MUKESH PURI vs GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI

* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Reserved on : 06.08.2025 Pronounced on : 08.08.2025 CRL.A. 920/2023 & CRL.M.(BAIL) 1622/2025 MUKESH PURI .....Appellant Through: Mr. Kunal Malhotra, Mr. Ravinder Gaur and Mr. Shivansh Bhateja, Advocates. versus GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI .....Respondent Through: Ms. Shubhi Gupta, APP for State with S.I. Sangeeta Malik alongwith S.I. Usha Rani, P.S. J.P. Kalan Ms. Shelly Dixit, Amicus Curiae for the Complainant CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANOJ KUMAR OHRI JUDGMENT 1. By way of the present appeal, the appellant seeks to assail the judgment of conviction dated 11.05.2023 and the order on sentence dated 22.07.2023, passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge-01, POCSO, Dwarka Courts, New Delhi, in SC No. 650/2017 arising out of FIR No. 661/2017 registered under Sections 10 and 9(m) POCSO at P.S. Bindapur, Delhi. Vide the aforesaid judgment and order on sentence, the appellant was 2. The prosecution’s case in a nutshell is that on 06.09.2017, the 5-year- old child victim, accompanied by her 8-year-old cousin, went to a photo studio to collect photographs, and while at the studio, the appellant called the child victim over, unzipped his pants, an