JUDGMENT :

The appellant was the Vicar of St.Sebastian Church at Kottiyoor in Kannur District. He was indicted for committing the offences of penetrative sexual assault and rape on a teenage girl of the parish. The trial court convicted and sentenced him for the offences punishable under Section 376(2)(f) of the Indian Penal Code and also under Section 3(a) read with Section 4 and Sections 5(f) and 5(j)(ii) read with Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (for short 'the POCSO Act').

2. There were altogether ten accused in the case. The proceedings against Accused 3 to 5 were quashed by the Supreme Court as per the judgment in Sr.Tessy Jose v. State of Kerala (AIR 2018 SC 4654). As per the impugned judgment, the trial court has acquitted all other accused except the appellant, who was the first accused in the case. The State has not filed any appeal challenging the acquittal of the accused in the case.

3. In the absence of any other accused in picture now, the appellant herein shall be, for the sake of convenience, referred to also as 'the accused'.

4. The prosecution case, as against the appellant/accused, can be briefly stated as follows:

The accused wa