Observing that sexual assault on minor children is a gross and blatant violation of their fundamental, constitutional and human rights, a special POCSO court has awarded 20-year rigorous imprisonment to a 23-year old man for sexually assaulting a minor girl in April 2021.
The convict, Satyam Kumar, alias Shiva, was also fined ₹30,000. He was arrested on the complaint of the mother of the minor girl, who was less than 16 years old at the time of the crime on April 30, 2021.
On Thursday, Kumar was awarded 20-year jail under Section 4 (penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The detailed court order, which was released on Friday, said, “Sexual assault on minor children is gross and blatant violation of their fundamental, constitutional and human rights. One may fall short of words to empathise the suffering, pain, trauma, turmoil and harassment the young victim has to undergo, when her dignity is ruthlessly crushed by the accused to satisfy his lust.”
The court also recommended the case to District Legal Services Authority, Chandigarh, for ₹4-lakh compensation under the Victim Compensation Scheme.
Youth held guilty of sodomising minor boy
In another case, the special POCSO court has held a 20-year-old painter, Amit, guilty of repeatedly sexually assaulting a nine-year-old boy.
As per the boy’s mother, the accused took away her son while he was playing in a ground and sexually assaulted him. This happened four times in January 2022. Police were sounded in February when the mother learnt of the crime.
During trial, though the mother turned hostile, but the nine-year-old stood by his statement and identified the accused in court. On Friday, Amit was held guilty under Section 377 (unnatural offences) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of POCSO Act.
The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on September 25.
