JUDGMENT : This appeal is preferred against the Judgment of Conviction and order of sentence dated 15.01.2022, passed by the learned Special Judge-POCSO, Dhanbad, in Spl. (POCSO) Case No.82 of 2019, arising out of Topchanchi P.S. Case No.54 of 2019, whereby and where under, the sole appellant was convicted for the offence punishable under section 8 of the POCSO Act and further he was sentenced to undergo R.I. for a period of 4 years and a fine of Rs.10,000/-and in default of payment of fine, he was directed to undergo additional imprisonment for 2 months. 2. The prosecution case arose in the wake of fardbeyan of informant Mamta Devi, which is recorded by P.S.I. Premkumar Tudu Topnchanchi P.S. on 24.06.2019 at 17:30 hours at P.M.C.H Dhanbad in gynaecology ward bed no. 06. Informant Mamta Devi alleged that on 24/6/2019 at about 9:00 AM in the morning, she was cleaning utensils of her house. Her two years old daughter was playing. Accused Appu Kumar Das, a relative of informant was there, he has taken the child in his arm and took her in T.V. room. The informant heard the crying of her daughter, then she rushed there. She tried to pacify the child but she continued crying. Informant has noticed that the child was wearing half pant but now she was without her half pant and blood was oozing out from victim's private part and there was swelling over body of the child. She informed the matter to her husband. She called ambulance and brought victim to Health Care Centre and from there she was sent to PMCH for better treatment. Thereafter FIR was lodged and criminal law was set at motion. Accordingly, the present case Topchanchi P.S. Case No. 54/2019 dated 24.08.2019, corresponding to Spl. POCSO Case No. 82/2019 was instituted for the offences u/s 376(1) of I. P. C. and u/s 4 & 6 of POCSO Act, 2012 against the accused Appu Kumar Das. On 23.08.2019 cognizance was taken against accused person U/s 376-AB of I.P.C. and U/s 6 of POCSO Act. Charge was framed against accused person namely Appu Kumar Das 376 (A) (B) of IPC and under section 8 POCSO Act by Learned Addl. Sessions Judge 1st cum-Spl. On 23.08.2019 cognizance was taken against accused person U/s 376-AB of I.P.C. and U/s 6 of POCSO Act. Charge was framed against accused person namely Appu Kumar Das 376 (A) (B) of IPC and under section 8 POCSO Act by Learned Addl. Sessions Judge 1st cum-Spl. Judge (POCSO) Dhanbad, to which he denied charges, pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried and the learned court below after conducting the full-fledged trial passed the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence, which is under challenge. 3. Heard learned Defence counsel Mr. Shekhar Prasad Sinha appearing on behalf of the appellant and learned APP Mr. Fahad Aalam appearing on behalf of the State. Arguments advanced on behalf of appellant 4. At the outset the learned defence counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant submitted that he does not want to argue this case on merit and confines his argument only on the point of sentence. It has been pointed out by learned defence counsel that the appellant having been convicted for the offence punishable under Section 8 of the POCSO Act, he was sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 4 years and out of the awarded sentence of imprisonment, he has already served in jail for more than three and half years. Further it has also been pointed out that the sole appellant was also imposed with a sentence of fine of Rs.10,000/-(Rs. Ten Thousand) and he is ready to make the payment and therefore it is urged on behalf of the appellant that let the judgment of conviction be upheld and order of sentence be altered to the effect the sentence of imprisonment for a term of the period already undergone by him and further sentence to fine to a sum of Rupees of Rs.10,000/-(Rs. Ten Thousand) Arguments advanced on behalf of State 5. Ten Thousand) Arguments advanced on behalf of State 5. On the other hand, learned APP appearing on behalf of the State opposed the contentions raised on behalf of the appellant and submitted that it is a serious offence punishable under Section 8 of the POCSO Act and since the learned defence counsel does not want to argue this case on merit and therefore let the order of conviction be upheld and further it is submitted that because of seriousness of the offense the appellant does not deserve lenient view in awarding the sentence and therefore the prayer of altering the sentence for the period already undergone be rejected and let this appeal be dismissed. Appraisal & Findings 6. Having heard learned counsels appearing for the parties, perused the record of this case including the lower court records. 7. It is found that the sole appellant was convicted for the offence punishable under section 8 of the POCSO Act by learned court below and he was sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 4 years and further he was sentenced to a fine of Rs.10,000/-(Rs. Ten Thousand). It appears from the record that the appellant has almost served the sentence of imprisonment in jail for more than three and half years and further the learned defence counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant does not want to argue this case on merit and therefore this Court upholds the judgment of conviction dt.15.01.2022 passed by the leaned Special Judge POCSO, Dhanbad, in Spl.(POCSO) Case No.82 of 2019 against the appellant. 8. It has also been pointed out that there is nothing on record about the criminal history of this appellant and further the occurrence has taken place as far back as in the year 2019 and this appellant has never come out from jail after his initial arrest even during the pre-conviction period and he remained in jail for the entire period of criminal proceeding till today and even after the judgment of conviction and order of sentence, he is in jail as on date. In this view of the matter, this court finds that the appellant has already served the entire sentence by remaining in jail more than three and half years and therefore a lenient view is taken in view of the fact that the minimum mandatory sentence of imprisonment as provided under Section 8 of the POCSO Act, i.e. three years and this appellant has already remained in jail for more than three and half years and therefore this Court after upholding the judgment of conviction passed against this appellant alters the sentence of imprisonment to the term of the period of sentence of imprisonment already undergone by him and further the sentence of fine as imposed by the learned court below is confirmed and hence this appellant is directed to deposit the sentence of fine amount of Rs.10,000/-(Rs. Ten Thousand) in the learned court below. The moment, the appellant deposits the sentence of fine amount of Rs.10,000/-as awarded by the learned court below, he shall be released forthwith, if not wanted in another case. 9. This appeal is dismissed as above. The I.A. No. 3419/2022 accordingly gets disposed of. 10. Let a copy of this Judgment along with Lower Court Record be sent back forthwith to the concerned court below.