Jaggu Manjhi vs State Of Chhattisgarh
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Chattisgarh High Court

Jaggu Manjhi vs State Of Chhattisgarh on 25 June, 2025

                                        1

                                   Digitally
                                   signed by
                                   BHOLA
                           BHOLA NATH
                           NATH KHATAI
                           KHATAI Date:
                                  2025.06.25
                                   18:01:44
                                   +0530




                                                         NAFR

       HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR

                       CRA No. 287 of 2024

                      Reserved on 17.06.2025
                      Delivered on 25.06.2025

Jaggu Manjhi S/o Dhanuram Manjhi Aged About 42 Years R/o
Shandar Chowk, G- Cabin Basti, BMY Charoda, District : Durg,
Chhattisgarh
                                                  ... Appellant
                                 versus
State Of Chhattisgarh Through Police Station GRP Bhilai,
District : Durg, Chhattisgarh
                                                 ... Respondent

For Appellant : Mr. Praveen Dhurandhar, Advocate For Respondent : Mr. Pranjal Shukla, P.L.

Hon'ble Shri Justice Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal CAV Judgment

1. The present appeal arises out of the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 30.09.2023 passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge, Fourth F.T.S.C, Special Court, Durg (C.G.), in Special Criminal Case (POCSO) No. 30/2023, whereby the appellant has been convicted and sentenced as under :

           Conviction                         Sentence
     U/s 354 of IPC and          Only under Section 10 of POCSO
                                 Act, R.I. for 5 years with fine of
     Section    10    of   the
                                 Rs. 500/-, in default of payment

POCSO Act, 2012. of fine amount, additional R.I. for 1 month.

2. The case of prosecution, in brief, is that on the date of incident i.e. 13.02.2023, the appellant took the victim who was aged about 4 years to his house, removed her undergarments and being himself naked, started touching her private parts with his hand. The grandmother of the victim (PW-5) went to the house of the appellant looking for the victim and saw that the victim was lying on the cot without her undergarments and the appellant was also sitting on the cot in a naked state with a towel on his thigh. When PW-5 asked the victim where is her underwear, she told that the appellant had taken off the underwear. On a written complaint being made by the grandmother of the victim in this regard, FIR was registered against the Appellant. Thereafter, the victim was medically examined. Statements of witnesses were recorded. After due investigation, charge sheet was filed against the appellant.

3. So as to hold the appellant guilty, the prosecution has examined as many as 8 witnesses and exhibited 15 documents. The statement of the appellant was also recorded under Section 313 of the Cr.P.C. in which he denied the circumstances appearing against him, pleaded innocence and false implication in the case. However, no defence witness has been examined by the appellant in his defence.

4. After hearing the parties and taking into consideration the evidences which have come on record, vide impugned

judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 30.09.2023, learned trial Court has convicted and sentenced the appellant for the offence as mentioned in para-1 of this judgment. Hence, the present appeal.

5. Learned counsel for the appellant/accused argued that the victim, who is said to be a minor of 4 years, was taught what statement to give and presented. She herself has admitted in her evidence that she is stating what her grandmother has told her. Similarly, the prosecution witnesses have also admitted that they (victim party) have been accusing the appellant of practicing witchcraft and hold the appellant responsible for the death of the son of the grandmother's sister, due to which there has been a dispute between them for a long time and they do not talk to each other. He submits that due to this enmity, the appellant has been falsely implicated maliciously and the incident is not supported by any independent witnesses. Thus, the impugned judgment is not maintainable as it is not based on valid evidence. Therefore, the order in question should be set aside and the appellant should be acquitted.

6. Per contra, learned State counsel supporting the impugned judgment would submit that the prosecution has been able to bring home the offence beyond reasonable doubt and the Trial Court is absolutely justified in convicting the appellant and considering the nature of offence, the appeal deserves to be dismissed.

7. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record including the impugned judgment with utmost circumspection.

8. It is an undisputed fact that PW-6 is the mother, PW-3 is the father and PW-5 is the grandmother of the victim and all of

them live together. The house of the accused/appellant is in their neighbourhood. PW-4 is the neighbour of both the parties. It is also an undisputed fact that at the time of incident which is said to have taken place on 13/02/2023, the victim's grandmother (PW-5) had gone to the house of accused to call the victim.

9. On the basis of oral evidence presented in the case and the birth certificate of the victim Article A-1, the trial Court found it to be proved that the date of birth of the victim is 23/03/2019. Thus, she was aged about 03 years 11 months on the date of incident i.e. on 13/02/2023. On the basis of the said evidence, the trial Court has concluded that the victim was a minor as her age was less than 04 years at the time of incident. The said conclusion of the trial Court is not contrary to the facts and evidence available on record. Hence, it is proved that at the time of incident, the age of the victim was about 04 years.

10. Regarding the incident, the victim (PW-1) in her court statement confirming the prosecution case has stated that the appellant took her to his house, removed her undergarments and after becoming naked himself started touching her private parts with his hand. At that time, her grandmother (PW-5) while searching for her screamed by taking her name, the appellant stopped her from going but her grandmother (PW-5) came there and saw them and took her with her.

11. Supporting the above statement of the victim (PW-1), the grandmother (PW-5) has stated in her court statement that she had bathed and prepared the victim who was standing near the boring tap. Later she went to call her but she was not found. Then she was found at the appellant's house

where she went and saw that the appellant had made the victim sleep on the cot in a naked state and he himself was also naked and after seeing her the appellant covered his private part with a towel. When asked, the victim told that the appellant had called and brought her. Thereafter she (PW-5) brought the victim from there and lodged a written complaint Exhibit P-1 in the police station.

12. The neighbour (PW-4) of both the parties has corroborated the case of the prosecution stating that the grandmother of the victim (PW-5) had gone out in search of the victim and on not finding her, she went to the house of the appellant. When the grandmother raised an alarm, they came out and she (PW-5) told them that the appellant was misbehaving with the victim. Similarly, the mother of the victim (PW-6) and father (PW-3) have also stated that they came to know later about the incident committed by the appellant with the victim. The said incident is confirmed by the written report Exhibit P-1.

13. The incident is of 13/02/2023, the report of which was registered on the second day i.e. 14/02/2023. The case is of a minor girl aged about 04 years. It took time for the parents to come to know about the incident and the guardians of an innocent minor definitely have to think about reporting the said act and crime by giving public notice and the report was filed the very next day of the incident. In such a situation, the report which is mentioned to have been lodged after consultation with the family members is bona fide and satisfactory and the registration of the crime on the second day cannot be said to be fatal for the prosecution.

14. In this regard, the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the cases of Sohan Singh and Another v. State of Bihar, (2010) 1 SCC

68 held that if delay in lodging the commission of offence of rape is satisfactory explained, such delay shall not be fatal to the case of prosecution and in para -13 observed as under:

"13.- When FIR by a Hindu lady is to be lodged with regard to commission of offence like rape, many questions would obviously crop up for consideration before one finally decides to lodge FIR. It is difficult to appreciate the plight of the victim who has been criminally assaulted in such a manner. Obviously, prosecutrix must have also gone through great turmoil and only after giving it a serious thought, must have decided to lodge the FIR. Precisely this appears to be the reason for little delayed FIR. As mentioned hereinabove, the delay has already been found to be properly explained by both the courts below. Thus, we are not required to deal with this issue any more."

15. Similarly, in a case of rape of a minor, in Puran Chand v.

State of Himachal Pradesh (2014) 5 SCC 689, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held that the delay of 20 days in lodging the First Information Report has been satisfactorily explained, hence it is not fatal to prosecution case. In the said case, in paragraph-13 it has been observed as follows:-

"13. ......The delay in lodging the FIR has been clearly explained by the prosecution relating the circumstance and the witnesses supporting the same have stood the test of scrutiny of the cross examination as a result of which the version of the victim girl cannot be doubted. The delay in lodging the FIR thus stands fully explained."

16. As regards the fact which has come to light in the statement of the prosecution witnesses that they consider the appellant to be responsible for the death of the grandmother's nephew, they had earlier had a dispute with the appellant on this issue, they stopped talking and they believe that the

appellant practices witchcraft, on the basis of these facts, the statement of the victim, who is an innocent minor of about 4 years of age and that of her guardians cannot be doubted that the appellant has been falsely implicated merely due to malice/ill-will. The manner in which the incident has been narrated is also confirmed by the statement of an independent neighbour (PW-4) of both the parties. Therefore, the argument of the appellant party is not found to be acceptable that merely because of the aforesaid dispute, the 4 year old victim was falsely tutored and made to give a false statement and the appellant was falsely implicated. Therefore, the argument of the appellant that he has been falsely implicated due to past enmity is not acceptable.

17. Thus, in view of the above discussion, this Court finds that the prosecution has been able to prove its case against the appellant beyond reasonable doubt. Since the arguments raised in the appeal on behalf of the appellant are not acceptable, there is no need to interfere with the decision in question.

18. Thus, the appeal is dismissed as not maintainable.

19. Let a certified copy of this judgment along with the original record be transmitted forthwith to the trial Court concerned and to the Superintendent of Jail where the appellant is lodged and suffering jail sentence, for information and necessary action, if any.

Sd/-

(Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal) JUDGE Khatai