The prosecution must establish foundational facts, and the burden of proof lies with the prosecution.

JUDGMENT

(Prayer: Criminal Appeal filed under Section 374(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, praying to set aside the judgment passed against the appellant on 22.10.2020 in Sessions Case No.123/2014 on the file of learned Sessions Judge (Special Court under POCSO Act) Nagapattinam and acquit the appellant / accused from all the charges.)

R. SAKTHIVEL, J.

1.This Criminal Appeal is preferred by the sole accused in S.C.No.123 of 2014 on the file of Sessions Judge (Special Court under POCSO Act) Nagapattinam, assailing the conviction and sentence awarded by the trial court on 22.10.2020 in which he was convicted for the offences under Section 6 r/w 5(f)(l)(m) of POCSO Act, 2012 (2 counts) to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for Life for each count (Double Life Imprisonments) and a fine of Rs.10,000/- for each count, in default of payment of fine, he shall further undergo Simple Imprisonment for two years for each default and for the offences under Section 10 r/w 9(l)(m) of POCSO Act, 2012 (1 count) to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for seven years and a fine of Rs.5,000/-, in default of payment of fine, further undergo Simple Imprisonment for one year.

2. Feeling aggrieved with the conviction and sentence passed by the learned Sessions Judge (Special Court under POCSO Act) Nagapattinam, the sole accused filed this criminal appeal.

3. The case of the prosecution is that PW 1 is the mother of P.W.6- YY and P.W.7 – XX (hereinafter collectively referred to as ''Victims'') who were at the time of occurrence studying 3rd Standard and 5th Standard respectively at a Government Primary School where the appellant was working as a temporary Teacher. One month before 24.01.2014, the accused while taking class in the classroom, made other children hide their face by keeping their books in front of their faces and brought the gap in the skirt of the victims front and inserted his fingers through it into their private part and made them suck his penis. Due to such disgusting activities, the victims fell ill and YY refused to go to school. When P.W.1 enquired about the reason, YY stated that the appellant accused is misbehaving with her and other children, and narrated the incidents of sexual assaults by the appellant. Immediately, P.W.1 preferred a complaint against the appellant and based on the said complaint, a case in Crime No.31 of 2014 under Sections 4 and 8 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (hereinafter referred to as ''POCSO Act'' for the sake of brevity and convenience) was registered.

4. The Inspector of Police, Sirkazhi Circle filed a final report against the appellant / accused under Sections 4 and 8 of POCSO Act. After perusing the records, the learned Sessions Judge found that there were sufficient materials available on record to presume that the appellant / accused committed the alleged offences and framed charges under Section 6 read with 5(f)(l)(m) of POCSO Act (2 counts) and Section 10 read with 9(1)(m) of POCSO Act (2 counts).

5. With a view to prove the case, the prosecution examined 13 witnesses as P.W.1 to P.W.13 and marked 14 documents as Ex.P1 to Ex.P14 and marked one material object as M.O.1. On the side of the appellant / accused, one Thiru. Subash Chandira Bose was examined as D.W.1.

6. After hearing both sides, the learned Sessions Judge found the appellant / accused guilty and thus convicted and sentenced him by judgment dated 22.10.2020 as follows: