Nainital, Oct 1 (PTI) The Uttarakhand High Court has upheld a man’s conviction in a case involving the rape of a 10-year-old girl but reduced his sentence by two years, considering that he had already spent over nine years in prison.
This decision by the Uttarakhand High Court comes shortly after a stern verdict delivered by the Delhi High Court in another case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.
A division bench comprising Justice Ravindra Maithani and Justice Siddharth Sah delivered the verdict on Wednesday regarding an appeal filed by Vijay Bahadur, who was convicted in the 2017 case, reducing his sentence from 12 years to 10 years.
In February 2018, the POCSO special court in Bageshwar district had convicted Bahadur and sentenced him to 12 years of rigorous imprisonment, in addition to imposing a fine of Rs 10,000.
The incident took place in the Kapkot area of the district. The victim’s family works as manual labourers. According to the prosecution, the accused took the minor girl inside his tent and sexually assaulted her; the victim’s brother was an eyewitness to the incident.
While hearing the appeal, the division bench observed that despite arguments regarding the delay in filing the FIR and issues concerning the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report, the statements of the victim and the eyewitness (her brother) were consistent and credible, and both remained steadfast during cross-examination.
The court noted that the medical examination report of the victim further strengthened the prosecution’s case. The division bench found no grounds to interfere with the subordinate court’s conviction verdict and upheld the conviction; however, considering that the convict had already spent over nine years and two months in prison, it reduced his sentence from 12 years to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.
This verdict by the Uttarakhand High Court comes shortly after a recent ruling by the Delhi High Court in another POCSO case involving a 10-year-old girl.
In that case, the Delhi High Court upheld the sentence requiring the convict to remain in prison for the rest of his life. The court endorsed the victim’s poignant plea that the accused be kept in jail “until he grows old.”
The Delhi High Court commended the girl’s courage and assured her that the convict would not be able to harm her or any other girl again. PTI COR DPT APL
APL
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.