A 21-year-old youth has been sentenced to five years in jail for sexually assaulting a four-year-old girl, by a Delhi court which said that "he did not have any regard for tender age of the victim child" and did not deserve leniency.
Additional Sessions Judge Illa Rawat handed down the jail term to Surender, a north-west Delhi resident, for sexually assaulting the minor, an offence under Section 9 (M) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
"I am of the considered opinion that from the testimony of witnesses and other documents placed on record and proved in accordance with law, the prosecution has successfully proved its case against Surender, beyond reasonable doubt...." the judge said.
"....The fact that the convict committed aggravated penetrative sexual assault upon the victim girl from his own locality and did not have any regard for the tender age of the child, no lenient view is called for in the case," the court said, while also imposing a fine of Rs 1,000 on him.
To provide Restorative and Compensatory Justice to the victim, it also awarded compensation of Rs 50,000 to her, with a direction that it be released to her at the age of majority.
According to the prosecution, on June 19, 2013, the victim was playing outside her shanty when Surender came to her and started removing her clothes.
He was caught by victim's aunt who came outside to check on the child and saw Surender sexually assaulting the minor.
Her aunt raised an alarm and with the help of victim's mother and public, Surender was handed over to the police.
The court, while convicting Surender, relied on the testimony of the victim, saying that she duly identified him at the time of her deposition in the court and "no tutoring could be brought out from her testimony".
It also relied on the statement of her aunt, who caught Surender red-handed, and said that due to her arrival, further untoward incident could be averted and the victim did not suffer any irreparable harm.
