K. THANGARAJ Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Criminal Appeal is filed by the sole accused in Special S.C.No.10 of 2014 on the file of the Mahalir Neethi Mandram/Fast Track Mahila Court, Theni, as against the conviction and sentence imposed by the trial Court by its judgment dated 10.10.2015. The appellant was tried for the offence under Section 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (in short "POCSO Act") and the trail Court found him guilty and convicted him for the offence under Section 12 of the POCSO Act and sentenced him to undergo two years rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs.2000/- (Rupees Two Thousand only) in default undergo a further imprisonment of six months.

(2.) The brief fact of the prosecution is that the child witness P.W.3 Palani Selvi is the daughter of P.W.1- Murugan and P.W.2 - Muneeshwari. She was playing with her friends near a Vinayagar Temple on 16.06.2014, around 04.30 p.m. and at that time, this appellant accused, who used to distribute Pongal to the devotees of the Temple called her in the cause of distributing Pongal and taken her to his mother-inlaw's house and showed his private part to the child victim P.W.3. The child got frightened over the act of the appellant/accused and went to her house and informed her mother P.W.2 about the incident. P.W.2 in turn, informed the same to her husband P.W.1. The child could not identify the person exactly and on 21.06.2014, when the accused was passing through the street, the victim child identified that the appellant/accused is the person, who misbehaved with her on 16.06.2014.

(3.) During the trial, 10 witnesses were examined on the side of the prosecution and 5 documents were marked. P.Ws.1 and 2 are the father and mother of the victim child. P.Ws.4 and 6 are witnesses for mahazar. P.Ws.5 and 7 are the neighbours to the occurrence place and they did not support the case of the prosecution and P.W.8 is the Sub-Inspector of Police, who registered the FIR in Ex.P3. P.W.9 is the Judicial Magistrate, Theni, who recorded the statement of the victim child as Ex.P4 on 27.06.2014 in Ex.P4 and P.W.10 is the Inspector of Police, who investigated the case and filed the final report.