C. HARI SHANKAR, J.

1. The impugned judgement, dated 26th September, 2013, passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge (hereinafter referred to as “the learned ASJ”) finds the appellant Jabbar guilty of sodomising and, thereby, committing “aggravated penetrative sexual assault” on, a 6-year-old boy (who shall be referred to, hereinafter, as ‘S’) and, accordingly, convicts him under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (hereinafter referred to as “the POCSO Act”). Vide order, dated 28th September, 2013, passed as a sequel thereto, the learned ASJ has sentenced the appellant to undergo imprisonment for life, along with fine of Rs. 5000/– with default rigorous imprisonment of 6 months. The benefit of Section 428 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as “the Cr.P.C.”) has been extended to the appellant.

2. The appellant appeals, there against.

The Facts and the Evidence

Statements of parents of the victim

3. We may pitch the starting point, for the recital of the facts in the present case, as the statement of Noor Jahan Begum, the mother of the victim ‘S’, who deposed, during trial, as PW-3. Her deposition reads thus:

“On SA

I have three children i.e. two boys and one daughter. My elder son is aged about 17-18 years and daughter is 10 years old. The victim child is my youngest child, who is 6 years old. I am residing on the above mentioned address with my family. We are permanent residents of District Purniya, Bihar. Prior to 6 months from today at about 10:00-10:30 p.m., my son i.e. the victim child went for laterine near the house. After about one hour, I saw that my son was coming while crying. I saw the accused, present in the Court today (witness has correctly identified the accused), was with my son who on seeing me ran away from there. I made inquiries from my son, who told me that accused Jabbar took him to jungle and did wrong act with him from his backside. My husband called the police by dialing 100 number. Police took my son, my husband and myself to SGM Hospital where medical examination of my son was conducted. My statement was recorded by the police.

XXXXXX By Sh. Rajnish Kumar Antil, learned amicus curiae for accused.

My statement was recorded by the police at the time when my son was brought from the hospital to the PS. I have stated in my statement to the police that I saw accused Jabbar coming with my son at that time and who, on seeing me, ran away from the spot. Confronted with statement Ex. PW-3/DA where it is not so recorded.

It is wrong to suggest that my son had told me about the incident after coming back to my house. I do not recollect if I told to police that after coming home, my son had told me about the incident. The house of accused is situated at a distance of about 3-4 houses from my house. We had gone to the house of accused after the incident. Accused Jabbar was present at his house. All other family members were sleeping at that time including his father and brother. It is correct that accused Jabbar was apprehended by me at that time and handed over to the police. Again said, the accused was not brought by me from his house at that time. The accused was taken by the police on the day of Jumma (Friday) at 2:00 PM. It is wrong to suggest that there were many other children present. It is wrong to suggest that the accused was falsely implicated in the present case. It is wrong to suggest that I am deposing falsely being the mother of the victim child.”

4. Mohd Saleem (PW-6), the father of ‘S’ deposed, during trial, thus:

“On SA.

I am residing on the above said address with my wife and three children. I have two sons and one daughter. The victim child is my youngest born child who is aged about 6 years. We are permanent resident of District Purnia, Bihar. About 6 months back at about 10.30 p.m. my son i.e. victim child went for laterine outside near the house. But he did not return thereafter. I made efforts with my wife to search for h