- (1.) AGGRIEVED by the judgment dated 3.2.2009, passed by the Additional Sessions Judge (Fast Track), Tonk, the appellant, Shankar Lal, has approached this court. By the said judgment, the learned Judge has convicted the appellant for offence under Section 376 IPC and has sentenced him to life imprisonment, and has imposed a fine of Rs.5000/ - and further directed him to undergo two years of rigorous imprisonment in default thereof.
(2.) BRIEFLY , the case of the prosecution is that on 19.4.2008 the prosecutrix (the name of the prosecutrix is not being revealed, in order to protect her identity) (P.W.1) submitted a complaint (Ex.P.1) before the District Collector, Tonk which was sent to the Superintendent of Police, Tonk for taking legal action. The said complaint was subsequently sent to the SHO, Police Station Purani Tonk. The complaint when translated in English, reads as under: - To, The District Collector, Office Tonk (Rajasthan) No. The prosecutrix W/o. Late Babulal Sharma, r/o. Village Budhwali, Tehsil Ratangarh, District Churu, at present r/o. Bamvor Road, In front of District Udyog Kendra, House of Subhash Gupta, Tonk (Raj.). ...Complainant Shankarlal Rohlana S/o. Gumanaram, by caste Meghwal (J.E.N.), r/o. Village Tunwa, Tehsil Laxmangarh, District Sikar (Raj.), at present Nagar Parishad, Tonk (Raj.). ...Accused Sub.: In 2005 accused, Shankarlal Rohlana, kept the complainant -prosecutrix, to cook food and raped her at knife -point, threatened that in case she would open her mouth, he will kill them, and committed forceful rape on the complainant, her daughter, Pooja (15 yrs.) in Dungarpur, and on two daughters, Victim No.1 (20 yrs.), and Victim No.2 (18 yrs) in Tonk. Sir, The applicant had repeatedly told Shankarlal Rohlana that she is Brahmin girl. Therefore, he should not misbehave with her. But he would not listen to me. He would entice me by saying that he would marry me in the court and look after my daughters. He would further tell me that he would get them married off and would treat them as his own daughters. When I refused to go for a court marriage, he raped me and due to the rape, I became pregnant. He would tell me to marry him, otherwise the child would be called illegitimate. He would also tell me that, in this way, he would be saved from the clutches of law. He kept both of my daughters in a house; he raped them. All three of my daughters are unmarried. A great injustice would happen. He used to sit with both my daughters and show them blue films. He had taken pictures of my daughters in the nude and used to rape them. He had tried to satisfy his lust even on my third daughter, Pooja, who used to live with me in Dungarpur. Many a times, I had caught him and I had intervened. Therefore, the matter would end only with outraging her modesty. He would badly assault my daughter, and use to threaten me, and ask me as to how long I would save my daughters. The accused, Shankarlal Rohlana, has also committed forgery of government records like ration card, identity cards, and the horoscopes of my daughters. I have come with all my three daughters before you and I pray for justice and security. I shall be grateful if you would turn him to the police. Sd/ -"
(3.) ON the basis of this complaint (Ex.P.1), a formal FIR (Ex.P.27) was chalked out for offences under Sections 376, 354 and 323 IPC. During the course of investigation, the petitioner was arrested on 19.4.2008, and was sent up for trial. In order to support its case, the prosecution examined thirteen witnesses, and submitted thirty -one documents. In turn, the defence examined a single witness, and submitted eight documents. After completing the trial, by judgment dated 3.2.2009, the learned Judge convicted and sentenced the appellant as aforementioned. Hence, this appeal before this court. Before dealing with the contentions of the learned counsel for the parties, it would be fruitful to notice the evidence produced by the prosecution. In this case, the complainant shall be referred to as 'the prosecutrix', and the two daughters who were alleged raped as 'V -1', and 'V -2', in order to protect their identity.;