- (1.)The two appeals have been preferred by the appellants to question the propriety and correctness of the judgment and order of conviction and sentence passed against them by the learned Presiding Officer-cum-Additional Sessions Judge, F.T.C. II, Sitamarhi in Sessions Trial No. 87 of 1998/55 of 2004 (G.R. No. 263 of 1997). By the aforesaid judgment, rendered by the above noted court on 27th July, 2004, the appellants were found guilty of having committed offence under Sections 366A and 376 of the Indian Penal Code and were directed to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code. They were further directed to suffer simple imprisonment for five years as also to pay a fine of rupees five thousand each for their conviction under Section 366A of the Indian Penal Code. It was directed that if the appellants defaulted in paying up the fine, they shall have to serve further sentence of simple imprisonment for six months.
(2.)The prosecution case is contained in the fard-e-beyan of Ram Chandra Sah, P.W. 4, in which he alleged that the wife of his grand son, Goni Sah, named, Ram Kumari had gone out of the house for attending to the call of nature and when she did not come back, he set out on search of her in the village and came to know from one Kishori Sah, P.W. 1 that while he was coming back after attending to the call of nature, he found that appellant Nandu Mandal, his wife Kaushlaya Devi along with Laxmi Mandal (not put on trial) and appellant Rakesh Mandal were accompanying the lady and they all were going towards west of the village. P.W. 4 further alleged that Kaushalya Devi, wife of appellant Nandu Mandal, visited his house very often and used to talk to the victim Raj Kumari, the wife of his grand son, and as such, they all had taken or enticed her away.
(3.)The fard-e-beyan of P.W. 4 was recorded by P.W. 5 Parmeshwar Prasad Singh, at the house of the witness and sent it to Runnisaidpur police station for registering a case and himself took up the investigation. He inspected the place of occurrence, recorded the statement of witnesses and handed over the charge of investigation on 29.4.1997 to the Officer Incharge of the police station namely, C. D. Sharma, who does not appear examined in the case.