J U D G M E N T

This Criminal Appeal has been filed against the judgment of conviction and sentence dated 24.5.2022 passed in Spl.S.C.No.51 of 2021 by the learned Sessions Judge, Special Court for Exclusive Trial of Cases under POCSO Act, Cuddalore.

2. The case of the prosecution is that the victim girl was aged about 13 years and studied in 8th standard at the time of occurrence. The appellant, who is the neighbour of the victim girl, sexually abused the victim girl by saying that he is loving her. On 15.3.2021 at about 11.00 p.m, the accused/appellant had woken up the victim girl, who was sleeping inside her house by using five feet stick and asked her to come along with him and also abused her in a filthy language. Immediately, the victim girl raised her voice and on hearing the voice, her parents rushed to the place and on enquiry she revealed the said incident, thereafter, the father of the victim chased the accused and caught hold him, when questioned, the accused attacked the father of the victim by using the stick. Thereafter, the mother of the victim/de-facto complainant lodged a complaint against the accused.

3. On the complaint given by the de-facto complainant, the respondent/Police registered a case in Crime No.6 of 2021 for the offences under Sections 294(b), 354A, 354D and 323 IPC and Section 11(1) and 12 of 'The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012' [hereinafter referred to as 'POCSO Act' for the sake of convenience]. After investigation, the respondent/police altered the charges against the appellant to one under Sections 294(b), 354(A), 354(D), 352 IPC and Section 11(1) which is punishable under Section 12 of POCSO Act. Thereafter, the respondent/police laid a charge sheet before the learned Sessions Judge, Special Court for Exclusive Trial of Cases under POCSO Act, Cuddalore for the offences under Section 11(1) which is punishable under Section 12 of POCSO Act and Sections 294(b) and 352 IPC and the same was taken on file in Spl.S.C.No.51 of 2021. When questioned, the accused denied the allegation. However, based on the materials, the trial Court framed the aforementioned charges against the appellant.

4. In order to prove its case before the trial Court, on the side of the prosecution, as many as 13 witnesses were examined as P.W.1 to P.W.13 and 17 documents were marked as Exs.P1 to P17, besides marking two material objects as M.O.1 and M.O.2.

5. After examining the prosecution witnesses, the incriminating circumstances culled out from the evidence of the prosecution witnesses were put before the accused and he was questioned under Section 313 Cr.P.C., wherein he denied all the incriminating circumstances as false and pleaded not guilty. On the side of the defence, no oral evidence was adduced and no documentary evidence was produced.

6.1 The Court below, after hearing the arguments advanced on either side and also considering the materials available on record, found that the appellant is guilty of the charged offences and he was convicted and sentenced as follows :

(i) for the conviction under Section 294(b) IPC he was directed to pay a fine of Rs.500/-, in default, to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of one month;

(ii) for the conviction under Section 352 IPC he was directed to pay a fine of Rs.500/-, in default, to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of one month ;

(iii) for the conviction under Section 11(1) which is punishable under Section 12 of POCSO Act, he was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of three years and to pay a fine of Rs.2,000/-, in default, to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of one month;

(iv) the trial Court ordered that the period of detention already undergone by the appellant was directed to be set-off under Section 428 Cr.P.C.

(v) besides that, the trial Court directed the Government of Tamil Nadu to give a compensation of Rs.20,000/- to the victim girl from the Tamil Nadu Child Victim Compensation Fund under the POSCO Act, 2012.

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