2026:CGHC:1728 RUKHSAR BANO NAFR RUKHSAR BANO Date: 2026.01.16 15:48:17 +0530 HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR CRA No. 227 of 2023

1 - Bajman @ Rohan Netam S/o Saradu Netam, Aged About 42 Years R/o Village Bavdi, P.S. Kondagaon, District Kondagaon Chhattisgarh.

... Appellant versus

1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through The Station House Officer (Sho), P.S. Benoor, District Narayanpur Chhattisgarh.

... Respondent (Cause title taken from Case Information System)

For Appellant : Mr. Mohit Kumar, Advocate For State/Respondent : Mr. Pratik Tiwari, Panel Lawyer.

(Hon’ble Mr. Naresh Kumar Chandravanshi, J)

Judgment on Board

12/01/2026

1. This criminal appeal has been preferred by the appellant under Section

374(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for brevity ‘Cr.P.C.’) challenging the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 16.12.2022 passed by the learned Upper Sessions Judge, FTSC (POCSO), Kondagaon, District Kondagaon, Chhattisgarh (henceforth referred to as ‘Special Court) in POCSO Case No.34/2019, whereby the appellant has been convicted for the offence under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (for short ‘IPC’) and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (henceforth referred to as ‘POCSO Act’), but in view of the provision of Section 42 of the POCSO Act, he has been sentenced only for the offence under Section 6 of the POCSO Act to undergo R.I. for 10 years and also imposed fine of Rs.1000/-, and in default of payment of fine, to further undergo R.I. for

03 months.

2. Facts of the case, in brief, are that, father of a minor victim (P.W. 3)

made a written complaint (Ex. P-10) stating inter alia that his minor daughter (victim- P.W. 1), aged about 16-17 years, had gone to village Kulanar to stay at the house of her maternal uncle (मा(cid:2)मा(cid:2)), where the appellant met her and, on the pretext of marriage, sexually exploited her. On 08.08.2019, when P.W. 3 along with his wife went to Village Kulanar to meet victim, then they found that her abdomen was swollen. On being asked, the victim told them that the appellant had repeatedly sexually exploited her on pretext of marriage, as a result of which she had conceived and was for about 4-5 months’ pregnant . Despite being informed of this fact, the appellant did not come to meet the victim. On the basis of written complaint, an FIR (Ex.P-11) was registered at Police Station Benur, District Narayanpur (CG) against the appellant for offences punishable under Section 376 of the IPC and Section 6 of the POCSO Act. The victim was medically examined by Dr. Khyati Shakshi (P.W. 7), who, vide MLC report (Ex. P-7), opined that the victim was carrying pregnancy of about 20 weeks. During course of investigation, statements of witnesses were recorded. Spot maps were prepared by police and patwari vide Ex. P-2 and Ex.P-3, respectively. Dakhil Kharij register pertaining to the victim was seized from Ram Ratan Thakur (P.W. 9), In-Charge Headmaster of Primary School, Pawda, District Kondagaon vide seizure memo (Ex.P-8). The appellant/accused was also medically examined by Dr. Pravirchand Bhandari (P.W. 10), who, vide MLC report (Ex. P-9), opined that the appellant’s report was positive. The victim’s child underwent a DNA test, which matched from blood sample of appellant and vide DNA test report (Ex.P-27), it was reported that the appellant is biological father of child conceived by victim. After completion of investigation, a charge-sheet for the offences under Section 376 of the IPC and Sections 4, 6 of the POCSO Act was filed against the appellant before the Special Court.

3. Learned Special Judge framed Charges under Section 376 of the IPC and Section 6 of the POCSO Act against the appellant/accused, who abjured the guilt and entered into trial.

4. So as to bring home the charges, the prosecution examined as many as 14 witnesses and exhibited 28 documents. Statement of the accused under Section 313 of the Cr.P.C. was recorded, in which, he denied all