Suspension of sentence granted owing to lack of corroborative evidence and inconsistencies in the witness testimonies.

CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJEEV RANJAN PRASAD and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PRAVEEN KUMAR ORAL ORDER (Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJEEV RANJAN PRASAD)

16 06-02-2026 Heard learned counsel for the appellant and learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State. No one appears on behalf of the informant despite the fact that the informant has entered appearance and his name is appearing in the cause list.

2. Records have been placed before this Court to consider the prayer of the appellant for suspension of his sentence and release on bail during pendency of the appeal.

3. The appellant has been convicted vide judgment dated 22.02.2024 and sentenced vide order dated 28.02.2024 in G.R. No. 41 of 2022 arising out of Paroo P.S. Case No. 334 of

2021 passed by learned Additional District and Sessions Judge- VII-cum-Special Judge POCSO (II), Muzaffarpur, for the offence punishable under Sections 376(1) of the Indian Penal Code (in short ‘I.P.C.’) and Section 4 of the POCSO Act and has been ordered to undergo rigorous imprisonment for twenty years with a fine of Rs. 10,000/- for the offence under Section 4 (2) of the POCSO Act and in default of payment of fine, he shall further undergo simple imprisonment for three months. 4. The prosecution case is based on the first information report lodged on 27.08.2021 at 12:05 hrs., in respect of an occurrence said to have taken place on 20.08.2021 at 11:30 A.M. The informant who is the mother of the victim has alleged that on 20.08.2021 at 11:30 A.M., she had gone to perform worship with her neighbour, while she returned home then one Anjani Thakur who was her neighbour told her over telephone that this appellant has committed wrong act with her daughter whereafter the informant claims to have asked it from her daughter who responded in affirmation that the appellant had committed wrong act with her. The informant alleged that when she raised objection against this, the appellant told her that he would compromise but no compromise was arrived, therefore, she was lodging the first information report (Exhibit P/4).

5. Learned counsel for the appellant submits that from the evidences available on the record it would appear that the informant is living in her maika, this appellant happens to be a gotiya of the informant’s paternal family and there is some dispute over right to easiness between the parties. It is further submitted that the appellant had stood as a guarantor in the loan obtained by the father of the victim girl who failed to pay the loan amount whereupon a notice was received by the borrower as well as this appellant being guarantor of the loan from Mahindra and Mahindra Finance. It is because of this bad relationship, in order to thrust a compromise in the matter of land dispute, the present case has been registered.

6. Learned counsel submits that from the evidence of the informant as well as the victim it would appear that the victim claimed commission of wrongful act with her on 20.08.2021 during the day hours and she claims that one Anajni Thakur who is the baba residing in the neighbourhood, had seen the occurrence but they said that the baba has not supported the prosecution case during his evidence as PW-4 and he has been declared hostile.

7. Learned counsel further submits that the medical examination report of the victim shows the hymen old raptured, no bleeding and no foreign body was found. The victim and her mother both have stated that they had not produced the clothes of the victim to the I.O. The victim has admitted that she had never gone to any school but she has further stated in her deposition that she had no proof of her age and she cannot tell her date of birth or the year of birth. The victim also said that she cannot say about the date of birth mentioned in the Aadhar Card. The defense suggested the victim (PW-1) that she was aged between 19 and 20 years but she denied and claimed that she was 14 years old. It is thus submitted that in this case the age of the vict