JUDGMENT :

CRL.A. 274/2020

1. By this appeal, the appellant challenges the impugned judgment dated 9th January 2020 whereby he has been convicted for offences punishable under Section 376 IPC read with Section 4 of the POCSO Act and the order on sentence dated 15th January 2020 whereby the appellant has been directed to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years and pay a fine of Rs.10,000/-, in default whereof to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of six months.

2. Learned counsel for the appellant contends that the findings of the learned trial Court that the prosecutrix was a minor is incorrect and not born out from the record and thus, the consent of the prosecutrix was not immaterial. As per the father of the prosecutrix, PW-10, he was married in the year 1987 and had nine children in all, out of which, the youngest child had expired. He deposed that his first child was born after about two years of marriage and there was a gap of 2 to 2½ years between each child. As per the prosecutrix who appeared in the witness box as PW-6, she had six sisters and one brother and two sisters were elder to PW-6 and that she was the third child in the family. Thus, considering