In Atendra Thakur vs. The State of Bihar (2026), Patna High Court's Justice Shailendra Singh delivered a 20-page long judgement dated February 3, 2026 concluded:"... this Court finds the trial court’s approach in framing the charge under section 376 read with section 511 of the IPC against the appellant and convicting him for the same, to be correct. Accordingly, this Court finds no illegality in the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence and there is no merit in this appeal, so, it stands dismissed. 20. The appellant is on bail, so, his bail bonds are cancelled and he is directed to surrender before the trial court within fifteen days from the date of receipt of this Judgment’s copy by the trial court and serve the remaining part of the sentence awarded upon him by the trial court. If the appellant does not surrender within the fixed period then the trial court shall take all necessary legal steps to get him in custody and put him in jail so that he can serve the remaining part of his sentence. 21. Let the judgment’s copy along with the trial court’s record be sent immediately to the trial court for needful compliance."
The criminal appeal was preferred by the appellant, Atendra Kumar, against the judgment of conviction dated April 16, 2014 and the order of sentence dated April 23,2014 passed by the Court of Ad hoc Additional District & Sessions Judge-I, Patna, in a Sessions Trial of 2012 arose out of Parsa Bazar P.S. case 2012, G.R. of 2012, whereby and whereunder the appellant was convicted for the offence under Section 376 read with Section 511 of the Indian Penal Code, and he was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for five years with a fine of Rs. 10,000/.
Justice Singh examined the applicability of the offence punishable under section 376 read with section 511 of the IPC in the present matter. As per the story narrated by the victim in her fardbeyan, the accused firstly followed her and thereafter ran behind her in a field and pushed her to the ground and climbed onto her body and started opening her pant but during that course when the victim cried, the appellant tried to escape upon seeing the people who ran to the place of occurrence after hearing the cry of the victim. The victim deposed almost similar story before the trial court in her examination-in-chief and remained firm to her stand in the cross-examination also. By these acts of the appellant as alleged by the victim, it can be deemed that he had crossed the stage of preparation and entered into the stage of attempting to commit the offence of rape. As the appellant’s acts clearly demonstrate the execution of his mens rea to rape the victim and his preparation had come to an end on that very moment when he pushed the victim to the ground on a wheat field and climbed onto her body and tried to open her pant. Though he could not succeed in committing sexual penetration, however, the appellant was about to commit rape upon the victim but could not succeed on account of raising an alarm by the victim and owing to the arrival of nearby people.
The informant, who was the victim herself alleged that on April 14, 2012 at about 4:10 P.M., she went to the coaching centre run by one Gunjan Master, situated at village- Palanga Bagicha. After attending the coaching, she was returning alone to her home, when she saw the appellant coming from behind on a bicycle. Thereafter, when she reached near a ridge leading to her village, she left the road and chose a shortcut way to reach the village. After that the appellant started following her after leaving his bicycle in a field. The victim further alleged that when the appellant started following her, she, on account of being alone, started running, but the appellant chased and caught hold of her, closed her mouth by placing his hand, and pushed her to the ground of a wheat field with an intention to rape her. The victim further alleged that during the course of committing the occurrence, the appellant fell upon her body and tried to open her pant, but when she cried, some people started arriving at that place.
Thereafter, the appellant tried to flee, but he was caught by those persons. The appellant was assaulted by the people, and thereafter, the police were informed through mobile communication. After that the Station House Officer (SHO) and other police officials arrived there. As per the victim, she recorded her fardbeyan at 06:45 P.M. before the Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI), namely Din Bandhu Ram, of Parsa Bazar Police Station. On that basis, the formal FIR was registered baring Parsa Bazar P.S. Case No. 39 of 2012 for the offence under Section 376 read with Section 511 of IPC, that set the criminal law in motion.
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