RAHUL GANESHRAO GHATE GATHE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant is aggrieved by the judgment and order dtd. 8/3/2022 passed by learned Sessions Judge, Achalpur in Special Case No. 151/2019 thereby convicting him for the offence punishable under Sec. 376 (AB) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sec. 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (for short 'POCSO Act'). The appellant has been sentenced to life imprisonment and also fine. As such, appellant was charge-sheeted for the offence punishable under Ss. 376(3) and 376 (AB) of the IPC and Ss. 4 and 6 of the POCSO Act, he has been, however, convicted for the offences mentioned above.

(2.) Briefly stated, the allegation against the appellant was that on 23/10/2019 at about 10.00 a.m., he committed rape on a minor (victim), aged below 12 years, which also amounts to aggravated penetrative sexual assault in terms of Sec. 6 of the POCSO Act. The victim was then 4 years 3 months old.

(3.) The case of the prosecution is that on 23/10/2019, around 9:30 to 10:00 a.m., the victim told her mother, P. W. 1 that she wanted to go to play at the house of "Tinu Dada" - the son of the accused. P.W. 1 objected, telling victim that Tinu was not at home and she should not go, but the victim still went alone to the accused's house, which was adjacent to her own. P.W. 1, who was cleaning her house, heard the cries and shouted to ask what had happened. The accused then brought the crying victim back to her mother. When P.W. 1 asked what happened, the accused said: "Your daughter fell down in the house" and then left. Shortly after, when victim tried to urinate, she felt discomfort. P.W. 1 checked and found blood coming from her private part and blood stains on her knicker. A neighbour, Sheela, came over and said she also heard the cries and had gone to the accused's house but found the door closed. P.W. 1 called her husband from the field. A relative, Dhandevi, along with one Sachin, took the victim on a motorcycle to Government Hospital, Achalpur. On 26/10/2019, around 12:00 p.m., the victim went to her aunt Pallavi's house to play. Pallavi said "don't play, you'll fall again". The victim then disclosed : "That day I didn't fall. That day when I went to Tinu's house, Tinu's father was alone. He closed the door from inside and did something to my private part". Pallavi informed Dhandevi, who then told P.W. 1 and her husband. P.W. 1 questioned the victim, who repeated the same account. P.W. 1 then lodged First Information Report (FIR), Exhibit 18.