THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO CRIMINAL APPEAL No.523 of 2008 17-07-2014 BETWEEN:
Ravuth Dileep …..Appellant/Accused AND State of A.P., Rep. by the Public Prosecutor, High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the State of Telangana and the State of A.P.
…..Respondent THIS COURT MADE THE FOLLOWING JUDGMENT: THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO CRIMINAL APPEAL No.523 of 2008 JUDGMENT:
The Criminal Appeal is preferred by the appellant/accused against the Judgment dated 10.04.2008 passed in Special S.C. No.25 of 2007, by the Court of Special Judge under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act – cum – I Additional Sessions Judge, Adilabad, whereby the learned Judge found the appellant/accused guilty and convicted for the offence under Section 323 IPC and Section 3(1)(i) of the Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and accordingly sentenced him to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/- (Rupees one thousand only) for the offence under Section 323 IPC, and to suffer rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year and to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/- (Rupees one thousand only) for the offence under Section 3(1)(i) of the SCs and STs (PoA) Act. In default of payment of fine, the accused shall undergo simple imprisonment for three months under each count.
The case of the prosecution is as follows:
The families of P.W.1 and the accused were the devotees of Shyamsunder Maharaj at Akurla Village. P.W.1 and some other villagers lost faith over him and they stopped to go to the house of accused. They started praying another Maharaj calling him from Maharashtra. The accused got angry over P.W.1 and suspected that P.Ws.1, 2 and 4 were practising sorcery on him through Maharashtra Maharaj. That on 04.01.2007 at about 12.00 hrs., the accused called P.Ws.1 to 4 through P.W.7 to his house. The accused questioned them about the practice of sorcery over him. P.Ws.1 to 4 denied the same. The accused beat them mercilessly with hands. He caught hold of their tuft and abused them in filthy language by touching upon their caste and further threatened them with dire consequences. The accused forced P.Ws.1, 2 and 4 to drink skin drenched water. Basing on the complaint lodged by P.W.1, the case was registered against the accused for the offence under Section 323 IPC and Section 3(1)(x) of the SCs and STs (PoA) Act. After completion of investigation, charge sheet was filed.
To substantiate the case of the prosecution, during the course of trial, P.Ws.1 to 15 were examined and Exs.P.1 to P.16 were marked.
No oral evidence was adduced on behalf of the accused, but marked Ex.D.1, a portion of Statement under Section 161 CrPC., of P.W.2.
P.Ws.1 and 2 are husband and wife respectively. P.W.1 deposed that the accused came to his house and abused him and his family members alleging that he was practicing sorcery and later the accused brought water from S.C. colony and forced them to drink the same. P.W.2 deposed that the accused abused her and her husband P.W.1 by touching upon their caste. P.Ws.3 and 4 are husband and wife respectively. They also deposed that the accused came to their house and beat P.W.4 alleging that they are practicing sorcery and that accused forced them to drink ‘kundika paani’. P.Ws.5 to 12, who are independent witnesses, turned hostile and have not supported the case of prosecution. P.W.13 is the then Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police, who received complaint, Ex.P.1, from P.W.1 and registered the case and issued F.I.R. P.W.14 is Civil Surgeon, who examined P.Ws.1 and 2 and found simple injuries on them and Exs.P.12 and P.13 respectively are the wound certificates issued by him. P.W.15 is the then Sub-Divisional Police Officer, who conducted investigation and filed Charge Sheet.
On appreciation of the oral and documentary evidence and on hearing the arguments on both sides, the Court below acquitted the appellant/accused for the offence under Section 3(1)(x) of the SCs and STs (PoA) Act. The Court below found the appellant/accused guilty and convicted for the offence under Section 323 IPC and Section 3(1) (i) of the SCs and STs (PoA) Act and accordingly sentenced them as stated above. Aggrieved thereby, the present Criminal Appeal is preferred by appellant/accused.
Heard and perused the entire material available on record.
P.W.1 is the aggrieved person. He deposed in his chief examination that ten months prior to the date of deposition before the Court that the appellant/accused herein abused him and other family members in filthy language alleging that he is practicing sorcery. He further deposed that the accused brought water from a pot of SC community and asked him to chant mantra over it and consume the same and forced to drink that water. The evidence of P.W.1 was corroborated by P.Ws.2, 3 and 4. The other independent witnesses i.e. P.Ws.5 to 12 turned hostile and have not supported the case of prosecution. It is to be noted that there is a delay of ten hours in lodging the complaint. The complaint, Ex.P.1, is lodged by P.W.1 in English and relevant portion of it runs as follows:
Today on 04.01.2007 at about 12 Noon, Mr.Raut Dilip, S/o Ramachander, R/o Akurla Village, called me to his house, when I reached to his house, he imposed false allegations against me and my wife as we both are magicians and doing magic, I denied his false allegations, suddenly he attacked on me in angry style and starts mercilessly beatings to me by abusing filthy and obscene languages to me and my caste i.e., ‘PARDHAN LANJA KODAKA – NI AWWANI DENGA – PENDLAM DENGA’ and many obscene and abusive languages given by him to me and my caste, meanwhile my wife reached there, he caught hold hairs of my wife and beatings her by abusing filthy language to her and he drink me animal skin water by forcibly and threatened to me and my wife with dire consequences to kill. Due to his merciless beatings on my chest, I am feeling severe pain in my chest, he also threatened me with dire consequences to see later on.
In the complaint, Ex.P.1, as extracted above, P.W.1 stated that the accused uttered the abusive words by touching upon his caste, whereas P.W.1 has not deposed with regard to the abusive words allegedly uttered by the accused and hence, there is a contradiction between Ex.P.1 and his deposition before the Court. P.W.1 did not even whisper that the accused abused him and his family members by touching upon their caste. Hence, the trial Court acquitted the appellant/accused for the offence under Section 3(1)(x) of the SCs and STs (PoA) Act. However, the trial Court convicted the appellant/accused for the offence under Section 3(1)(i) of the SCs and STs (PoA) Act, on the ground that P.Ws.1 to 4 were forced to drink skin drenched water. In this connection, it is relevant to extract Section 3(1) (i) of the SCs and STs (PoA) Act.
3. Punishments for offences of atrocities:- (1) whoever, not being a member of a Schedule Caste or a Scheduled Tribe, -
(i) forces a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe to drink or eat any inedible or obnoxious substance;
On reading Section 3(1)(i) of the SCs and STs (PoA) Act, if a person, who is not a member of Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, forces a member of Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe to drink or eat any inedible or obnoxious substance, he shall be punished for the offence under Section 3(1)(i) of the SCs and STs (PoA) Act. In the present case, on reading the complaint, Ex.P.1 it is not clear as to whether P.Ws.1 to 4 consumed the animal skin water, whereas P.W.1 in his evidence deposed that the accused brought water from the pot of SCs and forced them to drink. Hence, there is a variation in the chief examination of P.W.1 and the complaint given by him. Hence, this Court of the view that the appellant/accused has not committed an offence under Section 3(1)(i) of the SCs and STs (PoA) Act, and as such the accused cannot be convicted for the said offence. The conviction and sentence imposed by the Court below against the appellant/accused for the offence under Section 3(1)(i) of the SCs and STs (PoA) Act is liable to be set aside.
Insofar as the conviction and sentence imposed by the Court below against the appellant/accused for the offence under Section 323 IPC is concerned, the evidence of P.Ws.1 to 4 with regard to the injuries caused by the appellant/accused is supported by the medical evidence, and as such the conviction and sentence imposed by the Court below for the offence under Section 323 IPC is hereby confirmed.
In the result, the Judgment of the Court below in convicting and sentencing the appellant/accused for the offence under Section 323 IPC is confirmed and the Judgment of the Court below in convicting and sentencing the appellant/accused for the offence under Section 3(1)(i) of the SCs and STs (PoA) Act is hereby set aside. The bail bonds shall stand cancelled and the sureties stand discharged. The fine amount, if any, paid by the appellant/accused for the offence under Section 3(1)(i) of the SCs and STs (PoA) Act shall be refunded to him.
The Criminal Appeal is accordingly partly allowed. Consequently, the miscellaneous petitions, if any pending in this appeal, shall stand closed.
JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO 17.07.2014 pln