JUDGMENT :

UDAY UMESH LALIT, J.

1. This appeal under Section 379 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 read with Section 2 of the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, 1970 is directed against the judgment and order dated 07.12.2017 passed by the High Court of Uttarakhand at Nainital in Government Appeal No.139 of 2016.

2. The case of the prosecution as set out in the judgment under appeal was as under:

“2. The case of the prosecution, in a nutshell, is that at 11:00 AM, S.I. Manju Pandey, In-charge Human Trafficking Unit Shadra Bairaj, Banbasa along with other police officials reached at Sharda Bairaj near Indo-Nepal border towards eastern side to check the illicit human trafficking. One volunteer namely Meera Sauda was also with them. They were checking the people coming from Nepal border. At about 13:30 hours, a secret information was received that an Indian boy was trying to import a minor girl of Nepal origin for the purpose of exploitation. The information was acted upon and one girl was noticed near a cart selling snacks towards the eastern side of Sharda Barrage. The name of the girl was ascertained. She disclosed her name “X X X” ¹[Identity of t