JUDGMENT

Sanjib Banerjee, CJ. - The appellant has been convicted under Section 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment together with a fine of Rs.20,000/-. In default of payment of the fine, the appellant has to suffer a further year's imprisonment.

2. According to the minor victim then aged eight, there were three clear incidents of rape over a four-day period in the first week of June, 2013. The girl consistently maintained in course of her statement recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and her testimony at the trial that the first incident was on a Saturday, the second incident was on the following Monday and the third incident was on Tuesday. According to the victim, on that Saturday in the first week of June, 2013, she accompanied her sister, Sita, and the sister's husband, the appellant herein, and their two-year-old daughter to a jungle at Laitlum in the hope of catching some fish. The girl narrated that while her sister Sita went on in one direction in the jungle, she, the appellant and the infant went another way and it was at such time that she was grabbed by the appellant, pushed t