Youth sentenced for molesting woman

A youth convicted for molesting a woman was today sentenced by a Delhi court to the period of detention already undergone by him during the course of the trial.
Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna while holding the convict, Ashu, guilty of the offence had, however, revoked attempt to rape charges against him after observing that he could not be convicted of rape as he had failed in his bid when the victim fled from his clutches.
The court imposed a cost of Rs 5,000 on the convict, saying he had been sentenced only to the time already spent by him in prison during the trial.

"It would be sufficient for him, keeping in view his age," the judge said.
The court, however, directed the Delhi Legal Service Authority to decide the amount of compensation to be given to the victim under the existing scheme for the same.
The court had only convicted Ashu for the crime as three of his associates, who were also part of the offence, were not arrested during the investigation and remained untraceable throughout the period of the trial.

"To my mind, the facts suggest an indecent assault upon the woman and, hence, the case would be rather squarely covered under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 354 (assault or criminal force with an intent to outrage a woman's modesty) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC," the judge had said.

Ashu was arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by the victim's husband, who alleged that in July, 2011, four youths had tried to sexually assault his wife when she had gone outside her house in south Delhi to relieve herself.
Ashu had pleaded innocence and sought acquittal in the case citing contradictions in the depositions of the woman and her husband.