Ganderbal Court Delivers Life Sentence in Child Sexual Assault Case
Aijaz Baba /Ganderbal
In a landmark judgment, the Court of Principal Sessions Judge Ganderbal Abdul Nasir has sentenced accused Virender Thakur to life imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life for committing aggravated penetrative sexual assault on a minor girl aged around 5 years. The court held that the offence was of a grave and heinous nature, committed in breach of the trust of the victim’s family, where the accused worked as a carpenter. The court also imposed a fine of ₹50,000 on the convict.While delivering the quantum of sentence, the court rejected the plea for leniency put forth by the Ld Counsel for the defence , which claimed that the accused was a first-time offender and his act was unplanned. The prosecution successfully argued that the victim was a minor child and the crime shook the conscience of society, requiring no leniency. The court observed that offenders who commit crimes against children deserve strictest punishment.The court also relied on the legal presumption under Sections 29 and 30 of the POCSO Act, holding that the evidence proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused had the required criminal intention. The medical and circumstantial evidence was found sufficient to establish sexual assault, and the accused failed to rebut the presumption of culpability mandated by law.
The court further noted that the crime was committed in a calculated manner, taking advantage of the absence of the victim’s family. Referring to various Supreme Court judgments on sentencing and proportionality, the court stated that crimes against minors demand exemplary punishment to uphold societal confidence in the justice system.While observing that the case did not fall in the category of the “rarest of rare” warranting the death penalty, the court held that life imprisonment till the end of the convict’s natural life was justified in the interest of justice.
The accused was also sentenced to an additional one year under Section 342 IPC and two years under Section 506 IPC, with all sentences to run concurrently
.This judgment is being seen as a strong message that crimes against children will be dealt with sternly and that the law stands firmly to protect minors from sexual offences.
