JUDGMENT :

Heard Ms. N. Danggen, learned Legal Aid Counsel for the appellant. Also heard Mr. G. Tado, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State respondent No. 1 and Ms. N. Anju, learned Legal Aid Counsel for the informant/respondent No. 2.

2. This is an appeal under Section 374(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure against the judgment and order of conviction dated 08.10.2021, passed by the learned District and Special Judge, Bomdila, West Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh, in SC(Bdl) POCSO Case No. 02/2021, convicting the accused/ appellant under Section 4 of the POCSO Act and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for 7 (seven) years and out of which R.I. for 3 (three) years and a fine of Rs. 3,000/- and in default to undergo S.I. for 3 (three) months.

3. The brief facts of the prosecution case is that on 18.05.2020, at 0900 hours, an F.I.R. was lodged by the informant/respondent No. 2 before the Officer-In-Charge, Rupa Police Station, which was subsequently transferred to Trizino Police Station, West Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh, alleging inter alia that on 17.05.2020, at about 12.45 hours, the appellant had raped her daughter/victim/prosecutrix (name withheld), aged about 10 years. It is stated that on the day of incident, the respondent No. 2, along with her daughter/victim, had visited to a shop and after purchasing some goods, the prosecutrix could not be found and when she called her name, she was seen coming out of the residence of the accused/ appellant weeping and keeping her underwear in her chest inside the cloth and on enquiry, she stated that she was raped by the accused/appellant inside his house. Accordingly, after receiving the F.I.R., the case was registered as TZN P.S. Case No. 03/2020, under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code readwith Section 4 of the POCSO Act.

4. During the course of investigation, the investigating authority visited the place of occurrence, drawn the sketch map, recorded the statement of victim as well as the witnesses and also examined the victim by the doctor and after completion of investigation, the I.O. submitted the Charge-Sheet under Sections 376/354/354(B)/511 of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 18 of the POCSO Act. On appearance of the accused, the charge was framed which was read over to the accused/appellant and to which, he pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.

5. During the course of trial, the prosecution examined as many as 7 (seven) numbers of witnesses including the I.O. and the appellant examined himself as the defence witness. After recording the statement of the accused/appellant under Section 313 Cr.P.C. and also hearing the arguments put forwarded by the learned counsel for both sides, the learned Sessions Judge cum Special Judge, Bomdila, vide judgment and order dated 08.10.2021, in SC(Bdl) POCSO Case No. 02/2021, convicted the accused/appellant under Section 4 of the POCSO Act and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for 7 (seven) years and out of which R.I. for 3 (three) years and a fine of Rs. 3,000/- and in default to undergo S.I. for 3 (three) months.

6. On being highly aggrieved and dissatisfied with the judgment and order passed by the learned Special Judge, Bomdila, the present appeal has been preferred by the accused/ appellant on the following grounds, amongst others :-

(i) That the evidence on record do not warrant conviction and sentence of the accused/appellant under Section 4 of the POCSO Act and as such, the conviction and sentence, passed against the accused/ appellant is liable to be set aside.

(ii) That the learned Court below failed to appreciate the fact that as per the evidence of the Doctor (P.W.-6) and as per the Medical Report, there is no external injury on face, nose and body except slight pain on palpation on the private part of the prosecutrix. More so, the P.W.-6 did not find any swelling or redness on the private part of her body and there is no tear of vaginal orifice and the hymen was also found intact. There i