NEW DELHI: More than 32 years after a man sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl, the long arm of the law finally caught up with him as Supreme Court overturned a trial court verdict acquitting the then 21-year-old, who is now 54, and ordered him to undergo a 10-year sentence.
"We would like to know who this daredevil sessions judge is who acquitted the man despite forensic science laboratory report, and statements of doctors and duty magistrate corroborating the girl's version of sexual assault," SC said while upholding a Gujarat HC decision to set aside the trial court verdict.
A year after the incident, the additional sessions judge, Ahmedabad (rural), in Oct 1994 acquitted the man, who was charged with sexually assaulting the girl in an agricultural field. The injured girl was taken to hospital and the relatives waited for the sarpanch to come to help them in filing the FIR. Medical examination proved she was raped.
The trial court, without taking into consideration the circumstances, had recorded the delay of 48 hours in FIR registration as one of the grounds for acquitting the accused.
SC orders rape convict to surrender within a week
The appeal filed by the state in HC remained pending for 30 years. Finally, a bench of Justices Aniruddha P Mayee and Divyesh A Joshi, on Nov 14 last year, set aside the trial court decision to acquit the man. It convicted him under Sections 376 and 506 of IPC and sentenced him to imprisonment for 10 years and a fine of Rs 10,000.
Rejecting arguments for not imposing any sentence after 31 years on the man, who is now married and has a family to support, HC had said, “If a perpetrator of a crime is set free, the concept of deterrent theory may not work and there might be adverse effect on society. Moreover, it is a 10-year-old girl who was subjected to sexual assault.” The SC bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh, agreeing with the HC judgment, revoked its order of Nov 14 last year and ordered the convict to surrender within a week.
"We would like to know who this daredevil sessions judge is who acquitted the man despite forensic science laboratory report, and statements of doctors and duty magistrate corroborating the girl's version of sexual assault," SC said while upholding a Gujarat HC decision to set aside the trial court verdict.
A year after the incident, the additional sessions judge, Ahmedabad (rural), in Oct 1994 acquitted the man, who was charged with sexually assaulting the girl in an agricultural field. The injured girl was taken to hospital and the relatives waited for the sarpanch to come to help them in filing the FIR. Medical examination proved she was raped.
The trial court, without taking into consideration the circumstances, had recorded the delay of 48 hours in FIR registration as one of the grounds for acquitting the accused.
SC orders rape convict to surrender within a week
The appeal filed by the state in HC remained pending for 30 years. Finally, a bench of Justices Aniruddha P Mayee and Divyesh A Joshi, on Nov 14 last year, set aside the trial court decision to acquit the man. It convicted him under Sections 376 and 506 of IPC and sentenced him to imprisonment for 10 years and a fine of Rs 10,000.
Rejecting arguments for not imposing any sentence after 31 years on the man, who is now married and has a family to support, HC had said, “If a perpetrator of a crime is set free, the concept of deterrent theory may not work and there might be adverse effect on society. Moreover, it is a 10-year-old girl who was subjected to sexual assault.” The SC bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh, agreeing with the HC judgment, revoked its order of Nov 14 last year and ordered the convict to surrender within a week.
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