IMPORTANT POINT
The Court reaffirmed that a child's testimony in sexual assault cases holds substantial weight, especially when corroborated by medical evidence and other witness accounts.

JUDGMENT :

A.D. Coudhury, J.

1. Heard Ms. O. Binggep, learned Legal Aid Counsel for the appellant. Also heard Mr. T. Ete, learned Addl. PP, Arunachal Pradesh and Mr. T. Tayeng, learned counsel for the private respondent.

2. The present appeal is filed under Section 374 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 assailing the Judgment and Order dated 31.10.2022 passed by the learned District & Sessions Judge cum Special Judge (POCSO), East Siang district in PSG SC (POCSO) case No. 01/2021 whereby, the accused/appellant is convicted under Section 376 of IPC read with Section 4/6 of the POCSO Act and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for a period of 20 years with a fine of Rs. 1.00 Lakh for offences under Section 4/6 of the POCSO Act. The accused/ appellant preferred the present appeal from the jail and accordingly, Ms. O. Binggep was appointed as the Legal Aid Counsel.

3. The prosecution case as unfolded from the materials available on record is to the effect that on 05.08.2020 in between 1300 hrs to 1400 hrs, the accused appellant had taken away the victim a 9 years old minor near to a river on his bicycle, showed her porn video clips and raped her. Accordingly, PSG PS case No. 127/2020 under Section 376 IPC read with Section 4 of POCSO Act was registered and investigation was initiated.

4. Upon completion of the investigation, the investigating officer had submitted charge-sheet under Section 376 IPC read with Section 4/6 of POCSO Act on 28.01.2021 against the accused/appellant namely Samlon Lego.

5. Based on the charge sheet submitted by the Investigating Officer, charges were framed against the accused/appellant under Section 376 IPC read with Section 4/6 of POCSO Act. The charges were read out and explained to the accused/ appellant but the accused had pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. Hence, the matter went up to trial.

6. In order to bring home the charges, the prosecution had examined as many as 12 witnesses who were cross examined by the defence. The statement of the accused/appellant was recorded under Section 313 Cr.P.C. The defence also adduced evidence of appellant as DW-1 and he was also cross-examined by the prosecution. After conclusion of the trial, the learned trial court convicted the accused as recorded hereinabove.

7. As the appeal was preferred from the jail, Ms. O. Binggep, Legal Aid Counsel was appointed to represent the accused/appellant. The Legal Aid Counsel, after going through the record and evidence, in her usual fairness submits that the victim’s evidence remained firmed during the trial and her evidence was also corroborated by the evidence of PW-5, the Doctor. Therefore, in view of the settled proposition of law, she does not find any material for acquittal of the appellant inasmuch as the said witness cannot be said to be not trustworthy or not relevant.

8. The learned Additional Public Prosecutor has also argued in the same line. Referring to the evidence of PW-2 (victim), he submits that the victim remained consistent while recording her evidence before the learned trial court. The learned Additional Public Prosecutor further submits that the evidence of PW-4 and PW-5 also corroborated the testimony of the victim and therefore, the prosecution has been able to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that it is the accused who had committed the offence upon the minor victim.

9. We have considered the submissions advanced by the learned counsel for both the sides and have a carefully gone through the materials available on record.

10. Before dealing with the arguments advanced by the learned counsel for the parties, let us first appreciate the depositions of the prosecution witnesses.

I. PW1, Shri Makrin Ngukir is the father of the victim and the informant of the case. According to him, the victim disclosed before him that on 05.08.2020 at the day time, accused took the victim to near Sibya Korong in a bicycle and has forcefully committed sexual intercourse with her there. According to this witnes