Court upholds 60-yr-old man's jail term in molestation case

A Delhi court has upheld the one year rigorous imprisonment of a 60-year-old man for molesting a seven-year-old girl, observing that his "depraved action" speaks of the "increasing malaise in the society".
District judge Ina Malhotra dismissed the appeal of Gopal Yadav, a native of Allahabad, and refused to interfere with the trial court order.
"There is no reason to interfere with the order of conviction and sentence passed by the trial court. The depraved action of the accused with a girl child old enough to be his granddaughter deserves no consideration by this appellate court, and speaks of the increasing malaise in the society which needs to be curbed with an iron hand. Conviction and sentence upheld," the court said.

The man, in his appeal, had challenged his conviction and sentence awarded by the trial court.
According to the prosecution, on July 31, 2012, Yadav had molested the minor girl when she was going to her friend's house in south east Delhi. Yadav, who was working at a dairy, caught hold of the child and molested her.
When the child screamed, he let her go and gave her 2-3 rupees and also threatened her not to disclose the incident to anyone or else he would stab her.

After returning home, the child informed her parents and a complaint was made to the police.

The court rejected the arguments of the counsel for the accused that prosecution has not been able to prove its case.
"The statement of the victim is clear and categorical and has been duly corroborated by the statement of her parents. There is no scope for any doubt as to the offence having been committed on the minor girl," the court said.