Chandigarh: Juvenile's conviction in minor girl's rape, murder case upheld

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 4

Additional Sessions Judge Swati Sehgal has upheld an order of the Principal Magistrate, Juvenile Justice Board, Chandigarh, sentencing a child in conflict with law to three years of rigorous imprisonment in a rape and murder of an over three-year-old girl at Hallo Majra in 2015.

The child was convicted for the commission of the offences punishable under Sections 363, 365, 376A, 201 and 302 of the IPC and Section 6 of the POCSO Act.

The police had registered a case on a missing complaint of the victim’s father. The victim’s body was recovered from a drain near Colony No. 4. The accused was arrested after the victim’s father stated that on the occasion of Holi, he had an altercation with a person and his son, the accused. He stated since the day the victim went missing, the boy was also not seen. As he pointed a finger of suspicion at the child, the police apprehended the boy.

After examining the witnesses, the Principal Magistrate, Juvenile Justice Board, convicted the accused.

Dissatisfied with the judgment, the convict challenged the order on the grounds that the prosecution witnesses had turned hostile.

After hearing the arguments, the Sessions Court upheld the order, observing that though the witnesses resiled from their previous statement before the police, the recovery of the articles and the victim’s body in pursuance of their statement could not be ignored. The board had not held the appellant guilty solely on the testimony of the complainant, but after appreciating the testimony of other independent, official witnesses as well as the medical evidence and circumstantial evidence on record.

In the context of the above, the judgment of the Principal Magistrate, JJB, Chandigarh, was found to be well reasoned, the court observed while dismissing the appeal.

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