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Showing contexts for: black magic in Parmar Tulsibhai Kevalbhai vs The State Of ... on 26 March, 2015Matching Fragments
3. Briefly stated, prosecution version was that one Ms. 'H', the victim, aged about 19 years was married to PW2, Kishanbhai Aalabhai Parmar. She suffered from chronic stomachache. Despite medical treatment, there was no relief. The accused claimed to be a 'Bhuva" (a tantrik; a person knowing black magic and one who would use it normally for curing people of incurable mental and physical ailments). He had come to visit a temple in the R/CR.A/828/2007 JUDGMENT village where the victim was living with her inlaws. Her motherinlaw coming to know about his professed powers, called him to cure the victim. He performed a brief ceremony and assured that within few weeks, the pain will subside. Coincidentally, after this incident pain also eased upon which the family of the victim called the accused for performing puja. He came to their house on 14.5.2006. In the evening, after having dinner, he started the ceremony inside the house. After couple of hours of making a show of performing puja, he asked all the family members of the victim, except her, to leave the room so that he can complete rest of the ceremony. Her family members went out. After some time the accused asked them to shut the door to provide complete privacy. Some 10 to 15 minutes later, members of the family got suspicious. They rushed into the room to find the victim as well as the accused completely naked and accused having sexual intercourse with her. The accused escaped from there and an FIR was later on lodged by the victim.
4. Kishanbhai Aalabhai Parmar, PW2, exh.19, husband of the victim, deposed that he lived in village Javranti in Radhanpur Taluka. His wife was from Ahmedabad. He had got married two years back. She used to complain of stomachache. Despite medical treatment, her condition did not improve. Accused who had come to the village for visiting the temple was a 'Bhuva'. The mother therefore, met him and spoke to him about the complaint of the victim. He performed a brief ceremony and promised that the pain will disappear in 21 days, after which, rest of the ceremony would have to be performed. Since after this R/CR.A/828/2007 JUDGMENT incident, pain subsided, they called him to perform the remaining ceremony. He came at about 6 O' clock in the evening. Relatives had also come. They all had dinner in the evening. The accused started the ceremony at about 10 O' clock at night. He sat on a cot inside the room with his wife sitting opposite him. He and all other relatives were present. Accused spent time on ceremony for about two to three hours. At 1:30, he declared that looking to the cause of the pain, he would have to perform black magic for which he asked all the family members to sit outside the house. To get rid of wife's trouble permanently, they all went out. The door of the house was kept open. He closed the door upon the accused complaining about the disturbance. Some 10 to 15 minutes later, he opened the door to find his wife and accused both naked and the accused was having intercourse with the victim. He pulled him but the accused escaped and ran away. His wife told him that the accused had told her that if she did not allow him to have intercourse, her pain would not go away. Out of fear and unwillingly, she had participated in the intercourse. To avoid adverse publicity, they did not complaint immediately.
In the cross examination, he agreed that the door was not locked. It was merely left ajar. He knew that before marriage, his wife had a love affair with a boy living near her house. His wife had told him that since she married him, this boy was using black magic to harass her because of which she was having pain in her abdomen. He admitted that after the said incident, the victim was sent to her parents house and he never brought her back.
17. The only question is that of the consent of the victim. For multiple reasons, such claim of consensus act must be discarded. Firstly, no such suggestion was made by the defence at any stage of the trial. Secondly, the victim was aged barely 19 years of age. The accused was aged about 36 years. They had no previous meeting, contact or relations leading to any possibility of closeness. The victim would be taking an extreme risk consenting to such an act in close proximity of her husband and several other relatives sitting just outside the room which was 10 ft x 10 ft in area. The evidence strongly suggests that victim and other family members were prone to easily influence by persons claiming tantrik or special powers of black magic. The victim herself had disclosed to her husband that before marriage, she had affair with a boy in her neighbourhood. It was possible that since she married Kishanbhai, he was using black magic to harass her. The victim also pointed out that her husband had called 'Bhuva' on numerous occasion to cure all her ills. She was thus a young girl who could be influenced or impressed by a relatively elderly R/CR.A/828/2007 JUDGMENT person claiming to possess such super natural powers. The manner in which the incident took place, her condition soon after the accused was caught red handed committing crime, would suggest she was left in almost a trance at the time when the accused committed sexual intercourse with her and was thus deprived of any power of reasoning or judgement. The fact that she did not put up physical resistance would be wholly irrelevant. Clearly it was a case of sexual intercourse without consent.