Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 23: The Fast Track Court, Jammu, has held that allegations constituting an offence of outraging modesty cannot be mechanically amplified into a charge of attempt to rape unless the material shows a direct and proximate movement towards commission of rape.
Presiding Officer Fast Track Court Jammu, Amarjeet Singh Langeh, passed the order while considering charge and discharge in a challan arising out of FIR No. 87/2024 registered at Police Station Akhnoor against accused Rakesh, son of Des Raj of Mawa Brahmana, Tehsil Akhnoor, for offences under Sections 354, 341, 382 and 376/511 IPC.
During arguments, APP Ajay Dogra, appearing for the State, fairly submitted that the act attributed to the accused could not prima facie come within the purview of an offence of attempt to commit rape, though sufficient material existed for proceeding against him under Sections 354, 341 and 382 IPC.
Deputy Legal Aid Defence Counsel Ashwani Kumar, representing the accused, argued that the allegations did not make out an offence under Sections 376/511 IPC and that the mobile-snatching allegation was also unsupported by material.
The court observed that although a roving enquiry into prosecution evidence is not permissible at the stage of charge, the court must consider the broad probabilities, the total effect of the evidence and documents produced before it, and cannot act merely as a mouthpiece of the prosecution.
Holding that the act attributed to the accused remained in the realm of preparation, the court ruled that it did not suggest a direct movement towards commission of rape after preparation was over.
The court also found the charge under Section 382 IPC unsustainable, observing that the investigating agency neither recovered the alleged mobile phone nor collected evidence that the accused destroyed it or caused its disappearance. The allegation of mobile snatching was therefore held to be speculative and unfounded.
Accordingly, the court discharged the accused from offences under Sections 376/511 and 382 IPC. However, finding prima facie material for offences under Sections 354 and 341 IPC, the court transferred the case to the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Akhnoor, with a direction to frame formal charges and proceed in accordance with law.
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