JUDGMENT

1. Heard Shri D. A. Sonawane, learned counsel appointed under the Legal Aid Scheme to appear on behalf of the appellant, and Shri M. J. Khan learned A.P.P. for respondent/State.

2. This appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 27/10/2016 made by the Special Judge and Additional Sessions Judge (Link Court), Mehkar in Special POCSO Case No. 2/2015 convicting inter alia the appellant for the offense under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO) and Section 11 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (the Act of 2006). The appellant has been sentenced to life imprisonment and fined for the other offenses for which he has been convicted.

3. The records indicate that along with the appellant, eight other accused persons were also tried for various offenses. However, some of them have been acquitted and only a few of them have been convicted for certain minor offenses. In this appeal, however, we are only concerned with the conviction and sentencing of the appellant as aforesaid.

4. The prosecution version is that the victim (name withheld) was, at the time of the commission of