KARTHI @ KARTHIKEYAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Judgment of the learned Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court, Mahila Court, Vellore made in Spl.S.C. No.5 of 2016, dtd. 14/5/2019, finding the Accused/Appellant guilty of having committed the offences under Ss. 366, 302, 392 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), together with Sec. 6 r/w 5(m) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POSCO Act) is assailed in the present Appeal.

(2.) For the sake of convenience, the parties in the Appeal are addressed according to their ranks in the Trial Court.

(3.) The case of the prosecution is that the deceased Minor Child, aged about eight years, had gone to her Grandparents' house for the summer vacation. On 11/5/2014, when the deceased child was playing with her younger brother, the Accused had enticed her by offering her to buy Ice cream and took her in his Two-wheeler, in order to steal her gold ear studs with droppings. On the way back, he had taken the deceased child to a secluded place and had committed the offence of Penetrative Sexual Assault on her and smothered her to death. Thereafter, in order to conceal the body, he threw it in a well and thereby committed the offence for which he was charged.