MEHARBAN vs STATE

Judgment text excerpt

* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of Decision: 18.09.2025 + CRL.A. 289/2018 MEHARBAN .....Appellant Through: Mr. Ravi Nayak, Advocate for DHCLSC. versus STATE .....Respondent Through: Ms. Shubhi Gupta, APP for State with SI Harish, P.S. Lahori Gate. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANOJ KUMAR OHRI JUDGMENT (ORAL) 1. A perusal of the record shows that the appellant has completed his entire sentence and was released from jail on 19.08.2019 after completion of sentence and payment of fine. Despite efforts, the appellant remains untraceable. Accordingly, the Court proceeds to hear the appeal on merits in terms of the decision of the Supreme Court in Bani Singh & Ors. v. State of U.P., reported as (1996) 4 SCC 720. 2. The present appeal filed under Section 374(2) Cr.P.C. has been preferred against the judgment of conviction dated 04.01.2018 and the order on sentence dated 06.01.2018 passed in the context of FIR No. 14/2015 registered under Section 10 POCSO at P.S. Lahori Gate. Vide the aforesaid order on sentence, the appellant was sentenced to undergo RI for a period of 5 years in addition to payment of fine of Rs.2,000/-, in default whereof he Signature Not Verified Signed By:NIJAMUDDEEN ANSARI CRL.A. 289/2018 Page 1 of 9 Signing Date:23.09.2025 20:24:36 would undergo SI for 1 year, for the offence punishable under Section 10 POCSO. The benefit of Section 428 Cr.P.C. was granted to the appellant. 3. The facts as narrated in the charge-sheet are that the present FIR came to be registered on the complaint of the mother of the child victim, alleging that her minor son used to commute by rickshaw to school and the appellant, being the rickshaw-puller, used to take her son to school in the morning and bring him back in the afternoon. On 13.01.2015, when her son return