JUDGMENT :

Sanjay K. Agrawal, J

(1) This criminal appeal preferred by the appellant-accused under Section 374(2) of Cr.P.C. is directed against the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 24.08.2015, passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Baikunthpur, District Koriya in Sessions Case No.59 of 2014, whereby he has been convicted for offences: under Section 363 of IPC and sentenced to undergo 07 years’ rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs.2,000/- and, in default of payment of fine, to further undergo additional rigorous imprisonment for 03 months; under Section 364 of IPC and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment with fine of Rs.2,000/- and, in default of payment of fine, to further undergo additional rigorous imprisonment for 03 months and also under Section 365 of IPC and sentenced to undergo 07 years’ rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs.2,000/- and, in default of payment of fine, to further undergo additional rigorous imprisonment for 03 months (all the sentences are directed to run concurrently).

(2) The case of the prosecution, in short, is that on 27.02.2014, at about 02:00 PM in the afternoon, in the backyard of the house of the complainant- Kumbhkaran (PW-02), the accused-appellant herein with the intent and object of committing murder, has abducted/kidnapped 02 years’ old minor victim, namely, Sunita from the lawful possession/guardianship of her mother- Anita (PW-01) and wrongfully confined her for the purpose of immoral trafficking and, thereby, he is said to have committed offences under Sections 363, 364, 365 & 370 of IPC and also under Section 18 of the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (for short the “Act of 2012”).

(3) It is further case of the prosecution that on the date and time of the offence, while Anita (PW-01), in the backyard of her house at ‘chanabadi’ was feeding grams (chana) to her two year’s old daughter/victim- Sunita and rest of the family members had gone for taking bath, at that juncture, the accused-appellant herein armed with ‘lathi’/’tangi’ and bag came over there and forcibly took the victim- Sunita and ran away towards jungle area and, on hue and cry made by Anita (PW-01), nearby peoples/neighbours and her husband- Kumbhkaran (PW-02) came over the spot and they all tried to search the whereabouts of Sunita, but could not succeed. Thereafter, Kumbhkaran (PW-02) lodged report against some unknown person before the police, pursuant to which, police registered FIR (Ex.P/03) and wheels of investigation started running, in which, spot map was prepared vide Ex.P/01. The accused-appellant was arrested vide Ex.P/13 and his memorandum statement was recorded vide Ex.P/07. Pursuant to the memorandum statement of the appellant, ‘tangi’ and his clothes (i.e. shirt, ‘gamcha’ and lower) were seized vide Ex.P/08. Further, from the place of incident i.e. Shivpur Jungle area, one ‘lungi’ was also recovered vide Ex.P/05. The aforesaid seized articles were subjected to chemical examination vide Ex.P/09 and as per FSL report (Ex.P16), blood has been found on the clothes of the appellant (i.e. shirt, ‘gamcha’ and lower), seized pursuant to his memorandum statement. Test identification parade was also conducted vide Ex.P/02 in which, the mother of the victim, namely, Anita (PW-01) has identified the appellant herein to be the person who on the date of incident had forcibly took her daughter-Sunita (victim) and ran away towards the jungle area. Thereafter, statements of witnesses were recorded and after due investigation, the police filed charge-sheet against the appellant in the Court of Judicial Magistrate First Class, Manendragarh and, thereafter, the case was committed to the Court of Sessions for hearing and trial in accordance with law, in which the appellant/accused abjured his guilt and entered into defence by stating that he is innocent and has been falsely implicated.

(4) The prosecution in order to prove its case examined as many as 08 witnesses and exhibited 16 do