PATNA, India, Sept. 3 -- Patna High Court issued the following judgment on Aug. 3:

present criminal appeal has been preferred under Section 372 of the Code of Criminal Procedure against the judgment of acquittal dated 17.08.2023 passed by the learned Additional District Judge-VII-cum-Special Judge POCSO, Patna in Case No.: CIS No. Special (POCSO) Case No. 76 of 2016, arising out of Bihta P.S. Case No. 372 of 2016, whereby Respondent Nos. 2 to 6 were held guilty by the trial court under the charge of Sections 323 and 341 of Indian Penal Code, and after due admonition under Section 3 of the Probation and Offender Act, the accused were released. Although the accused were charged for trial under Sections 354 and 307 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 12 of the POCSO Act, but they were not found guilty of these offences.

2. Vide order dated 05.10.2024, notices were issued to the Respondent Nos. 2 to 6, upon which they appeared by filing Vakalatnama through learned Advocate, Mr Bikash Kumar Sharma.

3. The prosecution case, in brief, is that on 04.06.2016 at about 9:15 AM in the morning when the informant was at his house, all of a sudden, Ripu Rai @ Surendra Kumar, Guddu Kumar @ Upendra Kumar, Manish Kumar, Bittu Kumar and Vikash Kumar came to his house armed with lathi and danda and abused him, and as soon as the informant came out of his house, they all started assaulting him with lathi and danda on his head, due to which he sustained severe injuries and blood started oozing out from his head. The motive behind the occurrence is that he had purchased one katha of land, about 5-6 years ago, from one Ripu Rai @ Surendra Kumar, and in retaliation the accused namely, Guddu Kumar @ Upendra Kumar used to ask his daughter to talk with him while she was on her way to school, and it is also alleged that the accused would hold her hand and threaten to shoot her if she didn't talk with him.

4. On the basis of the written statement of the informant, Bihta P.S. Case No. 372 of 2016 dated 04.06.2016 was registered under Sections 147, 148, 149, 504, 506, 354 and 307 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 8 and 12 of the POCSO Act, and the investigation was taken up by the police. The police, after investigation, submitted charge-sheet against the respondents under the said sections and, accordingly, cognizance was taken. Thereafter the case was committed to the Court of Sessions. Charges were framed against the accused persons, to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.

5. During the trial, the prosecution examined altogether eight witnesses in this case. Out of which PW-1 the victim of the case, PW2 Buddh Deo Rai, PW3 Malti Devi, PW4 Mantu Rai, PW5 grandfather of the victim, PW6 Kamlesh Kumar (I.O.), PW7 Dr. Digvijay Narayan Singh and PW8 Suresh Ram. No witness has been examined on behalf of the defence. After closure of prosecution evidence, the statements of the accused persons were recorded under Section 313 Cr.P.C. and after conclusion of trial, trial court acquitted the accused persons.

The rest of the document can be viewed at https://patnahighcourt.gov.in/viewjudgment/NSM3OTMjMjAyNCMxI04=-MYI2VTvMiqI=

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