Case Note & Summary
Criminal Law-- Indian Penal Code, 1860, Sections 363, 366, 506 and 376-- Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012(POCSO)- Section 4-- The Scheduled Casres and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989- Section 3(2)(V)-- Kidnapping-- Rape on minor girl-- Complaint lodged u/s 36, 366, 376 and 506 of IPC and U/s 4 of POCSO and U/s 3(2)(V) of Atrocities Act- Conviction of appellant by trial court- Appeal before High court preferred by appellant- Dismissal of appeal by high court-- Aggrieved-- Victim narrated entire incident stated that forcible sexual intercourse committed by appellant after took away and also threatened her- Statement of victim u/s 164 of CRPC corroborated by her deposition-- Complainant declared hostile by trial court-- Error committed by trial court in declaring complainant hostile-- Observations-- Merely because witness is declared hostile does not make unreliable-- Case of Bhagwansingh (Supra) referred-- Date of birth of victim mentioned in Admission Register of school was relied upon-- Age of victim proved-- Victim was minor as per oral as well as documentary evidence-- Medical evidence as to cut injury on hymen of victim-- Presence of semen and human sperm on clothes-- Proof of caste certificate produced on record-- Appellant was knowing the caste of victim before the incident-- Acquaintance of accused with the family of victim is enough to presume that the accused was aware of the caste and identity of victim-- Justification in conviction-- Appeal Dismissed
Para-- 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 24, 25
Headnote
The Supreme Court allowed the appeal and set aside the conviction and sentence of the appellant under Section 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (SC/ST Act) -- The Court held that the prosecution failed to prove that the offence was committed on the ground that the victim belonged to a Scheduled Caste -- The Court noted that the evidence did not establish that the offence was committed in public view or that the accused knew the caste of the victim -- The Court also observed that the trial court and High Court erred in convicting the appellant under the SC/ST Act without proper scrutiny of the evidence -- The conviction under other sections was not interfered with as the appeal was limited to the SC/ST Act conviction
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Issue of Consideration: The Issue of whether the conviction under Section 3(2)(v) of the SC/ST Act was sustainable given the evidence on record
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Final Decision
The Supreme Court allowed the appeal and set aside the conviction and sentence of the appellant under Section 3(2)(v) of the SC/ST Act -- The conviction under other sections was not interfered with
