JUDGMENT :

P.N. PRAKASH, J.

(Prayer: R.T. No.1 of 2019 Referred Trial under Section 366 Cr.P.C. on the judgment and order dated 15.02.2019 passed in Special Case No.13 of 2018 on the file of the Mahila Court, Chengalpattu.

Crl. A. No.31 of 2021 Criminal Appeal filed under Section 374(2) Cr.P.C. seeking to set aside the judgment of conviction and sentence dated 15.02.2019 passed in Special Case No.13 of 2018 on the file of the Mahila Court, Chengalpattu.)

1. For the sake of anonymity, the deceased in this case, who is a minor girl, is referred to as “X”.

2. Shorn off unnecessary frills, the germane facts leading to the institution of the referred trial and criminal appeal run thus:

2.1 “X” was 13 years old when her life ebbed out. She was the daughter of Malar (P.W.1) and Munusamy. Apart from “X”, Malar (P.W.1) has a daughter, Divya (P.W.2) and a son Arul Kumar (P.W.3) and both were elder to “X”. Divya (P.W.2) got married to one Velmurugan, through whom, she has a child named Koteeswari, who was around three years old at the time of the incident. All of them were living together under