Bombay High Court
Sushila W/O. Ankush Jadhav vs The State Of Maharashtra And Anr on 2 September, 2021
Bench: V.K. Jadhav, Shrikant Dattatray Kulkarni
1 914-CRI.APPEAL-589-2020
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
BENCH AT AURANGABAD
914 CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.589 OF 2020
SUSHILA W/O. ANKUSH JADHAV
VERSUS
THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ANR
Advocate for Appellant : Mr Nanabhau R. Thorat
APP for Respondent No.1-State : Mr G.O. Wattamwar
CORAM : V.K. JADHAV AND
SHRIKANT D. KULKARNI, JJ.
DATE : 2nd SEPTEMBER, 2021
PER COURT :
1. This appeal is preferred by the victim against the order of
acquittal.
2. The brief facts giving rise to the present appeal are as follows :-
(a) As per prosecution story, on 21.07.2017, the prosecutrix a
married woman of 25 years of age, lodged a report to the Police Station,
Georai, Dist. Beed on 13.07.2017 at about 8.00 p.m. when she had gone
to answer nature's call in the field, the accused followed her and requested
for physical relations. She told him that she was not willing to keep
physical relations with him and she wanted to have good life with her
children. However, the accused has slapped on her face. He further led
her on the ground and forcibly committed physical intercourse with her.
The accused has also given her threat of dire consequences and also to
kill her children, in case of disclosure of incident to any one. The
prosecution has examined four witnesses including the appellant, victim
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herein to prove the charge for the offence punishable under section 376
of the IPC levelled against him.
(b) The learned Sessions Judge by the Judgment and order dated
23.08.2019 in Sessions Case No. 62/2018 has acquitted the accused and
passed the following order :-
(1) Accused Acchut s/o Aalu Jadhav is acquitted of the
offence punishaele undeh section 376,i 3233 and 506, of
the Indian Penal Codei 18,06 vide section 2335 (1) of the
Code of Chiminal Phoceduhei 19763.
(23) His eail eonds stand cancelled.
(3) The accused shall fuhnish a eond and suhety of Rs.
106i060606/- undeh section 4376-A of The Code of Chiminal
Phoceduhei 19763.
(4) The seized ahticles GMP No. 1233/230618i Ahticle No. 1
white colouhed petti-coat and ahticle no. 23 - elue
colouhed undeh weahi eeing wohthless ee desthoyed afteh
the pehiod of one yeah fhom the date of this ohdeh oh as
peh ohdehs passed in the appeali if anyi phefehhedi ey any
of the pahties.
(5) VMP No.39/230618i Ahticle No. 3 one micho SD- 23
GB Memohy Cahdi ee desthoyed afteh the pehiod of one
yeah fhom the date of this ohdeh oh as peh ohdehs passed
in the appeali if anyi phefehhedi ey any of the pahties.
3. The learned counsel for the appellant/victim submits that even
though, there were physical relations of the appellant/victim with the
accused, the appellant/victim started residing with her husband and
children peacefully. However, on the date of incident, the accused slapped
her, threatened her and committed sexual intercourse with her against her
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3 914-CRI.APPEAL-589-2020
will. The appellant/victim has also sustained injury due to said slap on her
face. There is medical evidence to support the said allegations. The
learned counsel submits that despite the evidence of the prosecutrix on
oath supported by the medical evidence, the trial court has acquitted the
accused.
4. In para No. 8 of the Judgment, the learned Judge of the trial
court has discussed the evidence of the appellant/victim in detail. The
appellant/victim/PW1 in her examination-in-chief, itself deposed that she
was taken by the accused-Acchut to Pune on allurement of money. They
had resided at Chakan, Pune for 15 days. Her family members had
brought them back. She was willing to cohabit with her husband and was
not willing to keep relations with the accused, but the accused kept
physical relations with her. In her cross-examination, the
appellant/victim/PW1 had admitted that she had sexual relations with the
accused before one month prior to leaving for Pune. After returning from
Pune, her family members had given understanding to her. For second
time also, they had been to Pune, but they stayed separately.
5. It appears that there was consensual sexual relations between
the appellant/victim and the accused. Though PW No.3 has deposed that
on examination of the appellant/victim, he has noticed conjunctiva of size
0.5 c.m. X 0.5 c.m on temporal region and the injury was 8 to 10 days old,
the said injury can be caused by any other reason or also possible by
slapping.
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4 914-CRI.APPEAL-589-2020
6. Further, the trial court has also observed that in the medical
examination report of the prosecutrix, no signs of sexual violence or
forcible sexual intercourse were noticed by the Medical Officer, who has
medically examined the victim. The appellant/victim is almost 28 years of
age and she had gone to Pune twice with her consent along with the
accused and kept the physical relations with him. It appears that by
referring one incident, she has made certain wild allegations against the
accused. It appears to us that she has made those allegations with some
ulterior motive. Furthermore, though the incident allegedly occurred on
13.07.2017, the appellant/victim had approached to the concerned Police
Station after delay of 8 days i.e. 21.07.2017.
7. There is no explanation of the said delay. The conduct of the
appellant/victim after so-called incident is also suspicious.
8. In view of the same, we find no substance in the appeal. There
are no sufficient grounds for interfering in the Judgment and order passed
by the trial court. We thus, dismiss this appeal summarily in terms of the
provisions of section 384 of Cr.PC. hence the following order :-
ORDER
The Criminal Appeal is hereby dismissed.
[ SHRIKANT D. KULKARNI, J. ] [ V.K. JADHAV, J. ]
mta
