A Delhi court has released a youth convicted of molesting and threatening an eight-year-old girl who had gone to his house for tuition, saying he had already remained in prison for nearly the maximum jail term given for such offences.
Additional Sessions Judge Sanjeev Kumar convicted North Delhi-resident Gopal Dass for the offence of outraging the modesty of the minor girl and sentenced him to imprisonment of 22 months, which he had already spent in jail. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on 21-year-old Dass.
"Considering the fact that convict is a young man and his entire career is ahead of him and he has old parents to look after; the convict is in judicial custody since July 3, 2011, thus, he has already remained in judicial custody for about one year and 10 months.
"The maximum sentence provided under Section 354 (outraging the modesty of woman), 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC is two years of rigorous imprisonment. Therefore, he has already undergone most of the said period," the judge said, and ordered release of the youth.
Meanwhile, the court also ordered initiation of perjury proceedings against the girl's mother who had "deliberately" turned hostile to save Dass.
It issued notice to her asking her to explain why she should not be punished for the offence of giving false evidence.
According to the prosecution, Dass had molested the girl when she had gone to his house for tuitions and when she started crying, he threatened her not to tell about it to her mother. Later in the day, the girl disclosed the incident to her mother who informed the police about it.
During the trial, the victim and her mother had changed their statements in the court saying Dass had not committed anything wrong with the minor.
The court, however, held that it was clear that the victim was tutored and Dass cannot be let off merely because she did not support the prosecution's case in her cross examination.
