Orissa High Court: S. K. Sahoo, J., dismissed the petition being devoid of merits and upheld the conviction passed in the impugned order.
The facts of the case are such that victim, a student of Class-VII was returning home from the school in her bicycle along with her younger sister aged about ten years when the appellant obstructed their path and wrongfully restrained the victim near a tank of village Renupada and dragged her to a nearby field and committed rape on her. FIR was registered before the Inspector in-charge of Basta police station, Basta P.S. under Sections 341/376(2) (i) of the Penal Code, 1860 and section 4 of the POCSO Act. The investigation was thereby conducted and chargesheet was submitted. The learned trial Court on analyzing the oral as well as documentary evidence on record, hold that the the appellant was guilty under Section 341 IPC and section 4 of the POCSO Act whereas the prosecution has failed to establish the charge under section 376(2) (i) of the Indian Penal Code. It is this order which is under challenge in the present petition.
During course of investigation, the school admission register was seized which reveals the date of birth of the victim as thirteen years of age at the time of occurence and hence the victim was a “child” as per section 2(d) of the POCSO Act.
The Court observed that the ingredients of the offence under section 4 of the POCSO Act which prescribes punishment for penetrative sexual assault, it appears that the “penetrative sexual assault” has been defined under section 3 of the POCSO Act. Section 3(b) is relevant for the purpose of this case wherein it is stated that a person is said to commit penetrative sexual assault, if he inserts, to any extent, any object or a part of the body, not being the penis, into the vagina, the urethra or anus of the child or makes the child to do so with him or any other person. Thus, inserting a finger into any of the three parts of the child victim i.e., vagina, urethra and anus makes out the offence of “penetrative sexual assault” as defined under section 3(b) of the POCSO Act.
The Court observed that the act of the appellant in coming in front of the victim and her sister and catching hold of the handle of the bi-cycle to stop their movement which led them to fall on the ground, in my humble view, clearly makes out the ingredients of the offence “and therefore, I find no infirmity in the conviction of the appellant under section 341 of the Indian Penal Code.”
The court thus held “there is no illegality in the impugned judgment and order of conviction passed by the learned trial Court and the appellant has been rightly found guilty under section 341 of the Indian Penal Code and section 4 of the POCSO Act.”
[Lilu v. State of Odisha, JCRLA No. 37 of 2018, decided on 12-08-2021]
Arunima Bose, Editorial Assistant has reported this brief.
