Sexual Assault Case: Children’s court upholds conviction of juvenile

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 4

The children’s court has upheld the conviction of a juvenile in two-year-old case of sexual assault on a two-and-half-years-old girl.

The juvenile has challenged the order of the Principal Magistrate, Juvenile Justice Board, sentencing him to undergo reformation for three years and pay a fine of Rs500, on February 18, 2020.

In 2019, the mother of the victim had alleged that the accused took her daughter on the pretext of playing with her. She said when she went to the house of the accused, the accused was sexually assaulting her daughter.

The accused challenged the order before the children’s court. The counsel of the accused argued that the findings recorded by the board are based on solitary testimony of the complainant, which was not convincing. The appellant has been falsely implicated in the case, the counsel said.

The children’s court stated that considering the stigma attached to the victim of sexual assault in the Indian society, it appears improbable that the mother of a minor child would use her daughter as a tool to settle any alleged grievance. In context of the above discussion, the judgment of the Principal Magistrate is found to be well-reasoned and the present appeal stands dismissed.