SUNOJ Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The sole accused in S.C. No. 62 of 2013 on the files of the Sessions Court, Kottayam, has come up in this appeal challenging his conviction and sentence in the said case.

(2.) The accusation in the case is that on 26.05.2011, the accused enticed the victim minor girl out of the keeping of her lawful guardian with the intention of seducing her to illicit intercourse, and had sexual intercourse with her, and thereby committed the offences punishable under Sections 366 and 376 of the Indian Penal Code (the IPC ). It is also the accusation that the accused took away the gold ornaments of the victim weighing 10.700 grams in the course of the said transaction and thereby committed the offence punishable under Section 420 of the IPC as well.

(3.) On the accused pleading not guilty of the charges levelled against him, prosecution examined 23 witnesses as PW1 to PW23 and proved 23 documents though them as Exts.P1 to P23. The witnesses examined on the side of the prosecution have also identified the material objects in the case, namely MO1 to MO13. 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, thereafter, to enter on his defence. The accused then examined himself as DW1 and proved three documents namely Exts.D1 to D3. Earlier, in the course of the cross-examination of the victim girl, the accused has also proved a portion of her statement under Section 161 of the Code as Ext.D1 for the purpose of contradicting the victim.