Hon’ble Sudhanshu Dhulia, J.

1. Heard Mr. S. P. S. Panwar, Senior Advocate assisted by Mr. H. C. Pathak, Advocate for the appellant and Mr. Suhail Siddiqui, A.G.A. for the State.

2. At the outset, it needs to be mentioned here that the present matter pertains to Section 376 of the I.P.C. By an amendment in the I.P.C., Section 228A has been inserted vide Act No.43 of 1983, which bars the disclosure of the identity of the prosecutrix by publication and in fact it makes it an offence. Although, printing and publication in a law general is not included in the definition of “printing and publication” in the above provision for which there are several pronouncements by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, yet, purely for reasons of abundant precaution, the name of the alleged victim has not been mentioned in the present judgment and the victim is only addressed here as the “prosecutrix”.

3. The present appeal arises out of the judgment and order dated 30.05.2006 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Haridwar in Sessions Trial No.297/2001, whereby the appellant i.e. Yaseen was convicted under Section 376 of the I.P.C. and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for ten years a