The prosecution must prove the age of the minor and sustain credibility in evidence, and failures in these aspects lead to acquittal.

JUDGMENT :

VINIT KUMAR MATHUR, J.

1. The Apex Court in Birbal Kumar Nishad Vs. State of Chhattisgarh : in SLP (Crl) No.4540/2021 decided on 30.06.2021 has made observations as to the necessity of anonymisation of the names of victims and considering the provisions of Section 228A of the IPC and Section 23 of the POCSO Act, 2012, this Court deems it appropriate that the name of victim in the present judgment be noted as "prosecutrix" and/or "C".

2. The present Criminal Appeal has been preferred under Section 374 (2) Cr.P.C. by the accused-appellant Lajendra Singh @ Lali son of Shri Boga Singh, assailing the validity of judgment dated 02.12.2020 passed by the learned Sessions Judge, P.O.C.S.O. Act Cases & The Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 No. 1, Sri Ganganagar (hereinafter referred to as the learned trial court), in Sessions Case No. 126/2018, whereby the accused-appellant has been convicted for the offence under Sections 376 (2) (n) of the IPC and 5 (L) / 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and sentenced for the aggravated offence under Section 376(2)(n) of IPC as under:-

3. As per prosecution case, on 12.05.2016, the complainant, mother of the victim, appeared at the police station along with the victim and submitted a written report stating that her daughter, aged about 17 years, had been taken by the accused-Lajendra Singh Brar, a former Sarpanch, from Sri Ganganagar to Sikar on 09.05.2016 at about 8:30 PM on the pretext of getting her passport prepared and sending her abroad. It was alleged that the accused had booked a double sleeper berth in a Virat Travels bus and, during the night journey; the accused-appellant molested the victim and committed sexual assault upon her in the sleeper berth. When the victim attempted to raise an alarm, the accused allegedly covered her mouth and threatened to kill her father if she disclosed the incident. After reaching Sikar, the accused allegedly booked a hotel room and kept the victim there throughout the day, where he repeatedly subjected her to sexual assault. The victim attempted to escape, but she was prevented from doing so, and the accused continued to threaten her. On 10.05.2016, the accused took the victim to the passport office and, thereafter, brought her back to Sri Ganganagar by a double sleeper bus at about 11:00 PM. The accused-appellant telephonically informed the family members that the victim was standing at the bus stand and asked them to take her home. Thereupon, the complainant’s husband brought the victim home on his motorcycle. Upon reaching home, the victim fell asleep and appeared to be under the influence of some intoxicating substance. Later in the evening, when she woke up, the victim started crying and narrated the entire incident to the complainant. She alleged that the accused had raped her multiple times and had also abused her with caste-based slurs, claiming superiority of caste and asserting that no one could harm him. The victim stated that the accused had sexually assaulted her four times. On the basis of these allegations, the written report had been given to concern police station.

4. On the bas