JOSE ANTONY @ ANTHUKUTTY JOSE Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The conviction of the appellant and the sentence imposed on him in S.C.No.1096 of 2017 on the files of the Additional Sessions Court, Ernakulam, are under challenge in the appeal.

(2.) The appellant is the sole accused in the case. The victim in the case is a girl aged 9 years. The prosecution case is that between 01.10.2016 and 17.10.2016, the accused trespassed into the house of the victim on several occasions, grabbed her breast, rubbed her vagina, laid her on a table, poured liquor into her vagina and drank the liquor by licking her vagina. It is also case of the prosecution that on 17.10.2016, the accused after committing the aforesaid overt acts, took the victim to the bedroom of his house in the neighbourhood, made her lie on the cot and pressed his penis into the vagina of the victim. The offences alleged against the accused were, therefore, offences punishable under Sections 450, 376(2)(i) and 376(2)(n) of the Indian Penal Code (the IPC) and Sections 5(l) and 5(m) read with Section 6 and Sections 9(l) and 9(m) read with section 10 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (the Act).

(3.) On the accused pleading not guilty of the charges, the prosecution examined 14 witnesses as PWs.1 to 14 and proved 9 documents as Exts.P1 to P9. The accused was, thereupon, questioned under section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (the Code) as regards the incriminating evidence brought out by the prosecution. The accused denied the same and maintained that he is innocent. Since the trial court did not find the case to be one fit for acquittal under Section 232 of the Code, the accused was called upon to enter on his defence. The accused did not adduce any evidence.