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16(d) According to the learned senior counsel, the court below has failed to consider that the mandatory requirement of Section 160 Cr.P.C. was violated while taking statements from the victim girls and they were illegally subjected to medical examination.

16(e) Insofar as the charge of murder is concerned, the learned senior counsel submits that the defence witnesses, D.Ws.1, 8, 12, 2, 11, 19 and 22 have all clearly spoken to the fact that the deceased Ravi was an insane person and it is supported by the medical evidence of D.W.46 and Ex.D.66. The trial court had accepted the case of the defence that Ravi suffered insanity during lucid intervals. According to him, there is inordinate delay in registering the complaint of the death of the said Ravi. In Ex.P.25, there was no mention about the murder of Ravi. The oral evidence led in on the side of the prosecution namely P.Ws.1, 3, 5, 8, 11, 16, 17 and 18 are unreliable. All the witnesses admit that they did not mention about the murder in their statements before the police and in their Sec. 164 Cr.P.C. statements and therefore, according to him, it is clear that the evidence given by the witnesses before the court is tutored. There is ample evidence to show that the prosecution witnesses were beaten up, pressurized and offered compensation for deposing against the appellants.

16(h) The learned counsel went on to submit that insofar as the case of statutory rapes against P.W.6, P.W.8, P.W.9 and P.W.10 are concerned, their medical evidence show their age as 16 to 18 years. In the absence of clear evidence, it is unsafe to rely on the medical evidence in this case.

16(i) The learned senior counsel submits that the evidence obtained from the victim girls, including the medical evidence, is taken contrary to the mandatory requirement of Section 160 Cr.P.C. and that their statements were not voluntary and have to be looked with suspicion.

19(b) Learned Special Public Prosecutor further submitted as all offences were committed in pursuance to a conspiracy, the letters seized, the character and behaviour of the accused, the propensity of the accused to commit the crime and the torture meted out to the victim girls, have all become relevant as per the provisions of the Indian Evidence Act. According to him, even if the evidence on the character of A-1 is excluded, there is sufficient evidence to establish the charge of conspiracy, rape and murder against the accused. He also submits that the provisions of Section 160 Cr.P.C. have not been violated in this case, since the victim girls were taken to the Pudukkottai Hospital and thereafter kept in an institution meant for women.