JUDGMENT :

A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar, J.

The appellant before us was convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life, rigorous imprisonment for fixed terms and fine in S.C.No.220/2016 on the file of the Special Court under the POCSO Act, Thodupuzha (for short ‘trial court’) for the offences under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence Act, 2012 (for short ‘POCSO Act’), and Section 506 (1), Section 326B and Section 323 of the Indian Penal Code (for short ‘IPC’).

2. The brief facts necessary for the disposal of this appeal are as follows:

The prosecution case was that the appellant, who is the stepfather of PW1, a minor girl aged 15 years, who was studying at the Government High School, Adimali and staying at the Mannamkala Tribal hostel, took her away from the hostel on 28.03.2015 at 12 noon after telling her and the hostel authorities that her uncle had been bitten by a snake and that her grandfather was not well; that after travelling some distance in an autorickshaw, they got off at a jungle pathway near the girl’s house and while walking through that pathway, the appellant committed rape on the minor girl on multiple occasions thereby committin