Delhi HC upholds 12 years sentence of man convicted under POCSO for raping 4 years old minor

New Delhi [India], August 15 : The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed an appeal against conviction and sentence under POCSO Act for raping a minor. The High Court upheld the 12 years sentence awarded to the convict in 2021 for raping a minor. He was also awarded three years sentence for kidnapping the minor.
Justice Amit Bansal dismissed the appeal and said, "I find no infirmity in the judgment convicting the appellant for the offences under Sections 342/363/376 of the IPC and Section 6 of the POCSO Act."
In view of the above, there is no merit in the appeal and the same is dismissed, Justice Bansal said in the judgement passed on August 14.
The bench said that the appellant has not been able to shake the version of the prosecution and the prosecution has successfully proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The High Court held that the trial court has correctly observed that injury on the private parts
in cases of sexual offences depends on various factors such as depth of insertion, among others. It is not necessary that in every case there would be an injury caused.
"Therefore, the mere absence of injuries cannot be a ground to hold that penetrative sexual assault did not take place," Justice Bansal observed.
It also said that the Trial Court has correctly observed that the victim was very young at the time of the incident and minor contradictions cannot be a ground to disbelieve her testimony.
"In my considered view, the statement of the victim recorded under Section 164 of the CrPC cannot be read in isolation and has to be considered. In the totality of the given facts and circumstances and due weightage has to be given to the age of the victim, which was four and a half years at the time of the incident," Justice Bansal observed.
Appellant Ranjeet Kumar Yadav had moved an appeal seeking to set aside the judgment
passed by the trial court on September 18, 2021, and the order on sentence passed by the Tis Hazari Court on November 26, 2021.
The appellant was convicted for the offences punishable under Sections 342/363/376 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO).
The appellant was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a period of twelve years for the conviction under Section 6 of the POCSO Act and three years of rigorous imprisonment under Section 363 of the IPC and six months of rigorous imprisonment under Section 342 of the IPC.
As per the prosecution, the victim, a girl child of four and a half years, was playing in the
street outside her house on 11th June 2017. When the mother of the victim could not find the victim, she sent her husband, the father of the victim, to look for her.
The father of the victim reached the house of the appellant, who was their neighbour and knocked at the door which was locked from inside. He also called for the victim but there was no response.
The father of the victim, after some time, again went to the house of the appellant and called for the victim and received her response from inside the door. After a couple of minutes, the appellant dressed in his underwear opened the door and the victim was found present inside the room.
The father of the victim brought the victim back to their house and told the mother of the victim about the incident.
The victim then informed her mother that the appellant took the victim to his house, gave her ‘Mango Frooti’ and after removing her underwear, inserted his finger inside her private parts, the Prosecution alleged.
After hearing about the unfortunate incident that happened with their daughter, the parents informed the police. The police on the basis of the statement of the mother registered the FIR under Section 376 of the IPC and Sections 4/6 of the POCSO Act at Police Station Gulabi Bagh.
The statement of the victim under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) was also recorded and the accused was sent for his medical examination.