JUDGMENT :

VIBHU BAKHRU, J.

1. The appellant has filed the present appeal, inter-alia, impugning a judgment dated 25.05.2017, passed by ASJ-01(South), Saket Courts, Delhi, whereby he was convicted for committing an offence punishable under Section 376(2)(n) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter ‘IPC’) and Section 4 of the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (hereinafter ‘POCSO Act’). The appellant also impugns an order on sentence dated 31.05.2017, whereby he was sentenced to undergo ten years of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 20,000/- and in default of payment of fine, to serve simple imprisonment for a further period of three months.

2. The impugned judgment was rendered in connection with a case arising from FIR no. 145/2013 registered with PS Sangam Vihar. The said FIR was registered on the basis of a statement made by the prosecutrix - a girl aged about sixteen years at the material time. In her statement to the police recorded on 07.04.2013, she stated that she had come to Delhi from her village with one Shivani in the month of January 2012. She had been left at the Shakarpur office for work. She stated that she had been placed in a house, where