The Orissa High Court released a man convicted for deceitfully having sex with a minor girl and causing her miscarriage by giving her abortion-inducing drugs. The High Court considered the provisions of the Probation of Offenders Act,1958 and also took note of the fact that more than 33 years had elapsed as the incident occured in the year 1991.

The Appeal before the High Court was filed against the order of conviction and sentence passed by the Assistant Sessions Judge sentencing the appellant-accused to undergo R.I. for 10 years under section 313 of the Indian Penal Code. The appellant was also sentenced to undergo R.I. for 3 years offence under section 493 of the Indian Penal Code.

The Single Bench of Justice Biraja Prasanna Satapathy said, “However, while not being inclined to interfere with the same, taking into account the incident being of the year 1991 and since in the meantime more than 33 years have passed, this Court directs for release of the appellant under the provisions of Probation of Offenders Act, 1958.”

Advocate S.K. Jena appeared for the appellant while Addl. Standing Counsel S.P. Das represented the Opposite Parties.

Factual Background

The complaint case was filed by the father of the victim in 1991 with the allegation that the appellant kept a physical relationship with the victim under the pretext of marriage and accordingly the victim became pregnant for 4 months. It was alleged that on coming to know that the victim had become pregnant, the appellant administered some medicines to her thereby causing the termination of the pregnancy. The Trial Court held the victim as a minor girl aged about 13 years in the year 1991 and convicted the accused-appellant.

Arguments

It was the case of the appellant that the delay in making the complaint was not satisfactorily explained and it couldn’t be said that the victim was a minor by the time the alleged incident occurred in 1991. It was also submitted that given the time of the commission of the offence, the appellant will now be aged more than 63 years. Therefore, a lenient view be taken and the appellant be extended with the benefit of the Probation of Offenders Act.

The Opposite Party contended that the evidence of the victim was corroborated by her father and the mother.Reference was made to the evidence of the Doctor, who admitted that by taking of Chloroquine Tablet, there was the possibility of abortion.

Reasoning

After going through the evidence of the victim-P.W.2 and the evidence of the Doctor-P.W.7, the Bench found that the victim implicated the accused-appellant for having a sexual relationship with her and administering the medicine to terminate the pregnancy.

Since the evidence of the victim had not been discarded in her cross-examination by the appellant-accused, the Bench stated that given such uncontroverted evidence of the victim coupled with the statement of the father, doctor and victim’s mother, the appellant had been rightly sentenced to undergo the imprisonment vide the impugned judgment.

However, taking into account the incident being of the year 1991 and more than 33 years had passed, the Court directed for the release of the appellant under the provisions of the Probation of Offenders Act.

The Bench disposed of the Petition by directing the appellant to appear before the Asst. Sessions Judge, Anandpur for his release under the provisions of the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958, within 1 month. “On such surrendering of the appellant, learned Asst. Sessions Judge shall do the needful in terms of the provisions contained under the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958”, it concluded.

Cause Title: Dolagobinda Jena v. State of Orissa (Case No. CRA No.55 of 1993)

Appearance:

Appellant: Advocate S.K. Jena

Opposite Parties: Addl. Standing Counsel S.P. Das

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Orissa High CourtJustice Biraja Prasanna Satapathy

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.