JUDGMENT

Mallik, J. - The appellant Hanuman Sarma has bean convicted u/s 354, I. P. C., and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for two years and a fine of Rs. 300. Hanuman was put on his trial on charges under Sections 376 and 354, I.P.C. The trial was held with the aid of four assessors. Two of the assessors found the accused not guilty, according to one the accused was guilty under Sections 376 and 354, I. P. C., while according to the fourth the accused was guilty under Sections 354 and 376/511, I. P. C. The learned Judge acquitted the appellant of the charge u/s 376, I. P. C., but convicted him of the charge u/s 354, I. P. C., and sentenced him in the way as stated before.

2. The accused Hanuman Sarma is a young man of about 22 or 23 and the victim in the present case is a girl aged about 6. The case for the prosecution was briefly this: Ajodhya Prosad, the father of the girl whose name was Gumti on his way to office, left her on the road in the police bazar in the town of Shil-long in front of the Thakur Bari there, his idea being that on return from his office he would take the girl with him to the house of one Badri Prosad where he had to go to attend a feast. When Ajodhya cam