New Delhi, Jul 6 (PTI)The Delhi High Court has upheld the sentence of 15 years of rigorous imprisonment awarded to a man for committing aggravated penetrative sexual assault on a four-year-old girl, saying that the nature of the offence warranted no leniency.

Justice Mukta Gupta dismissed the appeal by the convict and upheld the conviction of the appellant under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and the consequent order of sentence passed by the trial court in 2017.

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The high court said that even though the appellant has placed on record certificates of appreciation from Tihar jail indicating that he has now reformed himself and that his conduct in jail was satisfactory, it found no error in the order on sentence and rejected his plea for awarding the minimum sentence.

“This Court finds no error in the impugned judgement of conviction of the appellant for offences punishable under Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) POCSO Act and section 342 (Punishment for wrongful confinement) IPC…Considering the nature of the offence, (which) does not warrant leniency by awarding the minimum sentence prescribed to the appellant, this Court finds no error in the impugned order on sentence. Consequently, the appeal is dismissed,” the court said in its order dated July 4.

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Under the POCSO Act, several circumstances are listed as constituting the offence of aggravated penetrative sexual assault, which includes the penetrative sexual assault on a child below twelve years.

In the appeal, the appellant contended that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the charge against him before the trial court and that the sentence of rigorous imprisonment of 15 years was excessive.

He claimed that he has a minor child aged four years and was the only earning member in the family and hence the sentence should be reduced to the minimum sentence of 10 years.

The high court refused to interfere with the trial court's order and observed that the testimony of the victim and her parents was consistent, the incident-- which took place in June 2014-- was reported to police soon after its commission and fresh injuries were found on the private parts of the minor girl at the time of medical examination.

The prosecution opposed the appeal and said that the allegations of the minor victim and her mother were duly supported by the forensic report and since the appellant committed a serious offence upon the victim aged 4 years, no leniency be show PTI ADS

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)