Two get 20 years in jail under POCSO Act for assaulting minor

The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (Fast Track Court), Tripatjot Kaur, has sentenced two men to 20 years of imprisonment each and imposed a fine of Rs 20,500 on each of them under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The convicts have been identified as Gagandeep Singh, alias Billy, son of Harjinder Singh, and Sahil, son of Ashok Kumar, both residents of Kot Khalsa. They were found guilty in an FIR registered at the Islamabad police station under Sections 377, 506 and 201 of the IPC and Section 4(2) of the POCSO Act.

According to the court’s judgment, the incident occurred on July 17, 2020, when a 10-year-old boy went out with a friend on a motorcycle. The two accused, along with a minor accomplice, were already present at the location. They caught hold of the victim while his two friends managed to escape.

The court observed that the accused beat up the child with slippers and forced him to engage in an obscene act. When the victim resisted, the minor assaulted him again until he complied out of fear. The accused then recorded a video of the assault and later circulated it online.

The minor accused was earlier tried by the Juvenile Justice Board, which on July 31, 2024, sentenced him to three years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000. He had filed an appeal against the order, which was dismissed by the Fast Track Court while announcing the main judgment today, thereby upholding the Juvenile Justice Board’s decision.

While delivering the verdict, the court remarked that such crimes are “heinous and deeply disturbing”, and the punishment should serve as a strong deterrent to prevent similar offences in the future.