1. The appellant is assailing the judgment and order dated 23.01.2012 rendered by the Sessions Judge, Bhandara in Sessions Trial 15/2010, by and under which, the appellant-accused is convicted for offence punishable under Section 376 read with Section 511 of the Indian Penal Code ('IPC' for short) and is sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for one year and to payment of fine of Rs.1000/-. The accused is acquitted of offence punishable under Section 354 and 376 of the IPC.

2. Heard Shri A.R. Kaplay, the learned Counsel for the appellant and Ms. T.H. Udeshi, the learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the respondent-State.

3. The genesis of the prosecution lies in oral report dated 24.10.2009 lodged by the victim (P.W.1) at the Mohadi Police Station, the gist of which is thus:

The victim, who was then aged 10 years is a student of the 5th standard and is residing at Dahegaon with her family. The incident occurred on 24.10.2009. The victim was at home in view of the Diwali vacation. The mother of the victim Smt. Chandrakalabai left home at 09:00 a.m. to harvest rise.

The victim and her father Dhondu (P.W.2) were at home. The accused is residing in the neighbourhood. The n