Rajasthan High Court Refuses To Suspend Sentence Of Physical Training Instructor Convicted For Rape, Suicide Of 17-Yr-Old Dalit Girl
Case Title: Vijendra Singh v. State of Rajasthan & Anr.
Case No.: D.B. Criminal Misc Suspension of Sentence Application (Appeal) No. 21/2023
Decided on: 06/07/2023
Coram: Justice Vijay Bishnoi and Justice Rajendra Prakash Soni
Facts of the case:
Appellant has submitted that the trial court has grossly erred in convicting and sentencing the accused applicant-appellant vide impugned judgment. It is argued that there is no material available on record to substantiate the fact that the accused applicant-appellant committed any crime with the deceased on the ground that she belonged to scheduled caste community and thus, the finding recorded by the trial court against the accused applicant-appellant for committing offence punishable under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 is not tenable in the eye of law.
Applicant-appellant has submitted that testimony of prosecution witness viz. Mahendra Ram (PW-1), who happened to be the father of the deceased, is simply based on hearsay evidence and is not corroborated by any independent witness against the accused applicant-appellant. It is also submitted that the prosecution witnesses viz. Mst. Sakina Bano (PW-2), Hadman Singh (PW-3), Omprakash (PW-4), Ms. Manju (PW-5), Dr. Rajendra Kumar (PW-7), Manju (PW-9), Ms. Leena Gupta (PW-12), Ms. Chandrakala (PW-13) and Mahaveer (PW-14), who were attached with the educational institution, have not supported the prosecution story and turned hostile as well as nothing concrete could be elucidated in their cross-examination. It is further submitted that the prosecution case rests on the testimony of (PW-11) Ms. Parmeshwari, however, she has also not completely supported the prosecution story.
It is noticed that the accused applicant-appellant was the Physical Training Instructor in the institution, where the deceased was living in the hostel. It is also to be noticed that the allegation against the accused applicant-appellant is to the effect that he sexually assaulted the deceased, due to which she committed suicide.
Judgement:
The division bench of Justice Vijay Bishnoi and Justice Rajendra Prakash Soni said allegations levelled against the accused applicant-appellant are serious and that after carefully scrutinizing the evidence available on record, it is not inclined to suspend the substantive sentence awarded to him.
Having considered the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case particularly the fact that the allegations levelled against the accused applicant-appellant are serious and after carefully scrutinizing the evidence available on record, we are not inclined to suspend the substantive sentence awarded to the accused applicant-appellant. Accordingly, this application for suspension of sentence is rejected.
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Written by: Mahima Saini