A Delhi court has sentenced a man to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl in 2022 and said it was society's responsibility to take care of children and protect them from abusers.
Additional Sessions Judge Susheel Bala Dagar was hearing the arguments on sentencing against the 32-year-old man, who was convicted under Sections 10 (aggravated sexual assault) and 12 (sexual harassment) of the POCSO Act.
Additional public prosecutor Yogita Kaushik Dahiya said the convict touched the minor survivor's genitals with sexual intent, besides showing her a porn and therefore did not deserve any sympathy for the "abominable and reprehensible" crime.
In an order dated May 14, the court said, "It is the responsibility of society as a whole to take care of its children and to protect them from their physiological and psychological exploitation at the hands of the sexual abusers." Children were the country's future, and the interests of vulnerable children needed to be protected for a healthy, developed and vibrant society, it added.
"The psychological scars of the sexual abuses during childhood are indelible, and they keep haunting the individual forever, thereby hindering their proper physical and psychological development. The sexual offence may be an isolated act for the convict, however, the said act deeply impacts the life of an innocent child," the court said.
The convict was, as a result, handed out seven years of rigorous imprisonment under Section 10 and three years under Section 12 of the POCSO Act.
The sentences were ordered to run currently.
On the point of compensation, the court noted the victim impact report, which said the minor was a student of class 8; had three younger siblings, and her single mother was a daily wager in a factory.
Besides, the girl was undergoing treatment for tuberculosis.
The court, therefore, awarded her Rs 3 lakh compensation.
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