JUDGMENT

1. The appellant Pravesh Dixit @ Tinda stands convicted, vide judgment dated 23rd February, 2017, under Sections 367 and 342 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (the IPC) and Section 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, having been found guilty of subjecting a child, 17 years and 4 months of age (who would be referred to, hereinafter, as `X`), to "penetrative sexual assault". Consequent thereto, the appellant has, vide subsequent order dated 27th April, 2017, been sentenced to 10 years` rigorous imprisonment (RI), for commission of the offence punishable under Section 4 of the POCSO Act, to 1 year`s RI for the offence punishable under Section 342 of the IPC, and to 2 years` RI for the offence punishable under section 367 of the IPC, the sentences being directed to run concurrently. He has also been sentenced to pay fines of Rs.1 lakh, Rs.50,000/- and Rs.1000/-, for the offences punishable under Section 4 of the POCSO Act, and Section 367 and Section 342 of the IPC, respectively, with default sentences of one year, 6 months` and 3 months` simple imprisonment for each offence. Out of the said amount, the learned Special Judge has directed disbursement of Rs.1,20,000/- to X.

2. The appellant is in appeal.

The Impugned Judgment

3. The factual backdrop of the case, as set out by the Learned ASJ in the impugned judgment, may be set out thus.

4. At about 05:10 PM on 26th February, 2013, information was received by the police, from Mobile No. 9716553226, regarding a quarrel. The information was assigned to SI Ghasi Ram (PW-18), who reached the spot along with Const. Jayprakash (who was not co-opted as a witness). The information was also conveyed to (W/SI) Ramwati. The IO SI Ghasi Ram (PW-18) proceeded, from the spot, to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital (hereinafter referred to as "the DD Hospital"), where they found X along with her parents and her friend PW-3-who, also being a minor, shall be referred to, hereinafter, as M. The statement of X was, thereafter, recorded by the I/O SI Ghasi Ram (PW-18). PW-14 Narender Sharma, who was found at the spot where the assault was stated to have taken place, disclosed the name of the appellant, and stated that he was known by the name Raj Dixit. Thereafter, the statement of X was recorded, and endorsed by the Police authorities. X deposed, in her statement (under Section 161 of the Cr.P.C.), that (i) on that day, i.e. on 26th February, 2013, she had left the house, at 02:00 PM., supposedly for tuition, but had, instead, proceeded to meet PW-3 (M), whom she had called to the Palam Flyover, (ii) while they were waiting at the bus stop, M (PW-3) received a call on his mobile phone which he disclosed to be of Raj Dixit, (iii) five to ten minutes later, a white Swift Dzire car, containing Raj Dixit and two boys, arrived at the spot, (iv) M (PW-3) informed her that the driver of the car was his friend Raj Dixit, (v) on being invited by Raj Dixit, she, and M sat in the car, (vi) Raj Dixit proceeded to drop the two other passengers, and, thereafter, drove M and X to a Pizza Hut outlet, where he gave her juice to drink, (vii) they then proceeded to the Metro Station at Sector-9, Dwarka, where they reached at about 04:00 PM, (viii) Raj Dixit asked M to get a document from the Maruti Showroom located there, (ix) Raj Dixit, thereafter, drove her to an unknown place, claiming that it was his farmhouse, (x) at that time, a call from M was received on the mobile phone of Raj Dixit, (xi) Raj Dixit directed X to tell M that he had gone to his house to get his debit card, leaving his phone in the car, and to disconnect the call after conveying the said message, (xii) to a query by X, as to why Raj Dixit had coerced her to lie to M, regarding his having gone to his house to get his debit card, Raj Dixit responded that the whole area belonged to him and he could do whatever he wanted, (xiii) X, thereafter, alighted from the car, but, on finding that she had left her