Srinagar, Oct 11: A fast-track court here awarded 20 years of rigorous imprisonment to a man for sexually assaulting a minor in 2020.Fast Track Court for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) cases Srinagar presided over by Aarti Mohan sentenced Danish Mehraj of Srinagar after he was convicted for “sexual assault on the minor”.Since the convict is held guilty of committing both aggravated penetrative sexual assault punishable under section 6 of POCSO Act and section 376 of IPC, as such, he is sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of 20 years for the offence punishable under section 6 of POCSO Act,” the court said.Under section 6 of POCSO Act rigorous imprisonment of a minimum 20 years and maximum life in prison is provided for those who are held guilty.In the present case, the court awarded the punishment to the convict as it underscored that the mitigating circumstances outweigh the aggravating circumstances in the case and the award of the minimum punishment would serve the ends of justice.Moreover, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 25000 on the convict and ordered that the same shall be payable to the victim as compensation, if realized.If the convict, the court said, failed to pay the amount of fine, he shall undergo further imprisonment for six months.In its decision the court cited a Supreme Court Judgment wherein the apex court has said: “How can an act that is an offence punishable under the POCSO Act be described as “a romantic relationship”?The victim told the court that the convict contacted her via face book and then met her at Bemina in Srinagar where she was going for tuitions in 2020.She said that after some time the convict enticed her to his house. Later the convict, she said, forced her to have physical relations with him and raped her.The Court noted that in view of the fact that the victim was subjected to repeated sexual assault resulting in her pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage was awarded an interim compensation of Rs 300,000 for the purpose of rehabilitation by the court during the course of trial.“This amount in my opinion is not sufficient to compensate and rehabilitate the victim,” it said.Considering that the victim had been subjected to mental and physical trauma as well as keeping her financial condition in view the court ordered that a further amount of Rs 300,000 in addition to the amount of interim compensation already awarded to the victim to be released in her favour as compensation.
