HC upholds 60-yr old man's jail for sexually assaulting minor

A 60-year-old man, who had sexually assaulted an eight-year-old girl, has failed to get any relief from the Delhi High Court which upheld his five-year jail term.
Justice S P Garg dismissed the appeal of the convict against the judgement passed by a trial court last year which had sentenced him to five-year jail after holding him guilty for the offence under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The court held that convict Raman Kumar does not deserve any leniency as he took advantage of the tiny girl's "loneliness" while sexually assaulting her.
"The appellant (Kumar) was aged around 60 years and victim was a child aged around eight years akin to his daughter. The appellant who was involved in various other criminal cases dared to outrage the modesty of an unsuspecting innocent, tiny girl aged around eight years taking advantage of her loneliness," the court said.

According to the prosecution, an FIR was lodged at Dadri Police Station here in March 2013 against Kumar for allegedly molesting the minor.
During the trial before the lower court, he had denied his complicity in the crime and had claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case.

The counsel appearing for the man had claimed in the high court that trial court had not appreciated the evidence in its proper perspective and the minor had given inconsistent statements at the behest of her mother.
While dismissing his appeal, the high court observed that various statements made by the child during the investigation and trial showed that her version was throughout consistent.

"In all her statements, she has implicated the accused with certainty and has attributed a specific role to him. No valid reasons exist to disbelieve the statement of the prosecutrix," it said.
It further said that no ulterior motive was attributed to the child for implicating Kumar in the grievous offence and in the absence of any prior animosity or ill-will, the minor was not expected to level such serious allegations to put her in disrepute.