State Of Haryana vs Basti Ram

The facts:

2. On 12th March 1990, PW-3 Sardara Singh, a resident of Village Farmana, lodged a complaint with PW-1 ASI Mehar Singh of Police Station Kharkhoda to the effect that his granddaughter H.L. aged about 14-15 years and staying with him had been missing since 8.00 p.m. on 27th February 1990. According to the complainant, H.L. had left the house for answering the call of nature but did not come back. Efforts were made to trace her out, including at the residence of relatives and at her parental home in Nainital but without success. The complaint of Sardara Singh further stated that he suspected that Mohinder Singh and Satte had enticed her away.

3. The complaint was registered as a First Information Report and investigations commenced to trace out H.L.

4. On 20th March 1990 the investigating officer examined Mohinder Singh and he stated that on 27th February 1990 he and Satte took H.L. from Village Farmana to the Interstate Bus Terminal in Delhi. Their intention was to sell her to somebody through Satte and then to equally divide the proceeds. As a consequence of this, Satte took H.L. to Bareilly and sold her to Jamaluddin.

6. Be that as it may on 6th April 1990, PW-22 ASI Jaidev Singh located H.L. and her father and on 7th April 1990 H.L. was produced before the Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Sonepat where her statement was recorded under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (for short the Cr.P.C.).

7. In her statement given before the Judicial Magistrate, H.L. stated that her father worked in Nainital. Her maternal uncle Satish Prakash who got her admitted in a school at Bhainswal sometime in June 1989 had brought her to Village Farmana.

8. Satish Prakash used to take H.L. to her school every morning on his scooter. From sometime in August 1989 he started misbehaving with her. She complained about the misbehaviour to her grandmother and to her aunt (wife of Satish Prakash) but to no effect. In her statement H.L. stated that from September 1989 onwards Satish Prakash began to rape her and did so several times. He was subsequently transferred to Panipat but in the meanwhile Basti Ram (the Respondent before us) came to Bhainswal and joined a Veterinary Hospital. H.L. further stated that apart from Satish Prakash, she was also raped by Basti Ram and fed up with this unpleasant situation, she expressed a desire to go back to her parental home at Nainital.

10. In her statement H.L. stated that when she went to her parental home she found that it was locked and therefore from 9th March 1990 to 20th March 1990 she lived with a neighbor, PW-19 Ram Singh who informed her father in Pant Nagar of her arrival in Nainital. On 21st March 1990 the lock of her parental home was broken and she lived there till 4th April 1990 and came to Delhi along with her father on 6th April 1990.

11. Upon completion of investigations, the police authorities filed a charge sheet and on 3rd August 1990 the case was committed to the Sessions Court and registered as Sessions Case No. 22 of 6.11.1990/Sessions Trial No. 30 of 1990 before the Additional Sessions Judge, Sonepat (Haryana).

2. Secondly, you both, between 27.2.90 to 08.3.90, in the aforesaid area committed rape on the above named H.L. by committing sexual intercourse against her will or consent and thereby committed an offence punishable u/s 376 IPC and within cognizance of this Court.

3. Thirdly, you both on the aforesaid date kidnapped Kumari H.L. a minor under the age of 18 years from the lawful guardianship of her maternal grandfather Sardara Ram and thereby committed an offence punishable u/s 363 IPC and within cognizance of this Court.

23. Subsequently by an order dated 3rd April 1992 Satish Prakash and Basti Ram were sentenced under Section 376(2)(g) of the IPC to 10 years rigorous imprisonment for the gang rape of H.L. They were also asked to pay a fine of Rs.2,000/- and in default thereof to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for one year. For the remaining offences, they were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, but all sentences were to run concurrently and, therefore, we are not going into the details of the punishment awarded.

24. Feeling aggrieved by the conviction and sentence, both the convicts preferred an appeal in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, being Criminal Appeal No. 162-SB/1992.

26. On the above basis, the learned Single Judge allowed the appeal and set aside the conviction of Satish Prakash and Basti Ram.

Discussion and conclusion:

28. During the pendency of the appeal before us, Satish Prakash expired and the appeal only survives as against Basti Ram.

32. Under the circumstances, the more appropriate course of action would be to set aside the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court and remand the matter for reconsideration on merits after taking into account the entire evidence on record, including the statement and testimony of H.L. as well as the law on the subject. We do so accordingly.

33. Since the allegation of rape is of the year 1989-1990, we request the High Court to accord high priority to the disposal of the case.

34. Appeal is disposed of.

April 02, 2013