JUDGMENT

Leave granted.

2. In view of the order dated 13.04.2018 passed by this Court while granting permission to file Special Leave Petition and issuing notice, the scope of this appeal is restricted to the question of sentence; and the appellants herein, after their conviction of offences under Sections 363, 366 and 376(1) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (''PC'), have already undergone 13 years and 2 months of imprisonment. In the given circumstances, we have heard learned counsel for the parties finally at this stage itself.

2.1. Even the short question involved in this matter carries the peculiarities of its own, as noticed infra.

3. As regards relevant background aspects, suffice it to notice that on 03.02.2008, Case Crime No. 44 of 2008 for offences under Sections 363 and 366 Indian Penal Code, 1860 ('IPC') came to be registered at Police Station, T.P. Nagar, Meerut on the basis of a written complaint that the complainant's 13-year-old daughter, who had gone to school on 15.01.2008, had not returned; and after a lot of efforts, the complainant came to know that the accused-appellant No. 2 Faimuddin @ Feru @ Sonu had enticed his daughter. In the course of investigation, the victim