CHAKRADHARI SHARAN SINGH, J.:–The appellant has preferred this appeal under Section 374(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C. for brevity) challenging the judgment of conviction dated 08.02.2022 and the order of sentence dated 10.02.2022 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge-I, Bhagalpur, in Sessions Trial (GR) No. 131 of 2019, whereby the sole appellant has been convicted and sentenced as under:—

2. The sentences have been ordered to run concurrently with set off under Section 428 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C. for brevity) for the custody already undergone.

3. Though, this appeal was earlier placed before us for considering the appellant’s prayer for his suspension of sentence and his release on bail during the pendency of the appeal, considering the short point involved in the present appeal and keeping in mind the spirit of statutory prescription under subsection (4) of Section 374 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by an order dated 19.10.2022, the appeal was directed to be placed for final hearing today for expediting disposal of the appeal itself on merit.

4. We have heard Mr. Ramakant Sharma, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant and Ms. Shashi Bala Verma, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State.

5. The name of the informant has been concealed in the present judgment and has been referred to as ‘P.W.-5’ or ‘the victim’.

6. A written report of the informant dated 18.08.2019 is the basis for registration of the concerned Sabour (Goradih) P.S. Case No. 258 of 2019. It is the prosecution’s case in the written report that on 08.08.2019, at 11 pm in the night, the appellant, wielding his dominance and by giving PW-5 a false promise to marry her, took her to his (appellant’s) house and established physical relationship with her. Thereafter, she (the victim) asked the appellant as to how long would he continue to have physical relationship with her by giving her false promise of marriage. In the meanwhile, upon hearing the sound of this conversation, the appellant’s father Kailash Yadav, his brothers, Sagar Yadav and Sintu Yadav, woke up and using abusively the victim’s caste’s name questioned her presence in their house, late in the night. The victim told them that for last two years, the appellant, after having established physical relationship with her, had married her. Reacting to this, accused Kailash Yadav thrashed her because of which she fell down on the ground. Accused Sagar Yadav clasped her both the hands and Sintu Yadav forcibly put poison in her mouth. After she raised outcry, the co-villagers and the village chowkidar came there and took her to Mayaganj Hospital, where she was treated. She enclosed with her written statement, the documents showing the fact that she was treated in the hospital.

7. During the course of the investigation, the victim’s statement was recorded under Section 164 of the Cr.P.C., which was marked as Exhibit-2 at the trial. In her statement under Section 164 of the Cr.P.C. recorded before the Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Bhagalpur, on 16.09.2019, the victim disclosed that she had developed a relationship with the appellant during the course of her employment in the house of the appellant Kailash Yadav as a domestic help, for last two years. The appellant would always resist the victim going to do similar household