Judgment

Santosh Hegde, J.-The appellant was convicted and sentenced by the XXII City Civil & Sessions Judge, Bangalore Rural District, Bangalore in SC No. 337/91 vide his judgment dated 18.2.1992 for life imprison­ment for an offence punishable under Section 302 of the IPC and for a period of 10 years’ RI for an offence punishable under Section 377 IPC and for 5 years’ RI under Section 364 of the IPC and another period of 5 years for an offence under Section 201 IPC; all the sentences were made to run concurrently. On appeal, the High Court of Karnataka as per its judgment dated 13.1.1993 in Criminal Appeal No. 334/92 while confirming the sentences awarded by the Sessions Court for offences under Sections 302, 364 and 201 IPC, set aside the conviction and sentences awarded by the trial Court for an offence punishable under Section 377 IPC.

2. The prosecution case, in brief, is that the appellant was a resi­dent of House No. 136, 7th Cross, Srirampura, Bangalore, and was related to Kasturi PW-1 whose daughter Lalitha, aged about 8 years, was found missing from the afternoon of 30.4.1991. PW-1 made frantic search for her daughter and came to know from the neighbours that her daughter