Patna High Court
Ram Snehi Mukhiya @ Chhakauriya vs The State Of Bihar on 22 July, 2025
Author: Rajeev Ranjan Prasad
Bench: Rajeev Ranjan Prasad, Shailendra Singh
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL APPEAL (DB) No.838 of 2023
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-14 Year-2019 Thana- SAHARGHAT District- Madhubani
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Ram Snehi Mukhiya @ Chhakauriya Son of Late Tilyug Mukhiya, Resident
of Village - Patar, P.S. - Saharghat, District - Madhubani.
... ... Appellant
Versus
1. The State of Bihar
2. Abrendra Mukhiya, Son of Laxman Mukhiya, Resident of Village - Patar,
P.S. - Saharghat, District - Madhubani.
... ... Respondents
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Appellant/s : Mr. Murari Narain Chaudhary, Advocate
For the Respondent/s : Mr. Abhimanyu Sharma, Addl.PP
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJEEV RANJAN PRASAD
and
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SHAILENDRA SINGH
ORAL JUDGMENT
(Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJEEV RANJAN PRASAD)
Date : 22-07-2025
Heard learned counsel for the appellant and learned
Additional Public Prosecutor for the State.
2. This appeal has been preferred for setting aside the
judgment of conviction dated 18.03.2023 (hereinafter referred to
as the 'impugned judgment') and the order of sentence dated
23.03.2023
(hereinafter referred to as the ‘impugned order’)
passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge-VII-cum-Spl. Judge
(POCSO), Madhubani (hereinafter referred to as the ‘learned trial
court’) in Trial No. 97 of 2023, POCSO G.R. Case No. 11 of 2019
arising out of Saharghat P.S. Case No. 14 of 2019. By the
impugned judgment, the appellant has been convicted for the
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.838 of 2023 dt.22-07-2025
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offences under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (in short
‘IPC‘) and Sections 4 and 6 of the Protection of Children from
Sexual Offences Act (in short ‘POCSO Act‘) and by the impugned
order, he has been ordered to undergo rigorous imprisonment for
life with a fine of Rs.10,000/- under Section 6 of the POCSO Act
read with Section 376 IPC and in default of payment of fine, he
has to further undergo simple imprisonment for six months.
Prosecution Case
3. The prosecution case in brief is that the informant
(PW-1), who is the grandfather of the victim (PW-4), in his written
application stated that on 28.01.2019 at 07:00 PM, his villager
Ramsnehi Mukhiya (appellant) took his granddaughter (victim)
aged about 8 years on the pretext of feeding her Kurkure and
pakodi. After sometime, when his granddaughter did not return,
they started searching for her. During search, a sound was heard
from the village’s ‘basbitti’ (bamboo grove), so he and his son
(PW-3) went to the ‘basbitti’ and saw that Ramsnehi Mukhiya was
committing wrong with his granddaughter and his granddaughter
was crying. The private part of his granddaughter was covered
with blood. Thereafter, they took the victim to Madhwapur
Hospital for her treatment and the villagers caught Ramsnehi
Mukhiya and handed over to the police.
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4. On the basis of this written application of the
informant, Saharghat P.S. Case No. 14 of 2019 dated 29.01.2019
was registered under Sections 376(AB) IPC and Sections 4 and 6
of the POCSO Act against this appellant. After investigation,
police submitted chargesheet bearing Chargesheet No. 28 of 2019
dated 20.03.2019 under Section 376(AB) IPC and Sections 4 and 6
of the POCSO Act against the appellant. Thereafter, vide order
dated 27.03.2019, the learned trial court took cognizance of the
offences mentioned above. The charges were read over to the
appellant in Hindi to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed to
be tried, accordingly, vide order dated 13.05.2019, charges were
framed against the appellant for the offences under Section 376
IPC and Sections 4 and 6 of the POCSO Act.
5. In course of trial, the prosecution examined seven
witnesses and exhibited several documentary evidences. The
description of the prosecution witnesses and the documents are
given hereunder in tabular form:-
List of Prosecution Witnesses
PW-1 Informant/Grandfather of the Victim
PW-2 Grandmother of the Victim
PW-3 Uncle of the Victim
PW-4 Victim
PW-5 Ashok Kumar
PW-6 Triveni Prasad Singh (I.O.)
PW-7 Dr. Renu Prabha (Medical Officer)
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Exhibit ‘1’ Signature of the Informant (PW-1) on the
written application
Exhibit ‘2’ Endorsement along with signature of Ram
Kumar Singh, the then S.H.O. of Saharghat
P.S. regarding registering the police case
number of written application.
Exhibit '3' Signature of Ram Kumar Singh, the then
S.H.O. of Saharghat P.S. on the FIR
Exhibit '4' The Seizure List
Exhibit '5' The chargesheet bearing No. 28 of 2019
dated 20.03.2019
Exhibit '6' The R.F.S.L. Report bearing No. 239 of
2019 dated 18.04.2019
Exhibit '7' The Medical Examination Report of the Vic-
tim dated 29.01.2019
Exhibit '7/1' The signature of Dr. Renu Prabha (PW-7) on
the Medical Report dated 29.01.2019
Exhibit '7/2' The signature of Dr. Rajeev Ranjan on the
Medical Report dated 29.01.2019
Exhibit '7/3' The signature of Dr. A.N. Prasad on the
Medical Report dated 29.01.2019
Exhibit '8' The statement of the victim recorded under
Section 164 CrPC
6. Thereafter, the statement of the appellant was
recorded under Section 313 of the CrPC. The appellant took a
plea that he is innocent and has falsely been implicated in this
case.
Findings of the Learned Trial Court
7. The learned trial court examined the evidences
available on the record. The learned trial court found that the
evidence of the victim (PW-4) is reliable and can be acted upon.
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It has been held that the testimony of the victim (PW-4) inspires
confidence and corroborated by the medical report.
8. The learned trial court rejected the contention of the
defence counsel that the victim being a minor one, there is every
possibility of being tutored. The proposition of law that
evidence of child witness is required to be considered with care
and caution so that possibility of being tutored is ruled out has
been taken care of by the learned trial court. It has been held that
in the case at hand, in the evidence of victim (PW-4) this fact
was not raised while she was being cross-examined by the
defence, not even a single suggestion was given to PW-4 that
she had been tutored. Her evidence has been found spontaneous
and trustworthy without inviting any suspicion of being tutored.
9. The learned trial court has examined the evidence of
Dr. Renu Prabha (PW-7) who has stated that the Medical Board
found injury on private part and Medical Board found the
hymen of victim was ruptured, lacerated inflamed and her
fourchette is also lacerated. PW-7 has stated in her evidence that
the Medical Board opined that the aforesaid injury to the private
part of the victim may be due to sexual assault (Exhibit ‘7’).
10. The learned trial court has found that in this case
the presumption under Section 29 of the POCSO Act can be
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drawn because the prosecution has been able to establish the
facts which would form foundation for presumption under
Section 29 of the POCSO Act to operate. As regards the
presumption under Section 30 of the POCSO Act about the
culpable mental state of the accused, the trial court held that the
accused had to prove that he had no such mental state with
respect to the charged offence by the prosecution. It has been
held that the prosecution has been able to prove the guilt beyond
all reasonable doubts and the defence could not rebut the
evidence of the prosecution.
11. The trial court held that the prosecutrix/victim does
not have a strong motive to falsely implicate the person charged
and the court should not have any hesitation in accepting her
evidence.
Submissions on behalf of the Appellant
12. Learned counsel for the appellant has assailed the
impugned judgment and order on the ground that the learned
trial court has indulged in sermises and conjectures only. It is
contended that the prosecution has not been able to examine any
independent witness in this case. The FIR was lodged with much
delay on 29.01.2019 in respect of the alleged occurrence which
took place on 28.01.2019.
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13. Learned counsel for the appellant submits that
according to the deposition of all the prosecution witnesses,
there was a long standing enmity between the appellant and the
informant over their respective shares in the residential house
and the same has been even supported by the victim girl (PW-4).
14. Learned counsel submits that the learned trial court
has not at all considered that the prosecution has not been able
to examine any of the reliable witnesses and the prosecution
witnesses examined in this case made completely contradictory
statements to each other. The victim girl has deposed that she
was not taken away by anyone at the place of occurrence rather
she herself went there without disclosing this fact to anyone and
nobody was present there.
15. Learned counsel submits that in the present case
the chances of false implication of the appellant and tutoring of
the prosecutrix cannot be ruled out.
Submissions on behalf of the State
16. On the other hand, learned Additional Public
Prosecutor for the State would submit that in the present case,
the prosecutrix has remained consistent in her statement before
the I.O., in her statement under Section 164 CrPC and also in
course of trial. The learned trial court has found that the
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statement of the victim (PW-4) is consistent, natural and her
deposition may be safely relied upon. In such circumstance,
where the victim has been found in the category of a sterling
witness, there would be no need of corroboration. The FIR has
been lodged at the earliest possible time.
17. Learned Additional Public Prosecutor submits that
the testimony of PW-4 finds full support/corroboration from the
medical examination report (Exhibit ‘7’) and the Forensic
Science Laboratory (in short ‘FSL’) report (Exhibit ‘6’).
18. It is submitted that the defence suggested to the
prosecution witnesses that there was a land dispute with the
family of the victim and due to this, the present case was lodged
by the grandfather of the victim but the defence miserably failed
to discharge its onus by producing any cogent evidence to
indicate that there was a land dispute in between victim’s father
and the accused. In such circumstance, the learned trial court has
rightly held that it was not possible to believe that the victim
would be used to falsely implicate the accused in a serious
offence of sexual assault for land dispute of his family. It is
submitted that no fault may be found with the judgment of the
learned trial court.
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Consideration
19. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and
have perused the trial courts records. The victim in this case is a
child below twelve years of age. There is no dispute over the age
of the victim child. The victim was subjected to a penetrative
sexual assault is evident from the deposition of the victim (PW-
4) and also from the deposition of her natural grandfather (PW-
1), grandmother (PW-2) and uncle (PW-3) of the victim. The
medical examination report of the victim has been proved by the
prosecution as Exhibit ‘7’ through Dr. Renu Prabha (PW-7) who
happened to be the Medical Officer and one of the members of
the Medical Board which was constituted for the examination of
the victim in this case. On the point of the age of the victim girl,
the Medical Board at the time of her examination found her aged
about five years as per physical and radiological findings. We
find that learned trial court has taken a correct view of the
matter and held that applying margin of error principle, of two
years on either side, the age could be between 3 to 7 years. Even
if the margin of error is taken only on the higher side, the upper
limit of the age estimated by the ossification test would be seven
years. We agree with the finding of the learned trial court that
the defence has not disputed the evidence of the prosecution
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evidence regarding the age of the victim girl. Thus, the victim
has been rightly held aged below twelve years at the time of the
alleged occurrence.
20. In the present case, the victim (PW-4) has deposed
in her examination-in-chief that on the pretext of giving her
Kurkure, the appellant had taken her towards the bamboo grove
where he had committed wrong act with her. She has stated
about the blood stained trouser/salwar and has also stated that
she had made statement before police and she was taken to the
court before the learned Magistrate. In her deposition, she has
identified the appellant in the court. In her cross-examination,
the victim has stated that the appellant is grandfather in
relationship who lives in the same courtyard and was regularly
giving her Kurkure. In paragraph ‘5’ of her deposition, no doubt,
the victim has stated that there were regular quarrel between her
grandfather and this appellant, still she has maintained saying
that this appellant had committed wrong act with her. She has
stated that she had come outside her house at 07:00 PM without
telling anyone and has also stated that she had gone to ‘basbitti’
on her own and nobody had called her there, in the opinion of
this Court, the minor deviation of the victim girl in her cross-
examination that she had gone to ‘basbitti’ on her own would
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not prevail upon the consistent statement of the victim that this
appellant had committed wrong act with her.
21. This Court has gone through the evidence of the
I.O. (PW-6) who had taken charge of the investigation of this
case on 29.01.2019. He has stated that the accused was brought
to the police station by the informant and the co-villagers. He
had received the blue/red colour check frock having blood stains
and blue colour jeans pant of the victim girl in which also blood
was present. He had prepared the seizure list of the clothes of
the victim. PW-6 has proved the seizure list (Exhibit ‘4’).
22. On further perusal of the evidence of PW-6, it
appears that he has proved the place of occurrence, he had also
prepared the map of the place of occurrence and recorded the
statement of the persons who were in the boundary. He had
recorded the statement of Ashok Prasad whose ‘parti’ land is in
the southern side of the place of occurrence. PW-6 had sent the
seized clothes to the FSL for examination with the permission
of the court. He had submitted the chargesheet against the
appellant which has been marked Exhibit ‘5’. PW-6 has further
proved the FSL Report No. 239 of 2019 dated 18.04.2019
(Exhibit ‘6’).
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23. From the evidence of Dr. Renu Prabha (PW-7), it
appears that she was posted as a Medical Officer at Sadar
Hospital, Madhubani on 29.01.2019. On that day, a Medical
Board was constituted under the Chairmanship of the
Superintendent, Sadar Hospital, Madhubani. She was a member
of the Medical Board. She has stated about the conclusion of the
Medical Board. The Medical Report of the victim has been
marked Exhibit ‘7’ and the signature of the witness on this
medical report has been marked Exhibit ‘7/1’. She also
recognized the signature on medical report of Dr. Rajeev Ranjan
and Dr. A.N. Prasad which were marked Exhibit ‘7/2’ and
Exhibit ‘7/3’ respectively.
24. The findings of the Medical Board is recorded in
paragraph ‘2’ of the deposition of PW-7 which we reproduce
hereunder for a ready reference:-
“2. Medical Board examined victim with her
consent on dated 29-01-2019 at 04:38 PM and
found the following:- Occurrence happened
on 28.01.2019 at 07:00 PM Height 3ft 5inch,
Weight 28 Kg, teeth 11/11, Secondary sexual
character not developed. No external injury
present over her body. Injury on private part.
Hymen ruptured, lacerated inflamed. Pain on
touch fourchette also lacerated. Victim
undergarments are kept by police.”
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25. The conclusion of the Medical Board recorded in the
evidence of PW-7 is as under:-
“6. Conclusion of Medical Board – Injury
over private part may be due to sexual assault.
The age of victim is about 5 years.”
26. In her cross-examination also, she has stated that
injuries were found on the private part of the victim.
27. The FSL Report (Exhibit ‘6’) reveals that blood
was found on the victim’s frock and jeans pant and accused’s
pant, thus, the FSL Report (Exhibit ‘6’) is corroborating the
version of the prosecution witnesses and had confirmed that
penetrative sexual assault has been committed upon the victim
which in the opinion of this Court will come within the meaning
of the offence ‘Rape’ as defined under Section 375 IPC.
28. On going through the entire evidence available on
the record, we find no merit in the contention of learned counsel
for the appellant that the conviction of the appellant would be
bad for not having been supported by any independent witness.
In a case of the present nature where the victim (PW-4) has
proved herself in the category of a sterling witness, her
deposition inspires confidence and the same is duly corroborated
by the medical report (Exhibit ‘7’) and the FSL Report (Exhibit
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‘6’), in the opinion of this Court, the learned trial court has not
committed any error in appreciation of the evidence adduced by
the prosecution.
29. The plea of the appellant that there was a delay in
lodging of the FIR is liable to be rejected in view of the
evidences available on the record. The occurrence took place on
28.01.2019 at 07:00 PM. The informant has categorically stated
that he had taken the victim to the Madhwapur Hostpital. Her
vagina was covered with blood. The villagers had handed over
the accused-appellant to the police. After getting the victim
treated, the informant submitted his written information. So, FIR
was registered on 29.01.2019 at 08:15 AM. The victim was
examined on the same day under Section 161 CrPC and she was
taken to the learned Magistrate on 30.01.2019 where her
statement under Section 164 CrPC was recorded. She remained
consistent in her both the statements. In a case of the present
nature, it cannot be expected that instead of getting the victim
treated immediately any priority could have been given to
submit a written information in the police station which was at a
distance of 12 kilometers from the place of occurrence. The
delay is not such that it would cast any doubt over the
prosecution story.
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30. In our considered opinion, the learned trial court is
correct in holding that the plea set up by the defence as regards
the false implication of the appellant because of land dispute has
not been proved and we find that the appellant has not
discharged his burden even by way of preponderance of
possibility so as to keep intact the presumption of innocence.
The prosecution has proved the primary facts which constitute
the foundation of the prosecution case beyond all reasonable
doubts.
31. In the kind of evidence available on the record, we
find no error in the impugned judgment and order.
32. This appeal has no merit. It is dismissed.
33. Let a copy of this judgment together with the trial
court’s records be sent down to the learned trial court.
(Rajeev Ranjan Prasad, J)
( Shailendra Singh, J)
SUSHMA2/-
AFR/NAFR CAV DATE Uploading Date 24.07.2025 Transmission Date 24.07.2025
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