A court here today sentenced a 22-year-old youth to five years of rigorous imprisonment for trying to sexually assault his three-year-old niece, observng that his act was "most despicable" and he had "scant regard" for the safety of the minor.
Additional Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on convict Rajesh Shah, a resident of Delhi, after holding him guilty under the provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Shah was arrested for trying to sexually assault his niece on February 3 this year after he was caught by complainant Rahul Jain who heard the cries of the child when he was parking his car in Inderpuri area here.
"Without much ado, the act that was being committed by the convict (Shah) was depraved, most despicable and henious one. It is really unconscionable that the convict attempted to sexually violate the girl child taking advantage of his closeness and relation with the family of his brother.
"The convict had scant regard for the safety and health of the girl child. Had he not been caught by public witnesses, it does not require divine imagination that he would have caused grave harm to the girl child," the court said.
According to the police, on February 3 this year, Shah had tried to sexually assault his niece and complainant Jain rescued the minor from the clutches of Shah and reported the matter to the police, it said.
During the trial proceedings, the court did not record the minor's statement as she was unable to tell anything except her name.
Shah denied the allegations against him and claimed Jain had asked him to clean his car and when he refused to do so, the complainant falsely implicated him in the case.
The court, however, after going through the statement of the witnesses, said "there is nothing to indicate that he (Jain) had any ill-will or malice to depose falsely against the accused."
"I find that the prosecution is able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt that the accused (Shah) has committed an offence under section 9 of the POCSO Act," it said.
