New Delhi, Jul 13 (PTI) The Delhi High Court Wednesday upheld the life sentence of not less than 14 years awarded to a man for sexually assaulting a minor girl.

The high court said the POCSO offender, who was left as a guardian of the child victim by her father while he was away, abused the trust reposed in him and marred the victim's life and future.

Also Read | Delegation of Haryana Congress MLAs Meets Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, Submits Memorandum … – Latest Tweet by PTI News.

A bench of Justices Mukta Gupta and Anish Dayal, while dealing with the convict's appeal against his conviction and sentencing by the trial court, said that the offence was reprehensible as the appellant was in a position of trust which he grossly betrayed by using the opportunity to satisfy his lust.

The high court refused to interfere with the sentence and said that the appellant being 60 years of age and the sole earning member of his family as well as having an unmarried daughter were “not the best mitigating circumstances” in view of the nature, seriousness, and depravity of the offence committed by him.

Also Read | 5 Leading Online NEET Coaching Institutes Providing Quality Learning and Mentorship.

It said that the cumulative reading of the evidence proved beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant had committed the offence and upheld his conviction under section 5(p) of the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act) for committing aggravated penetrative sexual assault on the child in her own home while being in a position of trust.

The offence, the high court added, caused serious mental agony to the child victim, her younger sister who was in the vicinity of the victim at the time of the crime, and the parents “who would be completely shaken by such an egregious, reprehensible and heinous act”.

“In the circumstances of the present case, the accused was given the task of being a guardian of the victim and he abused and violated that trust thereby marring the life and future of the child, causing serious mental agony to the child victim, the younger sister (who was also in the vicinity of the victim at the time of the crime) and the parents who would be completely shaken by such an egregious, reprehensible and heinous act,” the bench said.

“This Court also wishes to observe that it was reprehensible since the appellant had been given the duty to act as a guardian of two young girls by their father and he was thus in a position of trust which he grossly betrayed by using the opportunity to satisfy his lust,” said the court.

Following the incident of 2014, the trial court convicted the appellant under Section 6 (punishment for committing aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO Act and sentenced him to undergo life imprisonment for a period not less than 14 years. In addition, compensation of Rs 4,50,000 was granted to the victim in accordance with Delhi Victim Compensation Scheme.

(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)