A. M. Badar, J. – By this appeal, the appellant/convicted accused is challenging the Judgment and Order dated 15.12.2021 passed by the learned Special Judge under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, Araria, in Special POCSO Case No.36 of 2021, thereby convicting him of the offences punishable under Section 376 AB of the Indian Penal Code as well as under Section 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (hereinafter referred to as the ‘POCSO Act’ for the sake of brevity). For the offence punishable under Section 376 AB of the Indian Penal Code, the appellant/convicted accused is sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life which is to mean imprisonment for reminder of the natural life of the convict apart from imposition of fine of Rs.10,000/- and in default, to suffer simple imprisonment for ten days. In view of the provisions of Section 42 of the POCSO Act, no separate sentence came to be imposed for the offence punishable under Section 4 thereof. For the sake of convenience, the appellant shall be referred to in his original capacity as ‘an accused’.

2. Facts leading to the prosecution of the accused can be gathered thus: –

(a) According to the prosecution case, the accused by enticing the victim female child, who at the relevant time was eight years old, took her to the shop and then to the ‘Bagaan’ whereat he had committed penetrative sexual assault on her. After doing the act, the accused fled away. The victim female child, anyhow, returned to her house and disclosed the incident to her mother. She was then taken to the Primary Health Centre, Kursakanta, for medical treatment. Her father (P.W.7) then lodged report of this incident which took place on 22.09.2021 on the very same day and, that is how, Crime No.124 of 2021 came to be registered against the accused at Araria Mahila Police Station for the offences punishable under Section 376 AB of the Indian Penal Code as well as under Section 4 of the POCSO Act. Wheels of investigations were then set in motion.

(b) During the course of investigation, the accused came to be arrested on 23.09.2021. Routine investigation followed. Statements of the witnesses came to be recorded and on completion of investigation, the chargesheet against the accused came to be filed on 20.11.2021 leading to the registration of the Special POCSO Case bearing number 36 of 2021 on the file of the learned Special Judge, Araria.

(c) On 14.12.2021, the learned trial court took cognizance of the offences alleged to have been committed by the accused. Then on the next day, i.e., on 15.12.2021, the charge came to be framed by the learned trial court. The police papers commonly known as the chargesheet came to be supplied to the accused on the very same day itself. Services of the Advocate from the panel of the Legal Aid came to be provided to the accused on the very same day. On that day, i.e., on 15.12.2021 itself, evidence of eight prosecution witnesses came to be recorded by the learned trial Court. Then the learned trial court proceeded to record statement of the accused under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, on the very same day itself. On that day, i.e., on 15.12.2021, the learned trial court heard arguments and proceeded to pass the impugned Judgment of conviction and resultant sentence on that day itself. In other words, on the day of framing of the charge itself, police papers were supplied to the accused and the entire trial came to be concluded on the very same day. That is how, by the impugned Judgment and Order of conviction and resultant sentence, the accused came to be convicted and sentenced as indicated in the opening paragraph of this Judgment.

3. We heard the learned counsel appearing for the appellant/accused at sufficient length of time. By relying on the Judgment rendered by this Court in the case of Md. Major @ Mejar vs. State of Bihar reported in 2022 (5) BLJ 302 (to which one of us-Justice A.M. Badar is a party), it is argued