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(Per : Amit B. Borkar, J.) Four persons namely Ganesh S/o Ramdas Satpute, Karunanand S/o Ramesh Moon, Rohit S/o Sanjay Tambe and Nitin Pritam Bairisal, were tried by the Special Judge, M.C.O.C., Nagpur for offences punishable under Sections 376(2)(g), 377, 341, 323, 394, 504 and 506-B read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Section 3 punishable under Section 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POSCO Act) and Section 3 (1)(i) of the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (M.C.O.C. Act). Vide a judgment and order dated 27/12/2017, the learned Special Judge (M.C.O.C.) and Additional Sessions Judge - 5, Nagpur convicted and sentenced them in the manner stated hereinafter;

i. All four accused are sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for remainder of their natural life and to pay fine of Rs.10,000/-, in default to suffer simple imprisonment for one year for offences under Section 376(D) of IPC.

ii. For offence punishable under Section 4 of the POSCO Act, all four were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment PAGE 3 OF 21 Cri.appeal-79-2018-J.odt for life and to pay fine of Rs.10,000/-, in default to undergo simple imprisonment for one year; iii. For offence under Section 506-B of IPC, all four were directed to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years and to pay fine of Rs.1000/- and in default to suffer simple imprisonment for one month;

25. The evidence of Ujwala Andhare (PW8), the birth certificate (Exh.95) entries in school register stating birth of victim of 13/12/1998 sufficiently proves that the victim was PAGE 18 OF 21 Cri.appeal-79-2018-J.odt child within the meaning of Section 2 (1)(d) of the POSCO Act at the time of incident.

26. While ordinarily there is presumption of innocence in a relation to the accused, Section 29 of the POSCO Act creates a presumption of guilt on the part of the accused if he is prosecuted for committing, abating or attempting certain offences under the said Act. Section 29 of the said Act reads as under :

"29. Presumption as to certain offences. - Where a person is prosecuted for committing or abetting or attempting to commit any offence under sections 3,5, 7 and section 9 of this Act, the Special Court shall presume, that such person has committed or abetted or attempted to commit the offence, as the case may be unless the contrary is proved."

27. The question when presumption of guilt gets triggered has been addressed, by various High Courts in POSCO Act, holding that such presumption comes into play only when the prosecution established facts that form basis of such presumption. In our view, in the instant case, the prosecution has been able to establish foundational facts to trigger presumption under Section 29 of the said Act.