BABUL DUTTA Vs. STATE OF MEGHALAYA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant has been convicted under Sec. 376(2)(i) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 read with Ss. 3(a) and 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. He has been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a period of ten years and imposed a fine of Rs.10,000.00; and, in default of the fine, to suffer rigorous imprisonment for a further period of six months.

(2.) The incidents are of July 26 and 27, 2014. The case made out by the prosecution was that when the mother of the 12-year-old girl was away and the victim was sleeping in a room with her younger step-siblings, her step-father came into the room on two consecutive nights and raped her. The victim claimed that the appellant had threatened her with dire consequences if she reported the matter to anyone.

(3.) The victim made a statement in course of the investigation and a further statement was recorded by a Judicial Magistrate under Sec. 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The victim also deposed in course of the trial. The version of the victim, particularly the one reflected in the statement recorded under Sec. 164 of the Code and the other during her testimony at the trial, remained uniform and there was no anomaly in her assertion that even after her mother returned, she did not narrate the incidents to her mother. According to the victim, she spoke of the matter first to her maternal aunt, who then informed the victim's mother and relatives on the maternal side of the victim.