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PETITIONER: DEVKI ALIAS KALA

       Vs.

RESPONDENT: THE STATE OF HARYANA

DATE OF JUDGMENT24/07/1979

BENCH: KRISHNAIYER, V.R. BENCH: KRISHNAIYER, V.R. DESAI, D.A. KOSHAL, A.D.

CITATION:  1979 AIR 1948            1980 SCR  (1)  21  1979 SCC  (3) 760

ACT:      Sentencing process-Plea  for an  order to release anti- social specialist criminals on probation under the Probation of Offenders  Act, 1958  (Act XX  of 1958)  is an  insulting stultification of the amelioratory legislation.

HEADNOTE:      The  petitioner   was  convicted  and  sentenced  under Sections 366  and 368  Penal code  to three  years’ rigorous imprisonment on  each count  for the  offences of abduction, seduction and  sale of  girls to others. In appeal, the High Court confirmed  the said  order of conviction under Section 366 I.P.C.  but set  aside the  conviction under Section 368 ibid.      Dismissing the special leave petition, the Court ^      HELD:  It   is  an   insulting  stultification  of  the amelioratory legislation  viz. Probation of Offenders Act to extend  its   considerate  provisions  to  such  anti-social specialist criminals,  as in this case, where the petitioner an abominable  culprit with  sufficient expertise in the art of abduction  seduction and  sale of  girls, descended  in a taxi cab,  kidnapped the  young woman and when she cried out administered the  potion which  rendered her unconscious and by a  well-laid out  plan took  her from  the small  town in Bihar to  Dhanbad and  from there,  via Delhi to Haryana and lodged her in a house for obvious immoral purposes.[82C-E]

JUDGMENT:      CRIMINAL APPELLATE  JURISDICTION : Petition for Special Leave to Appeal (Criminal) No. 1839 of 1979.      Appeal by  Special Leave  from the  Judgment and  Order dated 19-1-1973  of the  Punjab and  Haryana High  Court  in Criminal Appeal No. 329/75.      J. P. Goyal and S. K. Jain for the Petitioner.      The Order of the Court was delivered by      KRISHNA IYER, J. Parvati, an unsophisticated girl of 17 was wending  her way  home at  about sunset  along a  public street in  the artless  town of  Sitalpur in Bihar when Smt.

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Devki, the  petitioner  before  us,  with  diabolic  design, swooped down  and snatched  her into  a taxi-cab  and blized away. The weeping victim was medicated into unconsciousness, removed to  Dhanbad and  further on, to destination Haryana. Tragically, where  tourists abound,  satellite industries in female  flesh  flourish,  unless  the  State  crusades  with militant zeal  to stamp  out  this  terrible  vice.  Anyway, Parvati, by now enslaved in a village villa. was offered for marital sale to affluent lecherous youths. The damsel 92 in distress desperately escaped through a half-ajar door and eventually  landed   in  a   police  station.   The   police investigation unravelled  the pathetic story and ended up in a case,  conviction, appeal,  confirmation and,  finally, in this special  leave petition to this Court which is the last refuge of every vanquished litigant.      Confronted by concurrent findings of guilt, counsel for the petitioner  gave up  his attack  on the  conviction  and concentrated his  fire on the sentence, which, in this case, was three  years’ rigorous  imprisonment.  For  what  ?  For abducting  a  teenage  girl  and  forcing  her  into  sexual submission with commercial object, a racket which has become an   enormous    national   menace,    notwithstanding   the constitutional concern  for the weaker sex. Counsel dared to urge that  the Probation of Offenders Act should be extended to  this   abominable  culprit   who  had  shown  sufficient expertise in  the art  of abduction,  seduction and  sale of girls to  others who offer a tempting price. The features of this case  show that  the petitioner suddenly descended in a taxi-cab and  kidnapped the  young woman, and when she cried out, administered the potion which rendered her unconscious. Furthermore, a  well layout  plan is discernible when we see the geographical  spread of  the crime. From a small town in Bihar, the girl is despatched to Dhanbad and from there, via Delhi, to  Haryana, lodged  in a  house where young men were asked to  view her  for obvious  immoral purposes.  It is an insulting stultification  of  the  amelioratory  legislation viz. Probation  of Offenders  Act to  extend its considerate provisions to  such anti-social,  specialist criminals.  All that we  can do  is to  reject the plea with indignation and follow it  up with  an appeal  to the  State Governments  of Bihar and of Haryana to put a special squad on the trail and hound out  every such  offender so  that the  streets of our towns and  cities may be sanitized and safe after sunset for Indian womanhood. Dismissed. S.R.                                     Petition dismissed. 93