Nothing barbaric, obscene than child rape: HC - Hindustan Times
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Nothing barbaric, obscene than child rape: HC

By, Chandigarh
Sep 28, 2022 02:40 AM IST

The Punjab and Haryana high court refused to interfere with the trial court judgement, even as the accused had claimed that there were inconsistencies with the prosecution case

: The Punjab and Haryana high court has upheld the life term of an accused in a child rape and murder case, observing that there is nothing barbaric, obscene and diabolical than this crime.

Nothing barbaric, obscene than child rape: HC
Nothing barbaric, obscene than child rape: HC

The high court refused to interfere with the trial court judgement, even as the accused had claimed that there were inconsistencies with the prosecution case.

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“…overturning of a well-considered and well analysed judgement of the trial court on the grounds of minor inconsistencies in the statements of the witnesses, when the case against the accused otherwise stood established beyond reasonable doubt, was not called for. Minor improvements or inconsistencies in the statements of truthful witnesses, who have been examined after a long lapse of time, are wholly insignificant,” it asserted.

The bench of justices Sureshwar Thakur and NS Shekhawat was seized of an appeal from an accused Manoj Kumar convicted on August 9, 2012 by a Faridabad court in the rape case of a 9-year-old girl.

The court, while upholding the sentence, observed that the child rape cases are the cases of worst form of lust for sex, where children of tender age are not even spared in the pursuit of sexual pleasure.

“There cannot be anything more obscene, diabolical and barbaric than this. It is a crime not only against the society, but against the entire humanity. Many such cases are not brought to the light because of the fact that the social stigma is attached thereto. According to some surveys, there has been a steep rise in the child rape cases. The children need more care and protection not only by the parents and guardians, but also by the courts and society at large,” the court said, adding that in such cases, the responsibility is equally there on the shoulders of the court so as to provide proper legal protection to these minor victims.

“Having played with the life of a minor child aged about 9 years, which has been proved by the prosecution by leading unimpeachable and cogent evidence, there was no ground to interfere with the judgement,” the court observed, rejecting arguments of the accused person.

The complainant father was a labourer and he knew the accused as they used to work together. On the evening of April 30, 2009, the accused came to complainant family’s house and took the girl with him. The father was not at home and younger brother of the girl saw the accused taking her along. A day later, the body of the girl was found in the fields.

The accused had claimed that witnesses associated with the case were either known or family members of the girl and them being “interested parties” in the criminal case. Their statements could not be given credence to.

The court said that the children are natural resource of our country and are also country’s future. “In our country, a girl child is in a very vulnerable position and one of the modes of her exploitation is rape, besides other modes of sexual, emotional and financial abuse. These factors require a different approach to be adopted towards such victims,” the bench said.

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