SAIFUL ISLAM Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This criminal appeal under Sec. 374, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 ['the Code' or 'CrPC', for short] is directed against a Judgment and Order dtd. 19/1/2023 passed by the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge-cum-Special Judge [POCSO] ['the Special Court', for short] in Special Case no. 21/2021, which arose out of G.R. Case no. 2722/2020 and Dhubri Police Station Case no. 829/2020. By the Judgment and Order dtd. 19/1/2023, the Special Court has convicted the accused-appellant for the offences under Sec. 417 and Sec. 376[3] of the Indian Penal Code [IPC] as well as Sec. 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences [POCSO] Act, 2012. For the offence under Sec. 417, IPC, the accused-appellant has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year and to pay a fine of Rs.1,000,.00 in default of payment of fine, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a further period of fifteen days. In view of Sec. 42 of the POCSO Act, the accused-appellant has been sentenced under Sec. 4 of the POCSO Act only and he has been imposed a sentence of rigorous imprisonment for a term of twenty years and to pay a fine of Rs.15,000.00, in default of payment of fine, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for another three months. The sentences are ordered to run concurrently.

(2.) The First Information Report [FIR] was lodged by P.W.3 as the informant before the Officer-in-Charge, Dharmasala Police Station W.P. on 29/6/2020. In the FIR, the informant named four persons as accused, namely, [i] Saiful Islam [the accused-appellant]; [ii] Soleman Ali; [iii] Surat Jamal; and [iv] Inisa Bibi, all residents of Kachuarkhas Part-I, Post Office - Dharmasala, Police Station and District - Dhubri.

(3.) In the FIR, it was inter alia alleged that the accused-appellant who was named as accused no. 1 in the FIR, ensnared the infor-mant's daughter into a love affair, thereby, establishing physical relation with her several times on the pretext of marrying her. Though his daughter refused to have physical relation with the accused no. 1 as she was a minor, the accused no. 1 committed rape on her forcefully and promised her that he would marry her. The love affair continued in that manner for a year, on being instigated by the other three accused. The informant further stated that all of a sudden, that is, on the date of lodging the FIR, the accused no. 1 refused to marry his daughter. The informant stated to have learnt that the marriage of the accused no. 1 had been arranged with another woman and he would be getting married on 29/6/2020. The FIR was lodged with the request to take necessary action in the matter. The informant further mentioned that the influential people of the village met three days earlier but at the instigation of the accused nos. 2, 3 and 4, the accused no. 1 refused to marry his daughter.