- (1.) The appellant Ajit Singh @ Toni suffered conviction under Section 376 (2) (g) and Section 366 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for ten years in each count and further convicted under Section 323 of Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year with fine of Rs.2,000/- to be paid to the victim-informant and in default of payment of fine, to suffer simple imprisonment for three months.
(2.) The present appellant along with two other accused persons namely Soni Kumar Ajwani @ Soni @ Gurucharan Singh and Jaswant Singh were tried in the above case and after trial, Jaswant Singh was acquitted but Soni Kumar Ajwani @ Soni@ Gurucharan Singh and the present appellant were convicted as aforesaid. The said Soni Kumar Ajwani @ Soni @ Gurcharan Singh had separately preferred an appeal but during pendency of the appeal, he died and so his appeal has abated.
(3.) The prosecution case, which is based on the fardbeyan of the informant Punam Kumari (Devi), recorded by A.S.I. of Lower Bazar Police Station on 25.06.1991 at 6:30 p.m. at the place of occurrence i.e. North Samaj Street, Tharpakna, in the house of one of the accused Soni @ Gurucharan Singh, in short, is that on 25.06.1991, the informant came to Ranchi from Jamshedpur to obtain her original B.Sc. Examination Certificate from Ranchi University. She got down from the bus at about 10.00-11.00 a.m. at Kantatoli, Ranchi and boarded a tempo bearing no. BIN-9506. The said tempo driver after alighting other passengers drove his tempo on different streets on the pretext to take her to Ranchi University and on enquiry, the driver told the informant not to worry as Ranchi University is far away. After roaming on several streets, the tempo driver called a man, who was on a cycle, to accompany him and informed the said man that the female occupant i.e. informant would go to Ranchi University. The said man left his cycle in a nearby shop and sat by the side of the tempo driver and he used to address the tempo driver as Soni and they were talking in Punjabi. After sometime, the tempo driver left his friend. When the tempo driver stopped his vehicle in front of a house, she realized that the said house was not the Ranchi University. On enquiry, the tempo driver informed that an employee of Ranchi University, who issues Provisional Certificate lives in his house. It is also alleged that the tempo driver thereafter pulled her in a room of the said house where one Sardar Ji, having turban on his head, was standing there from before. The informant when tried to raise alarm, she was threatened by the tempo driver showing fear of stabbing chhura and thereafter the tempo driver and the Sardar Ji, who was there from before, pushed her on a Toshak lying on the floor. It is also alleged that tempo driver gagged her mouth and after undressing her, Sardar raped her and thereafter, the tempo driver also ravished her on the point of knife and revolver. They had thrown her Saari, petticoat and blouse in front of a latrine and locked her inside the room and went away. The informant started weeping and tried to open the back door and the staple got opened. The informant after wrapping herself in a quilt lying there, went to upper floor of the house and narrated the story to the inmates but they ignored her. Thereafter, while she was passing through the passage of the house for coming to road, she found her Saari, petticoat and blouse in front of the latrine which she put on and came to the road. The passersby after hearing her cry informed the police and when the police came, she narrated the entire occurrence.;