MORNINGSTAR NONGSIEJ Vs. STATE OF MEGHALAYA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appeal arises out of a judgment of conviction passed on September 28, 2018 and the consequential sentence under Sec. 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 for the appellant to undergo imprisonment for a period of 10 years and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000.00. In default of the payment of the fine, the appellant is to suffer a further term of imprisonment for a year.

(2.) According to the appellant, at the highest, the case may be one of sexual assault without there being any penetration, particularly in view of the statement of the victim and how the victim described the incident to a relative. The appellant says that there was a delay of about a year in the matter being reported. As to the appellant's confessional statement recorded under Sec. 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, the appellant submits that the same should be read in the context of the actual complaint by the victim herself.

(3.) The first information report came to be lodged on July 29, 2014 upon the mother of the victim, who was eight years old at the time of the incident, being informed of the incident by a cousin of the victim in whom the victim confided. The relevant cousin informed the victim's mother of the incident on July 27, 2014. It is not clear as to when the incident happened, except that, according to the victim, it was on a Sunday, several months before she reported the matter to her cousin and it happened at Nongstoin market.