ASHABUL HUSSAIN Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Mr. A. Ahmed, learned counsel for the appellant and Ms. A. Begum, learned Addl. PP for the State.

(2.) The appellant has prayed for setting aside the impugned Judgement dtd. 9/9/2024, passed by the Special Judge (POCSO), North Salmara, Abhayapuri in Special (P) No. 13(J)/2018, by which the appellant has been convicted under Sec. 6 of the POCSO Act and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.50,000.00, in default, to undergo simple imprisonment for 6(six) months.

(3.) The appellant's counsel submits that the age of the victim could not have been 16 years, but would have been around 19 years at the time of the incident, in terms of the evidence given by the stepfather (PW-1) of the victim in his crossexamination, where he stated that at the time of his marriage with the victim's mother, which was 17 years ago, the victim was 6-7 months old, while the incident occurred sometime in February 2018, as the FIR stated that the victim was 4 months pregnant at the time of filing the FIR dtd. 4/6/2018.