SUNIL KUMAR Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has now been arrayed as the sole accused in Crime No.1560/2019 of Tripunithura Hill Palace Police Station, Ernakulam, registered for offences punishable under Secs.354A & 506 of the Indian Penal Code and Secs.7, 8, 9m, 10, 11(iii) & 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

(2.) The said crime was initially registered as Crime No.739/2019 of Chottanikkara Police Station for the very same offences, on the basis of the FI Statement given by the minor victim girl aged 11 years on 01.11.2019 at about 6 p.m. (the crime registered on the same day at about 10.20 p.m.), in respect of the alleged incident which happened for the period from 01.01.2016 onwards. The said crime at Chottanikkara Police Station was transferred and re-registered as the instant Crime No.156/2019 of Tripunithura Hill Palace Police Station, as the major incidents are said to have happened within the territorial limits of the Hill Palace Police Station.

(3.) The prosecution case in short is that the date of birth of the minor victim girl is 02.12.2008 and that sometime about two years prior to the submission of the instant FI Statement dated 01.11.2019, the petitioner/accused now aged 46 years, used to frequently visit the victim girl's residence and that he is a relative of the girl's mother and that on quite a few occasions, he used to lift her dress and touched her private parts and also shown naked photos of women in his mobile cell and thereby, he has committed the abovesaid offences. It appears that the victim girl and her father belongs to the Scheduled Caste community and now the police after investigation has also added the offence as per Secs.3(2)(va) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 as amended.