn telephonically called the police. When the police reached the spot at about 10:30 p.m. Chutai narrated the incident as mentioned above against the accused. This information was recorded as Dehati Nalishi, Ex. P1, by the Station Officer V.D. Pandey (P.W. 29). Immediately thereafter, First Information Report Ex. P22 was also recorded. The police then prepared Panchayatnama, Ex. P4, of the body as well as spot map, Ex. P6. The police also seized the frock of victim, bed-mattress and bedcover which had blood stains from the cot kept in the verandah of the house of accused. And on opening the door of a room adjoining to the verandah, the police seized victim's underwear and paijama. The police even seized blood stained soil from the spot. Munna Prajapati (P.W. 5) and Shrikrishna Raikwar (P.W. 6) are independent witnesses of these seizures. The seized frock, paijama and underwear were identified to be of victim by Chutai and Siya Rani in the presence of witnesses Chakresh Jain and Rakesh Kumar Nayak (P.W. 14) vide Exs. P8 and P9. 4. The body of victim was soon sent for post-mortem examination which was conducted by Dr. R.S. Thakur (P.W. 10) and Dr. Yogmaya Pauranik (P.W. 11). The doctors found the following injuries on her body: (i) contusion and abrasion 4x3 cm. P8 and P9. 4. The body of victim was soon sent for post-mortem examination which was conducted by Dr. R.S. Thakur (P.W. 10) and Dr. Yogmaya Pauranik (P.W. 11). The doctors found the following injuries on her body: (i) contusion and abrasion 4x3 cm. left side of face, (ii) contusion and abrasion 5x4 cm. right side of face, (iii) contusion and abrasion 6x4 cm. left side of neck, (iv) contusion and abrasion 2x1 cm. right side of neck, (v) Ruptured hymen with vaginal tear from vagina to anus and presence of blood. The injuries nos. 1 to 4 were reported to be caused by hard and blunt object just before death. The doctors in their report, Ex. P12, opined that the cause of death of victim was asphyxia due to throttling. The doctors even cut the nails of the victim. They then prepared the seizure of cut nails and hyoid bone. They also prepared vaginal swab, anal swab, oral swab, vaginal slide and blood sample of the victim and handed over all articles in a sealed condition to the police for their chemical analysis. 5. The police succeeded in arresting the accused on 8.12.2012 from a field situated at a distance of 2 1/2 kilometers from the spot. He was then referred to a doctor for his medical examination. Dr. R.S. Thakur on examining the accused found that he was capable of performing sexual intercourse and had no smegma over glans penis. The doctor, therefore, prepared swab of smegma for test and sealed it. The medical report of Dr. R.S. Thakur in this regard is Ex. P13. He also prepared the specimen of the pubic hair, wash of the nails, blood sample and clothes of the accused. Dr. R.S. Thakur thereafter handed over the specimen of these articles as well as smegma swab in a sealed condition to the police for their chemical analysis. 6. The police sent all the above mentioned articles seized from the body of victim and the accused in a sealed condition to the State Legal Medicine and Forensic Science Laboratory DNA Finger Printing Unit, Sagar. The report of the DNA Finger Printing Unit is Ex. P68 which confirms that the articles were received in a sealed condition. Some seized articles were also sent to Medico-Legal Institute of the State Home Department, Bhopal, and the report of Dr. The report of the DNA Finger Printing Unit is Ex. P68 which confirms that the articles were received in a sealed condition. Some seized articles were also sent to Medico-Legal Institute of the State Home Department, Bhopal, and the report of Dr. C.S. Jain (P.W. 30), Junior Forensic Specialist, is Ex. P69. According to this report, victim was throttled to death after rape by the accused. The police even took the photographs of the victim and prepared a DVD of some part of the investigation. The police having regard to the gravity of crime promptly completed the investigation and filed a charge sheet against the accused and co-accused Rajkumar Raikwar for concealing the evidence. 7. The trial court, after appreciating the evidence of witnesses examined by the prosecution and materials brought on record, held the accused guilty of committing the murder of victim in a most brutal manner after raping her. The trial court, therefore, sentenced the accused with death penalty for an offence under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code apart from sentencing him to imprisonment for life and other sentences of imprisonment for offences under sections 376(2)(f) and 201 of the Indian Penal Code as well as section 5(i), 5(m) and 5(r) read with section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. As already mentioned above, the trial court acquitted co-accused Rajkumar Raikwar in the absence of any evidence against him. 8. There is no eyewitness to the incident and the entire case of prosecution is based on circumstantial evidence, report Ex. P68 of the DNA Finger Printing Unit and report Ex. P69 of the Junior Forensic Specialist. The accused has not examined any witness in his defence. 9. We shall first examine whether the chain of evidence proves the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt in committing the crime. The learned counsel for accused has not disputed that the victim was minor, aged 7 1/2 years, and she was throttled to death after being raped. Chutai has clearly deposed that on the late evening of 7.12.2012 when he returned home along with Kamal Rani after attending market he did not find the victim. He has also deposed that on the asking of Siya Rani, Bharti disclosed that victim was playing in the house of accused. Kamal Rani and Siya Rani have fully corroborated the evidence of Chutai. He has also deposed that on the asking of Siya Rani, Bharti disclosed that victim was playing in the house of accused. Kamal Rani and Siya Rani have fully corroborated the evidence of Chutai. Bharti in her evidence has categorically said that she and victim had gone to the house of Janki and there instead of Janki they met accused. Bharti has further testified that the accused asked her to run away and gave a rupee coin to the victim. According to the evidence of Bharti, she had then alone left the house of accused. Here it is relevant to note that Janki in her evidence has admitted that victim was her friend and she used to visit her house. And when Chutai, Kamal Rani and Siya Rani reached the house of accused they did not find him there. Instead they found the frock of victim lying on the cot along with blood stained bed-mattress and bed-sheet. Thereafter they also found naked dead body of victim having injuries near his house. In the result, police was immediately called and first information report was promptly lodged by Chutai against the accused. There is nothing on record to suggest that these witnesses had any enmity with the accused and, therefore, there is absolutely no reason why they would depose against him. The victim was, thus, last seen alive with the accused by Bharti whose evidence discloses that the victim and accused were seen together at the point of time in proximity with the time and date of commission of crime. Also, after the incident no one saw the accused alone because he had absconded. We are, therefore, of the view that the prosecution has successfully established the last seen theory beyond any reasonable doubt against the accused. The photographs, Exs. P71 to P73, of the spot taken by Sheikh Qadir Khan (P.W. 18) also clearly reveal that a rupee coin was lying there. Although for some reason the coin was not seized by the police, its presence on the spot corroborates the evidence of Bharti that accused had given the coin to victim. 10. Further, independent witnesses Munna Prajapati and Shrikrishna Raikwar have confirmed in their evidence that the police had seized the frock of victim from the cot and her paijama and underwear from inside the room of accused after breaking the lock. 10. Further, independent witnesses Munna Prajapati and Shrikrishna Raikwar have confirmed in their evidence that the police had seized the frock of victim from the cot and her paijama and underwear from inside the room of accused after breaking the lock. This evidence against the accused has also been corroborated by independent witnesses Chakresh Jain and Rakesh Nayak before whom Chutai and Kamal Rani had identified the seized clothes of victim. The seizure of these clothes of victim from the house of accused also strongly connects him with the commission of crime, more particularly, when nothing has been brought by him to indicate that at the time of incident other family members also lived with him. In fact, Station Officer V.D. Pandey in paragraph 56 of his evidence has testified that the parents and brother of accused had shifted outside the village two months prior to the date of incident in the field of one Mankeshwar Nayak for the purposes of guarding their crops. And the accused has not examined in defence any one of his family to deny this fact. 11. We also find that the report, Ex. P68, of the DNA Finger Printing Unit completely connects the accused with the commission of crime. The report clearly states that bed-mattress seized from the cot contained blood of victim and that blood stains present on the clothes of accused were also of the victim. Not only this, according to the report, even in the smegma of accused, blood of victim was found. Likewise, the report Ex. P69 of Dr. C.S. Jain, Junior Forensic Specialist, fully connects the accused with the commission of crime. For these reasons, we are in complete agreement with the finding of the trial court that the accused most brutally throttled the victim to death after raping her and then throwing the naked dead body at some distance from his house in the open. 12. The evidence on record clearly establishes that the victim was friend of sister Janki of accused and, therefore, she used to visit his house for playing. And the accused, taking advantage of the trust of victim and he being alone in the house, subjected her to brutal rape and thereafter gruesomely throttled her to death. The numerous injuries on the body of victim testify this fact. And the accused, taking advantage of the trust of victim and he being alone in the house, subjected her to brutal rape and thereafter gruesomely throttled her to death. The numerous injuries on the body of victim testify this fact. He even inhumanly dumped the naked body of victim by the side of road in the open at a distance of 50-60 steps from his house. Thus, an innocent hapless girl of nine years was subjected to a barbaric treatment showing extreme depravity and arouses a sense of revulsion in the mind of a common man. We feel that the crime committed satisfies the test of "rarest of rare" cases. We, therefore, uphold the death sentence and also other sentences imposed by the trial court. 13. The death sentence of the accused is confirmed and his appeal is dismissed.