A special POCSO court in Panchkula on Wednesday sentenced a 29-year-old man to three years’ rigorous imprisonment (RI) for a 2019 sexual assault case involving two sisters. The court also imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on the convict.
The court convicted the accused under Section 8 (sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Section 354 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), awarding three years’ RI under each provision. Both sentences will run concurrently.
The case was registered by the district police in March 2019 against two boys, both residents of Panchkula.
According to the complaint filed by an 18-year-old woman, she and her 17-year-old sister were carrying bundles of grass to the fields as part of their routine when the two accused, belonging to the same village, arrived on a motorcycle.
They allegedly passed obscene remarks and used abusive language. When the sisters objected, the accused allegedly caught hold of them and committed objectionable acts. The accused fled after the victims raised an alarm.
The second accused, who was a juvenile at the time of the offence, had already been held guilty by the Juvenile Justice Board, Panchkula, in October 2021. He was directed to remain in a Juvenile-cum-Observation Home for three years under Section 8 of the POCSO Act and one year under Section 354 of the IPC as a period of reformation, besides being fined ₹1,500.
{{/usCountry}}The second accused, who was a juvenile at the time of the offence, had already been held guilty by the Juvenile Justice Board, Panchkula, in October 2021. He was directed to remain in a Juvenile-cum-Observation Home for three years under Section 8 of the POCSO Act and one year under Section 354 of the IPC as a period of reformation, besides being fined ₹1,500.
{{/usCountry}}In a separate order dated July 8, the special POCSO court dismissed the juvenile convict’s appeal against the Juvenile Justice Board’s decision while making a minor modification to the sentence. The court upheld the conviction and modified certain aspects of the order in accordance with law.