JUDGMENT

The Court made the following:

COMMON JUDGMENT: (per Hon'ble The Chief Justice Sri Raghvendra Singh Chauhan)

Leave granted.

Aggrieved by the acquittal of the respondent-accused, Mr. Anand Sharma, under Section 368 of IPC and under Section 16/17 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences, 2012 (for short “the POCSO Act"), the State of Uttarakhand has challenged the order dated 16.01.2021, passed by the learned Additional District & Session Judge/ Special Judge POCSO, Haridwar.

2. In order to protect the identity of the victim, neither the name of the victim, nor the name of the complainant, her mother, is being revealed in the present judgment.

3. Briefly, the facts of the case are that, the victim's mother (P.W.2) lodged a complaint before the Police Station Kotwali Nagar Haridwar, District Haridwar, wherein she claimed that on 12.01.2016, her eldest daughter, the victim, left the house without informing anyone at home. Ever since then, she is missing; her whereabouts are unknown. On the basis of this compliant, a missing report, namely Missing Report No.03 of 2016 was recorded.

4. Subsequently, the complainant lodged a complaint against Santosh, co-accused in this case, c