New Delhi [India], March 18 : Delhi's Rohini Court recently sentenced a man for 10 years imprisonment for the offence of sexually assaulting a mentally challenged minor boy in North West Delhi in 2017.
The convicts and the victim were residents of the same village. An FIR was registered in September 2017.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Sushil Bala Dagar sentenced the main accused to 10 years' improvement under section six of the POCSO Act. He has been sentenced to different jail terms for the offences of causing hurt, house trespass, and criminal intimidation.
The other two convicts have been sentenced to six months imprisonment for causing hurt, house trespass and criminal intimidation.
The court has awarded a compensation of Rs.10.5 lakh to the victim.
While awarding the sentence, the court said that It is the responsibility of society as a whole to take care of its children and to protect them from their physiological and psychological exploitation at the hands of sexual abusers. The children of the present day are the future of society
"The interest of the vulnerable child needs to be protected for a healthy, developed and vibrant society. The psychological scars of the sexual abuses during childhood are indelible, and they keep haunting the individual forever, thereby hindering their proper physical and psychological development," the court said on March 3.
In the present case, the main convict committed penetrative sexual assault upon a minor boy with mental disability, taking advantage of his mental disability. The victim was already known to the convict as being from the same village, despite which such an element of perversion has been shown towards a child with a mental disability.
During arguements on sentence, Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) Yogita Kaushik had contended that the convicts should be granted maximum punishment so that like-minded persons in the society are deterred from committing such heinous and despicable offences.
She also argued that the offence committed by the convicts in this matter is highly derogatory in nature.
The main accused was also involved in three criminal cases in Delhi and Himachal Pradesh.