Ramdas And Others vs State Of Maharashtra

The occurrence giving rise to the present appeals is said to have occurred on January 10, 1996 at about 10.00 p.m. The case of the prosecutrix, as deposed to by her, is that she belongs to Pardhi caste. She was married 3 years earlier and was residing at her matrimonial home at village Ekurka. Her parents and other family members resided at village Kewad. She had come to village Kewad on January 9, 1996, a day previous to the date of occurrence. Her parents and brothers had gone to work in Jagdamba Sugar Factory in the Ahemadnagar district. She had come to her village Kewad to help them in harvesting of the pulse crop grown by her parents. She came to the village Kewad on Saturday and the incident took place on Sunday, the very next day. In village Kewad, she was residing in the house of her father alongwith her niece Sharda, aged about 10 years, who was the daughter of her sister Sindhubai, PW-3. On the date of the occurrence, after working in the fields, she had returned to her home and taken her dinner. At about 10.00 p.m. appellant Ramdas came to her house and asked her as to what she was doing. She replied that she had just taken her dinner whereupon appellant Ramdas asked her to come out with him. When she refused to do so, he dragged her outside the house and whistled twice. The remaining two appellants came on signal being given by him and they all dragged her to a distance of about 500 feet from her house. When she was being dragged out of her house, she raised alarm but no one came to her rescue. She was thereafter rapped by all the three appellants who threatened her not to report the matter to anyone otherwise she will be killed. After the occurrence she returned home at about midnight and then went to sleep. She admitted that her uncles were living in the adjacent houses but one of them was not in the village on the night of occurrence, while the other uncle Fakkad (PW-5) living in the adjacent house did not come to her rescue as he had been threatened by appellant Ramdas before she was dragged outside the house. Since it was midnight, she did not report the matter to anyone. Her uncle and aunt already knew about the incident.

Next morning she went to her sister, PW-3 at village Kelgaon who advised her to lodge a report. She along with PW-3 and two others, namely Yamunabai and Subbabai went to police station Kaij and reported the matter. However, the information given by her was neither recorded nor any action taken. She thereafter returned to village Kelgaon and on the next day she went to Jagdamba Sugar Factory and narrated the incident to her parents. On the day following, she came to Beed and narrated the incident to the Superintendent of Police. Thereafter she went to police station Beed in the night at about 10.00 p.m. along with her parents and lodged the report about the incident. She was then sent to the Civil Hospital, Beed for examination. The report lodged by her was shown to the witness who was examined as PW-2 and she admitted that the same bore her thumb mark. The contents of the report was read over to her and she certified them to be correct. The report was marked as Ext. 22. It is worth noticing at this stage that the report was lodged on January 18, 1996 i.e. 8 days after the occurrence.

A few facts stated in the first information report which were deviated from in her deposition may be noticed. In the first information report she had stated that she had come to village Kewad on January 6, 1996 i.e. 4 days before the occurrence whereas in the course of her deposition, she stated that she had come to the village only a day before the incident namely, on Saturday and the occurrence took place on Sunday. Another significant fact stated by her in her report was that when on the first occasion she went to the police station, the police did not record her statement and asked them to come on the following morning. They, therefore, went to village Salegaon, the village of her mother's sister, namely Begambai. The incident of rape was narrated to Begambai. On the following day i.e. on January 12, 1996 her sister Sindhubai, PW-3, reported the incident to her father-in-law and on coming to know that such an occurrence had taken place, her father-in-law came to Salegaon. At about 11.00 a.m. she along with her father-in-law and sister Sindhubai came to the police station and narrated the incident to the Police Sub Inspector. She did not know what had been written but her thumb impression was taken. Since she was not referred to the hospital for medical examination and no attempt was made to arrest the accused, she on 17th January, 1996 went to her father, who was working in Jagdamba Sugar Factory and narrated the incident to him. In the course of her deposition, the prosecutrix (PW-2) has not stated these facts. Nor has the prosecution examined her father-in-law, Smt. Yanuna Bai, Subbabai and Begambai, who were said to have accompanied her to the police station or to whom the matter was reported. What is worth noticing is that, according to the first information report, she along with her father-in-law and others had gone to the police station and had lodged a report. The exact date is not mentioned, but from the narration of facts it appears that such a report may have been lodged either on January 13, 1996 or January 14, 1996. According to the FIR the earlier report was recorded and she had put her thumb mark on it. The said report has not been produced though PSI Laxman, who was examined as PW-6, has admitted in the course of his deposition that earlier a report had been lodged by the prosecutrix but the same related to a non-cognizable offence. That report was neither produced nor exhibited at the trial. The factual statements which find place in the first information report but not deposed to by the informant or any other witness cannot be treated as evidence in the case.

On the basis of the evidence on record, the trial court, as earlier noticed, found the appellants guilty of the offences under Section 376/34 IPC and also under Section 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. As earlier noticed no separate sentence was passed under the latter Act. The High Court has dismissed the appeals preferred by the appellants.

The High Court while considering the question of delay observed that there was a delay of about 8 days in lodging the report for which the prosecutrix had herself offered an explanation which was corroborated by the recitals in the first information report Ext.22. The High Court placed reliance on the deposition of the prosecutrix that she had gone to the police station on the very next day but no case was recorded on the basis of the information given to the police. This, according to the High Court, was a sufficient explanation. The High Court noticed that though it appeared from her deposition that she had approached the Superintendent of Police within 2-3 days of the incident, which was factually incorrect since the report was lodged on January 18, 1996, that was only a slight discrepancy which did not in any way detract from her statement that she had immediately gone to the concerned police station but the police refused to take down her report. The High Court has also noticed the evidence of PW-6 PSI Laxman Borade who admitted in his cross-examination that the victim had come to the police station to lodge a report and that a non-cognizable offence had been registered on the basis of her statement. The High Court was of the view that this corroborated the statement of the prosecutrix, PW-2 regarding her coming to the police station, though no offence was registered. Surprisingly the High Court observed that PW-6 PSI Laxman Borade was not cross-examined on the question as to whether the complaint of the prosecutrix was reduced into writing. It went on to observe that the police for some inexplicable reason, which demonstrated their insensitive approach, had declined to take any action. The High Court, therefore, concluded that the delay, if any, in lodging the report was satisfactorily explained. It further held that assuming that there was some dispute between the father of the appellant and the family of the appellants, that was hardly a ground for inferring that on account of strained relations, the appellants have been falsely implicated. The High Court also noticed the slight variance in the testimony of PW-2, prosecutrix and her uncle PW-5, Fakkad. It concluded that PW-5 had given an exaggerated version and the variance was not of such a magnitude as to discredit the evidence of the prosecutrix. The testimony of PW-2 inspired confidence and was worthy of credence. The High Court confirmed the conviction of the appellants on the basis of her testimony.

On the question of delay in lodging the first information report, the evidence is equally unconvincing. The occurrence took place in the night intervening 9th and 10th January, 1996. The first information report Ext. 22 was recorded on the 18th of January, 1996. There is apparently a delay of about 8 days in lodging the first information report. In the first information report a somewhat different version has been given with a view to explain the delay. It was stated that when on the 11th of January, 1996 the police did not register a case, and the father-in-law of the prosecutrix came to know about the fact, he accompanied the prosecutrix and went to the police station and lodged a report. However, since she was not sent for medical examination and the police did not take any action to arrest the accused, she went to her father, who was working in the Jagdamba Sugar Factory on 17th January, 1996. On the next day i.e. on 18th January, 1996 they came to Beed and lodged the complaint with the Superintendent of Police and thereafter, on the information given by her, a case was registered against the appellants. This story has been given a go bye by the prosecutrix in the course of her deposition. Her evidence before the court was to the effect that she went to her sister Sindhubai in the morning and reported the matter to her. This happened on 11th January, 1996. She alongwith Sindhubai, PW-3, went to police station Kaij but the police did not register a case on the basis of the information given by her. On the next day she went to her father, who was then at the Jagdamba Sugar Factory in Ahmadnagar District. She narrated the entire incident to him on that day. On the next day they went to Beed and complained to the Superintendent of Police whereafter they were directed to go to the police station and lodge the report which they did on 18th January, 1996. If her evidence is carefully analysed the following facts would emerge. The first attempt to lodge the report was made on the 11th January, 1996. Thereafter the prosecutrix went to her father-in-law on the 12th of January, 1996. On the next day i.e. on 13th January, 1996 they went to the Superintendent of Police at Beed and made a complaint. Thereafter they came to police station Kaij on the same day and lodged the report. If we accept the statement of PW-2, the report should have been lodged on 13th or 14th January, 1996. There is no explanation as to how it was lodged 4 days later.

Having carefully scrutinized the evidence on record, we are not satisfied that the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. We are left with a strong suspicion that the case put forward by the prosecution may not be true. In any event the appellants are entitled to the benefit of doubt.

Accordingly we allow these appeals and set aside the conviction and sentence of the appellants herein and direct that they be released forthwith, if not required in any other case.