Patna High Court
Ruksad @ Rukshad vs The State Of Bihar on 7 January, 2025
Author: Ashutosh Kumar
Bench: Ashutosh Kumar, Nawneet Kumar Pandey
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL APPEAL (DB) No.653 of 2023
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-217 Year-2019 Thana- BIKRAMGANJ District- Rohtas
======================================================
Ravindra Singh, S/o Sri Lalji Hasah @ Lalji Singh, R/o Village - Karan Sarai
(Koran Sarai Bankat Mathila), P.S. - Saraiya (Koran Sarai), District - Buxar.
... ... Appellant/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Respondent/s
======================================================
with
CRIMINAL APPEAL (DB) No. 816 of 2023
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-217 Year-2019 Thana- BIKRAMGANJ District- Rohtas
======================================================
Ruksad @ Rukshad, S/o Dilshad, R/o Village - Shivrawane, P.S. - Mudha
Pandey, District - Muradabad (UP).
... ... Appellant/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Respondent/s
======================================================
Appearance :
(In CRIMINAL APPEAL (DB) No. 653 of 2023)
For the Appellant/s : Mr. Chandra Mohan Singh, Adv.
For the Respondent/s : Mr. Dilip Kumar Sinha, APP
(In CRIMINAL APPEAL (DB) No. 816 of 2023)
For the Appellant/s : Mr. Diwakar Prasad Singh, Adv.
For the Respondent/s : Mr. Dilip Kumar Sinha, APP
======================================================
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.653 of 2023 dt.07-01-2025
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ASHUTOSH KUMAR
and
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE NAWNEET KUMAR
PANDEY
ORAL JUDGMENT
(Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ASHUTOSH KUMAR)
Date : 07-01-2025
Both the appeals have been taken up
together and are being disposed off by this common
judgment.
2. We have heard Mr. Chandra Mohan
Singh, the learned counsel for the appellant/Ravindra
Singh in Cr. Appeal (DB) No. 653 of 2023 and Mr.
Diwakar Prasad Singh, the learned counsel for the
appellant/Ruksad @ Rukshad in Cr. Appeal (DB) No. 816
of 2023.
3. The State, in both the appeals, has been
represented by Mr. Dilip Kumar Sinha, the learned APP.
4. Both the appellants have been convicted
for the offences under Sections 376 and 302 of the Indian
Penal Code (in short the IPC) and Section 6 of the
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (in
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.653 of 2023 dt.07-01-2025
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short the POCSO Act, 2012) vide judgment dated
19.04.2023
passed by the learned 7 th Addl. District &
Sessions Judge-cum-Exclusive Special Judge (POCSO),
Sasaram in POCSO Case No. 42 of 2019, arising out of
Bikramganj P.S. Case No. 217 of 2019. By order dated
28.04.2023, they have been sentenced to undergo R.I. for
20 years, to pay a fine of Rs. 50,000/- each and in default
of payment of fine, to further suffer S.I. for six months for
the offence under Section 6 of POCSO Act, 2012.
5. A five year old girl is alleged to have been
raped and strangulated to death. The dead-body was
recovered by her father/Santosh Rajwar (P.W. 4) with the
help of others. The appellants were suspected to have
committed the crime.
6. Appellant/Ravindra Singh is said to have
offered a biscuit to the victim before the occurrence.
Appellant/Ruksad @ Ruksahd is said to be a friend of
Ravindra, who had come from Delhi to visit him. Both of
them had been residing in the house of a co-villager for
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.653 of 2023 dt.07-01-2025
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some time. Both the appellants were, therefore, arrested.
7. It appears from the records that the
investigation was concluded only on the basis of suspicion
against the afore-noted two appellants. Though some
efforts were made to have the appellants medically
examined, but there is no report on record which only
leads to one inference that nothing concrete could be
procured with respect to the offence of rape and murder of
the deceased.
8. A horrendous tale by the father of the
deceased (P.W. 4), forms the basis of the prosecution
case.
9. P.W. 4 (the father) had lodged the
fardbeyan on 30.04.2019 at Karuna Hospital in
Bikramganj at about 10:40 hours, alleging that his
wife/Asha Devi (P.W. 3) had informed him at his
workplace, a Rice Mill Plant, that his five year old daughter
is missing from the home. On such information, he came
back home at about 08:30 P.M. on 30.04.2019 and was
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told by his wife that Ravindra, who is the son of the co-
brother of his neighbour, namely, Surendra Mahto, and his
friend, who had come from Delhi, had been playing with
the victim/deceased some times ago. On this information,
P.W. 4 along with the other villagers went to the house of
Ravindra Singh and accosted him and his friend, who did
not give any specific reply. In fact, they, may be for
pretence, offered to search his daughter. Shortly,
thereafter, the dead-body of his daughter was found in the
field. From the look of the dead-body, it appeared that
she was strangulated as there was a ligature mark and the
deceased was bleeding from her private parts. This gave
an impression that, perhaps, the appellants had raped and
killed the deceased.
10. Based on the afore-noted fardbeyan
statement of P.W. 4, a case vide Bikramganj P.S. Case
No. 217 of 2019, dated 30.04.2019, was registered for
investigation under Sections 376 and 302/34 of the IPC,
Sections 4 and 6 of the POCSO Act, 2012 and Sections 3
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(2) (V) and 3 (1) (W) (I) (II) of the Scheduled Castes &
Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
11. The police, toeing the same line of
suspicion, charge-sheeted the appellants, whereupon the
case was committed to the Special Court for trial.
12. The Trial Court/Special Court, after
having examined eleven witnesses on behalf of the
prosecution and one on behalf of the defense, convicted
and sentenced the appellants as aforesaid.
13. The refrain of the appellants while
commenting on the impugned judgment is that there is no
evidence at all against the appellants except for wild
suspicion. The other strand of argument on behalf of the
appellants is that it is a deliberate attempt on the part of
P.W. 4 and his family members to implicate Ravindra and
because his friend had visited him from Delhi, him as well
so as to lend credence to the story of rape and murder; the
reason being a dispute over a plot of land which was
purchased by Ravindra in the name of his wife and which
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plot of land was under the occupation of P.W. 3, the
mother of the deceased and for which, a civil case also was
pending in the Courts of law.
14. The grandmother of the victim (P.W. 1)
is the only person who had seen Ravindra offering biscuits
to the deceased. It was, thereafter, that the mother of the
deceased came looking for her. P.W. 1 told the mother of
the victim about Ravindra having offered biscuits.
Thereafter, the whole story unfolded. The mother of the
deceased called her husband (P.W. 4), who came back
home and with the help of the villagers found out the
dead-body. P.W. 1, in her cross-examination, has
admitted that for a plot of land, a case was pending in
Bikramganj Court in which, she and Ravindra both were
parties. The land in question was in occupation of none.
Ravindra Singh had long being working at Delhi and on
that day, his friend (appellant/Ruksad @ Rukshad) had
also come to the village. When the dead-body of the
deceased was recovered, she was found to be wearing a
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red T-shirt and a pair of jeans. Be it noted that the
prosecution version is that the deceased was found naked
in the filed. The suggestion to her that the victim had died
a natural death and that this case has wrongly been put up
because of land dispute, was vehemently denied by her.
15. The maternal grandmother (P.W. 2) also
had the same story to narrate to the Trial Court, namely,
of suspicion against the appellants and the recovery of the
dead-body shortly thereafter. She had not been examined
by the police during the course of investigation. However,
she also ratified the factum of a civil case pending between
the parties with respect to a tract of land.
16. The mother of the deceased has been
examined as P.W. 3, who had not seen appellant/Ruksad
@ Rukshad ever before. However, she claims to have
seen the appellants at about 5 O’ clock in the evening of
29.04.2019. She had no conversation with them. She
was told by her mother-in-law (P.W. 1) that Ravindra had
offered biscuits to the deceased some times in the
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.653 of 2023 dt.07-01-2025
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evening. It was suggested to her that some food item
consumed by the deceased had made her sick and she
died a natural death, but the appellants were framed
purposefully, which was denied by her.
17. Similar statement has been made by the
father of the victim (P.W. 4), who is the informant of this
case. He was very specific in telling the Trial Court that
the neck of the deceased was tied and she was gagged
with a piece of cloth. She was bleeding from her private
parts. In his cross-examination, he has also admitted that
he had dispute with appellant/Ravindra. He disclosed that
the land in question was purchased by Ravindra in the
name of his wife from his uncle and that the dispute was
continuing for about four to five years. He had seen both
the appellants after the occurrence. Both of them had not
made any effort to search out the deceased. He too has
denied the suggestion that the appellants were falsely
framed.
18. The post-mortem on the dead-body was
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done by a Medical Board of which Dr. B.K. Puskar (P.W. 5)
was one of the members. The Board had found a ligature
mark above the thyroid cartilage all around the neck. The
hymen was found to be ruptured. There were blood clots
around the lower part of the vagina. There were abrasions
at two places on the labia-majora. The vaginal swab was
taken for histo-pathological examination. There was
extravassation of blood under the ligature mark which was
discerned on the opening of the neck. The neck muscles
were found to be lacerated. The large vessel of the neck
was found to be congested and engorged. The tracheal
ring and larynx were found to be fractured. There were no
other injuries on any other part of the body. According to
P.W. 5, the microscopic examination of the vaginal swab
was done by one Dr. S.S. Prasad, the Pathologist posted in
Sadar Hospital, Sasaram. According to the report
prepared by him, no spermatozoa, either dead or alive,
was found. The cause of death was opined to be asphyxia
and the time of death was placed somewhere between
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.653 of 2023 dt.07-01-2025
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twelve to twenty four hours approximately.
19. It was, thus, concluded by the Medical
Board that even though no spermatozoa was found in the
microscopic examination of the vaginal swab, the findings
in the post-mortem examination suggested that the
probability of rape could not be ruled out.
20. Suresh Rajwar and Sanjay Rajwar (P.W.
6 and P.W. 7) respectively did not offer anything specific
regarding the occurrence or the accusation against the
appellants and, therefore, their depositions are not being
discussed presently.
21. The Investigator of this case (P.W. 8)
has averred before the Trial Court that he had arrested
Ravindra Singh and Ruksad @ Rukshad allegedly after the
occurrence. Their clothes were also seized and a seizure-
list was prepared (Ext.-4). Both the appellants were sent
for medical examination to ascertain whether they were
guilty of rape or that they had consumed any intoxicant.
The clothes also were dispatched for forensic examination.
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.653 of 2023 dt.07-01-2025
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22. Sobha Rani (P.W. 9) had also
participated in the investigation. She had prepared the
inquest report and was of the view that the deceased,
perhaps, was first raped and then strangulated to death.
23. For the forensic evidence, the Trial Court
was offered the evidence of Dr. Suhani Jain (P.W. 10), an
Assistant Director of Biological Sciences in State Forensic
Laboratory, Patna. She had examined the clothes of the
victim and the appellants, dispatched in six parcels. On
none of these clothes, there were any sign of semen. All
the clothes though bore grey stains, but they were neither
stiff to feel nor did they produce any characteristic bluish
white fluorescence in ultra violet light.
24. The serologist report (P.W. 11) is of no
value to us for the reason that the blood stains were found
to be of Group-B but there is no report in record regarding
the blood group of the deceased or of the appellants.
25. The maternal uncle of the
appellant/Ravindra Singh appeared before the Trial Court
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.653 of 2023 dt.07-01-2025
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as D.W. 1, who attributed the accusation against him to be
a fall out of the land dispute between Ravindra and the
parents of the deceased.
26. Thus, for all practical purposes, the only
evidence against the appellants is of the grandmother of
the deceased having seen Ravindra offering biscuits to the
deceased prior to the occurrence. There is no eye-witness
to the occurrence nor any witness of even having seen the
appellants moving in any direction either prior or after the
occurrence. The deceased definitely was strangulated to
death. There is but no conclusivity about the deceased
having been raped. There could be a possibility of the
deceased having been raped and we say so for the reason
that the hymen of a five year old girl was found to be
ruptured and bruises were found at two places on the
labia-majora. If the deceased was not raped before
strangulation, she was definitely sexually attacked and
violated.
27. Who did it is the question, which needs
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.653 of 2023 dt.07-01-2025
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an answer.
28. Could the giving of a biscuit to the
deceased by one of the appellants be a circumstantial
evidence to believe that the appellant and his friend had
committed the rape and murder?
29. It could be the starting point of the
investigation, but it could not be taken as any definite
proof of the fact that the deceased was raped and
strangulated by the appellants.
30. The law pertaining to the appreciation of
the circumstantial evidence has been very succinctly
explained by the Supreme Court in Hanumant Vs. State
of M.P. : 1952(2) SCC 71, wherein it has been held
that in cases where the evidence would be of a
circumstantial nature from which the conclusion of guilt is
drawn, those evidences have to be fully established and all
the facts so established ought to be consistent only with
the hypothesis of the guilt of the accused. The
circumstances should be of a conclusive nature and
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.653 of 2023 dt.07-01-2025
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tendency. They should be such as to exclude every other
hypothesis, but the one proposed to be proved.
Simultaneously, there must be a chain of evidence
complete in itself, leaving no room for any reasonable
doubt that the accused could be innocent also. Such
proposition, by and large, has been followed rather
consistently till date. [also refer to Tufail Vs. State of
U.P. : (1969) 3 SCC 198; Ram Gopal Vs. State of
Maharashtra : (1972) 4 SCC 625 and Sharad Birdhi
Chand Sharda Vs. State of Maharashtra : (1984) 4
SCC 116].
31. A further elucidation was made by the
Supreme Court in Shivaji Sahebrao Bobade & Anr.
Vs. State of Maharashtra : (1973) 2 SCC 793 ,
wherein the Supreme Court indicated that the
circumstances concerned “must or should” and not “may
be” established. There is not only a grammatical but a
legal distinction between may be proved and must be or
should be proved. [also refer to Padala Veera Reddy
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.653 of 2023 dt.07-01-2025
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Vs. State of A.P. : 1989 Supp. (2) SCC 706;
Gambhir Vs. State of Maharashtra : (1982) 2 SCC
351 and Navaneethakrishnan Vs. The State By
Inspector of Police : (2018) 16 SCC 161].
32. So far for the appreciation of the
circumstantial evidence.
33. We have tested the case from a different
angle as well. One of the appellants, viz., Ravindra Singh
had purchased a plot of land from the uncle of P.W. 4.
This purchase went in dispute. The land, in all probability,
was not in the physical occupation of anybody and was
lying fallow. Obviously, therefore, there would be enmity
between Ravindra and the parents of the deceased.
34. Under what circumstances did
appellant/Ravindra offer biscuits to the daughter of the
family? Nobody appears had objected to it. This,
perhaps, was done in presence of the grandmother of the
deceased.
35. Assuming such an incident of
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neighbourly affection to be true, could it have given a
doubt in the minds of anyone that this was for the purpose
of luring the victim to a secluded place? This is not the
prosecution case either. In fact, the grandmother (P.W. 1)
has categorically stated that because of the land dispute,
the victim was raped and murdered. This again appears to
be a weird proposition. The dispute was continuing for
about four to five years. Appellant/Ravindra Singh is the
son of a co-brother of a co-villager.
36. Could enmity have been the motive of
subjecting a five year old girl to such a criminal act?
37. Was it for sexual lust?
38. These questions could have been
answered if the investigation was not merely based on
unfounded suspicion raised by the grandmother, mother
and father of the deceased.
39. The appellants were arrested shortly
after the recovery of the dead body.
40. There appears to be compliance of
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.653 of 2023 dt.07-01-2025
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Section 53-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, but that
did not give any satisfactory explanation regarding the
correctness of the suspicion against them. If they had
raped and killed the deceased, they would not have stayed
back in the same village, especially when both the
appellants had been working in Delhi.
41. Why would a friend of a co-villager
indulge in such activities?
42. We see no reason for the appellants to
have done that. We are saying so only for the reason that
there is no evidence worth its name for jumping to the
conclusion regarding their guilt.
43. It is horrifying to conceive of a situation
where the dead-body of a five year old girl would be found
thrown in the field with no trace of who committed such
offence. Nonetheless, it would be equally horrendous to
put the blame on somebody against whom no evidence
could be collected.
44. Convicting the appellants, therefore, in
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such a situation would not be even paying lip-service to
the basic principles of law regarding appreciation of
circumstantial evidence.
45. Offering of a biscuit some times prior to
the occurrence by a co-villager is no circumstance at all.
46. On this appreciation of the facts of this
case, we find the conviction of the appellants to be totally
unwarranted.
47. We, therefore, giving benefit of doubt to
the appellants, find the judgment impugned to be
unsustainable in the eyes of law and, therefore, we set it
aside.
48. Both the appellants are acquitted of all
the charges levelled against them.
49. The appeals stand allowed.
50. Both the appellants are in jail. They are
directed to be released forthwith from jail, if not detained
or wanted in any other case.
51. Let a copy of this judgment be
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dispatched to the Superintendent of the concerned Jail
forthwith for compliance and record.
52. The records of these cases be returned
to the Trial Court forthwith.
53. Interlocutory application/s, if any, also
stand disposed off accordingly.
(Ashutosh Kumar, J)
(Nawneet Kumar Pandey, J)
Praveen-II/Kundan
AFR/NAFR AFR
CAV DATE N/A
Uploading Date 08.01.2025
Transmission Date 08.01.2025