Mathura: From arguments to conviction and sentencing – a Uttar Pradesh court has taken just 30 working days to serve justice to a man accused of sodomising a minor.
On Monday, the court of special judge (POCSO) Ramkishore Yadav in Mathura sent perpetrator Hukum to jail for life for molesting a minor boy. Judge Yadav also fined the man Rs 70,000.
Hukum was charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) on 29 August, the testimonies recorded from 30 August to 5 September and arguments were completed on 19 October. Hukum was convicted on the 27th, and sentenced on 30 October.
The offence had galvanised Mathura’s legal fraternity as soon as the offence was brought to light.
The victim’s father filed a report at Kosikalan police station on 23 July 23, accusing Hukum of trying to sodomise his son. In his complaint, the father said Hukum accosted the boy while he was on his way home from school, took him to his home and tried to force him.
He made the boy remove his shorts and laid him face-down on a cot in his cattle shed, the father said. He was caught in the act when the boy’s mother chanced upon what was going on from the roof of their adjacent home. She raised an alarm and the boy was rescued by neighbours.
The police charged Hukum under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 5 and 6 of the POCSO Act. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for the charges under POCSO, and 10 years for those under the Indian Penal Code.
Edited by Tikli Basu
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